{"product_id":"moreton-bay-ash-corymbia-tessellaris","title":"Moreton Bay Ash - Corymbia tessellaris","description":"\u003cp\u003eMoreton Bay Ash wears its bark in two halves. The lower trunk is covered in a dark grey stocking of rough bark broken into small square plates, like a chequerboard, and part way up the trunk it stops abruptly and gives way to smooth white to pale grey bark over the upper trunk and limbs. The species name, tessellaris, refers to that tiled lower bark. Narrow leaves hang loosely from a broad, spreading crown, which gives the whole tree a soft, slightly weeping look against its hard pale branches. In much of Queensland it is better known as carbeen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is a tree of the open woodland and coastal plains of Queensland, reaching into northern New South Wales and New Guinea, and it is built for that country: heat, long dry spells, poor sandy soils and wind. The catch is size. This is a big tree that would fill the sky over a suburban backyard, and it belongs where a broad crown has open ground on every side: acreage, a paddock boundary or a public reserve, well clear of the house.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDry, poor ground and distance from the house\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFull sun and drainage are the requirements. It grows in sand, gravel and alluvial loam, and tolerates poor and fairly heavy soils provided water does not lie around the roots for long. It suits the coast and subcoastal districts from Sydney northwards and the warm inland districts of Queensland, and copes with wind and salt laden air set back from the beachfront. Established trees take light frost, but it is a tree for warm country at heart, and in Melbourne, Canberra or the tablelands it is outside the conditions it is adapted to.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThink carefully about where it goes. Like most big eucalypts it sheds steadily, dropping bark strips from the smooth upper trunk along with leaves, twigs and the odd dead branch, so keep it away from gutters, pools and the patch of lawn you mow every week. The roots spread well beyond the crown and will find leaking pipes and lift paving close to the trunk. Give it a clear distance from the house, sewer lines and driveways that suits the tree it will become, not the plant you are putting in.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAgainst the other corymbias\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you like a rough trunk but want it all the way up, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/pink-bloodwood-corymbia-intermedia\"\u003ePink Bloodwood\u003c\/a\u003e holds rough, reddish bark from the ground out along the limbs and flowers heavily in late summer, though it wants more moisture and a humid coastal climate. For a completely smooth trunk, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/flowering-gum-corymbia-citriodora\"\u003eLemon Scented Gum\u003c\/a\u003e is the pale, powdery barked alternative with citronella in its leaves. Moreton Bay Ash sits between them, and is the one to choose on drier, poorer ground in the subtropics. For a feature tree that is not a gum, see the rest of the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/feature-trees\"\u003eFeature Trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eLean soil and a light hand\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a tree from poor sandy country, and it settles in well when treated that way. Open a wide, shallow hole so the roots run sideways into the native soil, keep the root ball level with the ground, and leave out compost and fertiliser, because rich backfill pushes soft, top heavy growth that the wind finds. A slow soak every week or so through the first dry seasons is plenty.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChoose the leader while the stems are pencil thin and cut away any rival that forks low, since a tight fork on a tree this heavy is where it splits decades later. Past that, leave it alone: big cuts on the clean pale upper trunk leave dark scars, and anything above head height on a grown tree is a job for an arborist. White blossom from late spring into summer brings honeyeaters, lorikeets and bees, and the lerps and leaf eating beetles of some years rarely do lasting harm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 3 sizes, from 300mm up to 200L, priced from $139.00 to $1439.00 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 \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees for shade\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"300mm","offer_id":67671344349553,"sku":null,"price":139.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"45L","offer_id":67671344841073,"sku":null,"price":259.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200L","offer_id":67671344873841,"sku":null,"price":1439.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/moreton-bay-ash-corymbia-tessellaris.jpg?v=1791520012","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/products\/moreton-bay-ash-corymbia-tessellaris","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}