Do you have a favourite tree? When I was a young girl, my favourite tree was the weeping willow. I loved the way I could hide inside their curtain of leaves in my own secret world.
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As I grew up and studied freshwater turtles, I discovered that, as with all the best romance novels, there’s more to the story than meets the eye.
In Australia, many species of willows are considered weeds of national significance. The pussy willow in particular, has been upsetting Victorians for some time.
As with most successful weeds they take no prisoners and no know boundaries; this species is now establishing itself as a nuisance in NSW.
Other species of willows in Australia include the crack willow, black willow, basket willow, and Chilean willow. There is also a number of hybrids that can form between these different species.
Willows may have only reached 5% of their potential range in Australia so we might be fighting against them for some time yet.
Weedy willows cause problems when their seeds are dispersed by the wind in large numbers, establishing in places where they were not invited.
Weedy willows cause problems when their seeds are dispersed by the wind in large numbers, establishing in places where they were not invited.
Our Australian plants and animals spent millions of years under selection evolving adaptations that suit them to our environment.
When we bring in exotic species from other places, like willow trees from Asia, these new trees do not provide the habitat that our Australian species need.
Willows do not have tree hollows for our possums and owls to nest in. Their large thick canopy shades out undergrowth for smaller Australian plants.
Their leaves drop suddenly in autumn and the breakdown of this matter sucks oxygen from slow moving water.
Because willows are also engineers that change the flow of river and the deposition of sediment, the way that we tackle these weeds needs careful planning and consideration.
Often poisoning of willow trees is preferable to mechanical removal. Disturbance to the soil may just encourage other weedy species and cause erosion.
Revegetation of our river banks with native vegetation is a really important process to provide quality habitat to animals, increase bank stability and decrease erosion.
Native vegetation will support native birds and insects that provide important roles in pollination and pest control.
As for our weedy trees and the romance story gone wrong - I still love weeping willows, when they are in China where they belong.
But we have so many amazing and unique species that are true blue Australian, I would much rather see red gums, paper barks and wattles around here.