Yeah, at a glance they're pretty; they provide nice shade, the wind whistles through them sweetly... then you get to know them a little better and it all changes.

I was all ready beginning to hate them before the hurricanes, because they sucker; they send up little trees all over the place that grow like wildfire in a dry wind.

Did I mention the gooey pollen they leave all over everything like a light coat of brown snow?

Here's what a tall clump of them looked like after a hurricane:

This is what the same cluster of trees looked like after a lot of sweaty hard work and a trip to the doctor to get x-ray's of my husband's mashed ankle:

Notice those big broken branches up too high for even our very tall ladders or pole saws to reach. I get nervous going under there, and there are too many little stumps left from all the Australian Pine Suckers to risk getting the lawn mower tires too close (they put holes in them). I have given the area several liberal applications of total vegetation killer though, not that it did much good....

Two years after the photo above where it's mostly cleared out, look at how much the (explicative deleted) Australian Pine Trees and Suckers have GROWN!:

In another year or so, after the dangerous branches fall, I hope to clear that area out again, get rid of the Australian Pines, and turn that area into more Butterfly Garden. I'll update this page after it's done.

(Little update - we've cut some more of them down.)

I saw a web posting about Australian Pine Trees when I was researching how to get rid of them. Someone was upset that they were being removed from our local parks because they are considered an invasive species here. I felt that way once too, so I emailed them the rest of the Australian Pine story that I've learned since I first liked them. I'm posting it here because it mostly covers how I feel about Australian Pine Trees and why:

I was sad when the Australian Pines got chopped at parks here as well. Until I got the home I'm in now, I really didn't understand the need to remove them. I would agree with you that some of them, particularly those giving that wonderful shade in the parks, and those not next to structures, could be left alone, provided that they are not the suckering kind, depending on how their seeds spread and grow.

I, unfortunately, bought a house with LOTS of those beautiful trees, and have felt like I opened Pandora's Box ever since.

I moved in, and quickly planted a flower garden around a few Australians in the front, then strung a hammock to rest in after unpacking an evening's worth of boxes after work. That's when I found out that the Australian Pine Needles kill many other plants. Goodbye flowers. Well, ok, the shade was still good. Briefly.

I had a lot of overgrown areas around clumps of the Australian Pines, so I started cutting back the chaos, planning to have yard, trees, and then evaluate what I could do so I could have flowers as well. I spent months clearing saplings, and got fairly handy with a chain saw. That's when I learned that some varieties (most of mine) shoot up new trees from the roots of existing trees. Everywhere. They can (and do) grow a foot a month (or more)! I just can't cut them as fast as they grow back. I got my husband in on the project, and little by little, we've taken back some areas, and (many chain saw blades later, not to mention pain and sweat) have cut most of the stumps down enough to mow over them (one mower deck later... oops). We left the largest trees that were too big and unsafe for untrained do-it-yourselfers, and just cut the darned saplings that had taken over all the land around them.

My neighbors hate them and complain about the pollen, which my kids turned out to be allergic to too -beginning to really dislike them now! The pollen is interesting; at it's peak, we literally have to dust it off the car windshield to drive to work on Mondays. You should see what it does to the carpet by the door! Ok, so I bought a little carpet steam cleaner (more work,) and then when the storms hit us (remember those hurricanes?), well, there aren't words to describe the colossal mess they made.

Ah, the wind whispering through the needles - I loved that sound too, until it turned into the shrieking winds of the hurricane and the terrifying ground shaking thud of the trees falling on and around my home as the water-logged ceiling caved in over my bed. We're still cutting away at giant trunks lying in our yard, and trying to figure out how to get the remaining giant broken twisted limbs out of the trees without killing ourselves. Two more huge pieces fell in yesterday's strong breeze... nearly 2 years after the last storm, and the season is approaching again....We've been cutting every single one we can - just hoping that we can safely cut the ones most likely to land on our home before they do. Did I mention that we've gotten the roof to stop leaking from the ones that did, but haven't had the time to put the ceilings back up yet (two large spots in 2 rooms covered with plastic.. oh so fun, not!) It's really hard to like those trees right now. [update - the ceilings are back up now]

Yes, my yard looks barren where I've removed them. I hate it. I've been planting native plants like Elderberry, Firebush, and other stuff that I hope will grow fast, but never as tall and dangerous as the Australian Pines, and provide shade, flowers, food for either my family or the critters we enjoy having in our yard including the birds and butterflies.

So yes, I'd love to stand under them elsewhere, but I sure don't want any more in my yard. The suckering kinds will rapidly take over any area they're introduced to, and after living trying to stop that takeover, I can attest to that as an absolute fact. Suckering Australian Pines should be removed from any wildlife habitat areas that we want to keep as anything but an Australian Pine jungle. While they do provide shelter, they do not provide the needed foods such as nuts and berries that our wildlife need, nor do they allow for enough plant diversity to let the various other necessary plants, for example Passiflora vines which three of our local butterflies: Julia, Zebra Longwing, and Gulf Fritillary lay their eggs on, have a place to grow too.