When we bought our first home in October 2006 there was the most beautiful magnolia tree in the front garden which flowered profusely every year, bringing not only a beautiful display of creamy pink and purple blossoms, but also some much needed shade to our garden.
The tree also had beautiful dendrobium nobile and epidendrums (poor man's orchids) at the base of the tree. Unfortunately, however, ants got into the tree and about 3 years ago, we realised the tree had died. We did not cut it down straight away, but allowed it to naturally disintegrate. It has taken the tree up till now to totally disappear with the help of storms and big winds that broke the branches.
It was always wonderful to wake up in the morning, open the curtains and see all the birds that loved sitting on the bare branches: the ubiquitous doves that are increasing by the day (we feed them!), the loud, comical mousebirds with their long tails, chattering mynahs (I try to chase them away whenever I can), sparrows, mannikins, toppies (dark-capped bulbul), an occasional crested barbet and more. I am sure they are just as disappointed to see the demise of a once spectacular tree, all because of a small little insect that has the power to bring down giants. We, unfortunately, have a huge problem with ants where I live and that is why I also keep my roses in pots. The only roses that seem immune to the ants and survive their marauding habits, are climbing varieties.
We have just this week been able to plant an indigenous, evergreen clausena anisata or horsewood (perdepis in Afrikaans due to the smell of the crushed leaves which some say smells like aniseed or, as the Afrikaans name suggests, horse urine) tree in the place of the magnolia and are looking forward to seeing it grow, provide shade and attract birds, bees and butterflies to the garden. Another bonus is that it does not have invasive roots.
We did get a huge fright on Wednesday after having planted the tree the previous day as we were hit with a severe hailstorm that shredded many plants in my garden like my day lilies, roses and allamanda. It also destroyed about four of the growing tips of our recently bought eureka lemon that we had just planted in a pot as a replacement for the lemon tree in our back garden and we are just hoping the tree will bounce back quickly. With the nitrogen provided by the hail, it should.
The tree that died had faithfully provided lemons practically throughout the year for the 14 years we have lived in our home and, I am sure, for many years before. We are not sure what caused the tree to die, but I was not going to be without lemons for my homemade lemon curd (delicious on toast) or refreshing cordial for our hot, humid South African summer days or a myriad of other ways I use them.
So, we have also planted a bottlebrush or callistemon in place of the lemon tree as we wanted something evergreen to help provide year round shade for some of our plants. It grows quickly and the bees also love it.