Nettle Tree Celtis australis

Nettle tree builds a broad, evenly domed crown on a clean trunk, and grows fast enough to give real shade within a few seasons. The leaves are the giveaway: rough as fine sandpaper on top, sharply toothed, and noticeably lopsided where they join the stalk. They hold green deep into autumn before turning soft yellow, over smooth grey bark that takes on the look of elephant hide. Councils across Melbourne and Adelaide use it for street and car park shade because it survives what kills better looking species.

Hot, dry, compacted ground is where it wins

This is a Mediterranean tree and it behaves like one. Full sun, heat radiating off bitumen, drought, alkaline soil, compaction and exhaust fumes are all within its range, and it takes frost as well. Once established it runs on low water, which is why it holds up in the drier southern cities where thirstier avenue trees fail. Almost any soil that drains suits it, including shallow limey ground, and it is not fussy about fertility. Plant it in open ground with real soil volume and let it go. The failure mode is scale. This is not a small tree, and buyers keep putting it in narrow verges and courtyards where the eventual spread and the surface roots become somebody's problem in fifteen years. Give it distance from paving, kerbs and service trenches from the start. Worth knowing too that Celtis sinensis, the Chinese hackberry, is a declared weed through much of Queensland and New South Wales. Celtis australis self sows far less freely, but near bushland a quick call to your local council is a sensible step before planting.

Nettle tree, plane or pear for a street planting

The London Plane covers similar ground and gets larger, wants more water through a dry summer, and sheds fine hairs in spring that irritate some people. Nettle tree is the drier, lower maintenance option with none of that. Manchurian Pear is a much smaller tree with spring blossom and autumn burgundy, and suits a front garden or a narrow street where nettle tree would eventually overwhelm the space. Pick Celtis australis for hard, hot, dry sites with room to spread, plane where you want grandeur and can supply the soil volume, and pear where the tree has to stay in scale with the houses. It sits among the advanced trees when you want size on day one.

Winter cuts and a light hand with fertiliser

Prune while the tree is bare in winter, when the framework is easy to read and the wounds close fast in spring. Formative work matters most: settle on one leader, remove competing stems early, and lift the lower branches in stages over several years to get clearance for cars and mowers. Established trees rarely need more than deadwood removal, and the smooth grey bark is worth protecting from mower and whipper snipper damage while the trunk is young. Feeding is barely necessary. A spring application of complete fertiliser helps a young tree get away, after which mulch and the occasional deep soak in a long dry spell do more good than anything out of a bag.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 4 sizes, from 400mm up to 100L, priced from $229.00 to $649.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to choosing a tree for a small backyard.