In celebration of National Arbor Week 2009, Woolworths will be offering you a choice of six indigenous trees from the end of August. Their trees are grown in unique, environmentally friendly coco peat containers and wrapped in hessian. (No plastic containers to pollute the earth!)

All you have to do is remove the hessian and plant the tree in its coco peat pot in the soil. All six trees are indigenous- choose from the Monkey Thorn, Cape Ash, Karee, Real Yellow Wood, Wild Olive and the Assegai.

Not only will you be honouring our natural heritage when you plant these in your garden or in any community space but you’ll be reducing your carbon footprint too. Get planting!

Trees 39.95 each

The following trees are available:

Acacia galpinii 

Common names: Monkey-thorn tree,  Apiesdoring (Afr.) Molopa (North Sotho) Tshikwalo (Tshivenda)

A large tree with luxuriant, light green foliage, suitable for big gardens. It can survive hot and dry conditions. It is frost- tolerant, but severe frost will damage  tender young branches.

Ekebergia capensis

Common name: Cape ash, Essenhout (Afr), Mnidibidi (North Sotho), Nyamaru (Tswana) umNyamatsi (Swati)

The Cape ash is a large tree that grows  to about 15m in height and provides excellent shade in the garden. The fruit of  the Cape ash will attract birds to your garden. The Cape ash grows well when receiving lots of water, but can tolerate moderate drought and very light frost. It is sensitive to heavy frost.

Searsia lancea

Common name: Karee (Eng) Rooi Karee (Afr.) Mokalabata ( Northern Sotho), umHlakotshane (Xhosa)

This tree with the beautiful scientific name Searsia lancea was previously known as Rhus lancea. The Karee is a small to medium size evergreen tree that could grow to a height of 7m and  7m wide. The Karee is an excellent shade tree in small gardens.
Because the Karee is both drought and frost resistant it does not require any special attention once it has established its root system.

Podocarpus latifolius 

Common name: Real yellow wood (Eng), Egte geelhout (Afr), Umkhomba (Xhosa), Umsonti (Zulu)

The Yellow wood is a slow-growing evergreen tree. The expected growth rate is quite slow but it lends character to any garden. It will grow better in good soil. Shelter it from strong winds.

Olea europae subsp africana

Common name: Wild olive (Eng), Olienhout (Afr.), unNguma (Zulu,Xhosa,Swati) Mohlware (NSotho, Sshoto).

The wild olive is frost-, drought- and wind resistant and is a neatly shaped evergreen tree that makes this tree suitable for any garden. It is also a popular  bonsai tree. Don’t plant too close to walls.

Curtisia dentata

Common name: Assegai (Eng), Assegaai (Afr), uMagunda (Zulu), Musangwe (Venda)

The Assegai  is a beautiful, evergreen tree with foliage that looks good throughout the year. It has great potential as a garden tree or an evergreen hedge. The tree retains its leaves for 2-4 years and does not create much leaf litter. It prefers a warmer climate and is sensitive to frost but established plants should survive moderate frost.

Reference:  Information obtain from the South African National Biodiversity Institute