Ash Trees

Check your local weed list before you choose an ash. Several Fraxinus, and in particular Fraxinus angustifolia and the Claret Ash forms grown from it, are recorded environmental weeds in Victoria, South Australia and parts of inland NSW and the ACT, where winged seed carries into creek lines and remnant bushland and germinates in quantity. Some councils restrict or discourage planting them. Grafting alters the trunk and crown of a tree, not its flowering, so a grafted Claret Ash still sets seed and is no answer to that problem. Gardens near bushland or a watercourse are better served by the seedless Green Ash clones described below.

Where the species is not a concern locally, ash remain useful shade trees. They gain height quickly for deciduous trees, carry a crown 10 to 15 metres across within about fifteen years, and drop cleanly in autumn so winter sun reaches the house again. Colour depends on where you garden. Cool autumn nights in the tablelands and the southern states bring out the burgundy and gold, while coastal Queensland gardens get muted tones and a later, more drawn-out leaf fall.

Claret Ash is the familiar burgundy form, stocked from 250mm pots and bare root stock through to 200L, from $42.95, and the grafted Claret Ash gives a matched trunk and crown for row planting, from $139 in sizes to 75L. Golden Ash turns clear yellow and holds yellow-toned young wood through winter against dark brick or fencing, with stock to 1000L. Both of those set seed. Green Ash Urbanite and Green Ash Cimmaron are male, effectively seedless street-tree clones with upright, even crowns, and Urbanite runs to 1500L for scale on planting day. Manna Ash stays smaller and carries creamy flower plumes in spring. Arizona Ash copes with hot dry inland conditions, though it too fruits. In frost-free coastal and subtropical gardens Evergreen Ash keeps its leaves year round and screens rather than shades, and it has begun self-seeding in parts of south-east Queensland.

Give an ash full sun and room. These are surface-rooting, thirsty trees, and one sited a few metres from a slab, a driveway edge, a septic trench or an old clay sewer line will find that moisture and lift or block it. Allow eight metres of clearance from structures and services, since at year fifteen the remedy is removal rather than pruning. Keep water up for the first two summers, stake only until the roots take hold, and shape for structure while the wood is young.

For autumn colour on a smaller block, compare Maples and Liquidambar, or Feature Trees for courtyard-scale options. Advanced Trees carries the larger containers across the range.

Every order ships farm-direct with flat $99 delivery across QLD, NSW, VIC, SA, ACT and WA, a $399 minimum order, and the 30-Day Healthy Plant Guarantee.