The thin trunk and the thinner branches are covered with scaly encrustations from some sort of bug infestation. The tree, a eucalyptus (Eucalyptus saligna) is dead. It must have been struggling.
This strange spot between the two houses is perhaps inhospitable. The four blueberry ashes (Elaeocarpus reticulatus) have slowly died. Two have already been removed. The remaining two are skeletons.
The Eucalyptus grew from seed, one of five. The parent tree is huge, in the neighbour’s garden directly behind me only about 40m away. One of its siblings is growing in the street, looking completely healthy and also only about 40m away. Two others are in the cottage garden in North Rothbury and completely healthy. This leaves the question is it the ground which cannot sustain a healthy tree leaving susceptible to disease?
