Mystery tree is a carob

by Diana Studer 

 - gardening for biodiversity 

in Cape Town, South Africa

Discovered Treasures 1

At the bottom of the garden were problem trees at our boundary wall. First was the pohutakawa New Zealand Christmas tree Metrosideros excelsa, reminding me of my father. I remember the HUGE tree in the corner of the Camps Bay garden of the house where I grew up. Pohutakawa is an invasive alien in South Africa. The second Discovered Treasure is also from New Zealand - Marble Chips!

Carob tree Ceratonia siliqua

Second was a large Australian brush cherry, with a third growing right at the corner of the house! This one we battle in our Porterville garden, making it easy to say goodbye to. Fourth was a variegated Ficus.

The Ungardener with the large Brazilian pepper tree

Fifth was a nasty thick bottlebrush trunk with no leaves, and leaning on the wall. Sixth another bottlebrush which had been hacked back frequently, leaving a tangled mess exactly where our Adirondacks will face. Seventh was a huge Brazilian pepper tree Schinus terebinthifolius, (covering next door's garage wall and) arching over the 'sunny' patio.

Brazilian pepper tree to go on the right
Left star jasmine and the carob tree

Brazilian pepper tree coming down PDQ

Ruben the tree feller - Rubys Maintenance - liebenberg (at) gmail (dot) com - was highly recommended by our neighbours. It goes against my principles to use poison, but these trees will coppice and return. I had to accept poisoning the stumps with Garlon. Ruben explained that this is the herbicide used by Nature Conservation when they clear infestations of Australian wattle. He carves a cross within the stump and the poison goes in the centre. Used on freshly cut (still growing) stumps the poison travels down the roots, which will decompose over months.

Poisoned tree stump

Ruben's man with the chainsaw carefully sharpened the teeth before he started, wore earmuffs and a mesh mask to protect his face. Three men worked fast to shift the fallen branches.

Carob tree left, with bottlebrush looming right

First plant your tree. In Porterville we chose our plot for the two thirty-year old ash trees. A garden needs established trees. In our False Bay garden the statement tree drawing our eyes up to the mountain ridge will be the carob tree, which also grows in California, Cyprus and Italy.

Carob and the mountain ridge I'd like to see
The bottlebrush will be leaving later 

Ceratonia siliqua  - the carob tree comes from the Mediterranean and suits our south-western Cape climate. Our tree is male with smelly flowers (females have edible pods). 24 carat gold harks back to using carob seeds to weigh gold.

The garden 10 years ago?
When the carob was small

The False Bay house was built in 1990 so some of our trees may be 24 years old. We are grateful that the previous owners sent us pictures of the garden when it was well loved. 

I'm following this tree with Lucy. Since we are tantalisingly gardening with a bargepole, on stilts - I'll return to visit my tree as and when. I hunted hopefully in my South African tree book. Searched thru Google with a photo of the leaf I brought home. Finally I recognised one of our street trees in Porterville. The mystery is a carob! Round leaves were the clue that led me to carob.

Dawn over False Bay. Now the green gloom is clearing, I can plan ... bergkaree, tree fuchsia, Diospyros whyteana, Prunus nigra, witkaree, camphor bush, Brachylaena discolor, Dombeya, wild olive, Kei apple, Trimeria grandifolia, lavender star ... to cover his walls again. Wildflower Wednesday for July in Porterville.

Mid-winter dawn over False Bay

If you want to ID a plant, instead of battling to tell the Great Google what your flower looks like in words – er, small? Yellowish, but some orange? You can use your photo of your mystery flower!

Pictures by Diana and Jurg Studer  
of  Elephant's Eye on False Bay 

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