By Spencer Shaw, January 2014
It’s getting that time of year when the temperatures are soaring, lawns withering, paddocks browning off , trees shed leaves, the bush fires danger is high and houses start to bake (unless they are well insulated) and if you don’t have air-conditioning in your car it’s time to cook in your own juices.
What we need is shade and that’s a great incentive for you to plant trees and shrubs. Trees and shrubs create shade and humidity and are nature’s air conditioners and that’s what is needed to cool the temperature and protect the delicate north European complexions of the majority of us!
Rainforest trees and shrubs generally have dense dark green foliage that provides shade and cooling temperatures (just go for a walk in Mary Cairncross on a hot day), so planting tree and shrubs, will save your power bill and you from wilting! However before I whip you into a frenzy of shade tree planting, you need to plan a bit. First you need to think what plants will work best where.
Revegetating with trees to the south of your house has several benefits including protecting from strong southerly’s, cooling the air temperature through their shade and adding moisture to the air on a hot dry day. Most importantly when planting trees near your house always take into consideration how high the tree will grow, eg. if it can grow to forty metres, then never plant closer than forty metres to your house, so that in a worst case scenario and the tree falls down – it won’t hit your house (also keep that in mind for your neighbour’s house!) Too many times we see soaring gum trees planted on fence lines in small acreage blocks.
Revegetating with shrubs and groundcovers on the north side will ensure that you don’t miss out on the winter sun (let’s not forget how cold it was just a few months back!). One way to achieve height and summer shade (and not miss out on the winter sun) is to plant deciduous trees. Luckily we do have a few deciduous native trees to choose from such as Red Cedar (Toona Ciliata), White Cedar (Melia azedarach), Tall Sandpaper Fig (Ficus fraseri), Superb Fig (Ficus superba) and White Fig (Ficus virens) – keep in mind that these are all tall trees and that figs have wide spreading root systems (so best for the bigger acreages.
The added benefit of revegetating for your own comfort and improvement of your habitat is that you will also provide habitat for a lot of grateful critters that also call this place home!
