Found this in The Sunday Mail:

www.growmeinstead.com.au

Other states might have something similar…

Beats me how I am located in the “Desert Channels Region” but there you go…I’ve never got a clear “climate type” definition of my locale yet…

…we are on the eastern side of the Great Divide…

I’ve been toying with the idea of removing the duranta hedge and replacing it with a lilly pilly…this is a sun break on the western side of the house…I’ve also been looking for ideas to plant a bit further out, say 30 to 50 metres, to the west of the house…this will cut down the storm gusts…

Dinetta said:

I’ve been toying with the idea of removing the duranta hedge and replacing it with a lilly pilly…this is a sun break on the western side of the house…I’ve also been looking for ideas to plant a bit further out, say 30 to 50 metres, to the west of the house…this will cut down the storm gusts…

Go the lilly pillies.
For the more distant wind break, use an indiginous native. Gauranteed to grow.
Remember, 1m of height of a plant will ‘affect’ the air movement for 90m horizontally.
Make it a deep wind break. Lots of plants in a strip 20m wide. chuck in some monsters for serious deep shade. (No-one plants trees anymore. )

Longy said:

Dinetta said:

I’ve been toying with the idea of removing the duranta hedge and replacing it with a lilly pilly…this is a sun break on the western side of the house…I’ve also been looking for ideas to plant a bit further out, say 30 to 50 metres, to the west of the house…this will cut down the storm gusts…

Go the lilly pillies.
For the more distant wind break, use an indiginous native. Gauranteed to grow.
Remember, 1m of height of a plant will ‘affect’ the air movement for 90m horizontally.
Make it a deep wind break. Lots of plants in a strip 20m wide. chuck in some monsters for serious deep shade. (No-one plants trees anymore. )

Thanks for the extra advice Longy…yes it’s sad that nobody plants trees any more…public liability is a monster in itself…I’ve noticed that those properties on the lee side of naturally-occurring scrub tend to be less affected by storms than those in heavily cleared spaces…and the local indigenous vegetation did survive the drought better than the introduced herbage… it narks me when the Council destroys the native plants and replaces them with stuff that needs constant watering…what’s the point?

Dinetta said:

I’ve been toying with the idea of removing the duranta hedge and replacing it with a lilly pilly…this is a sun break on the western side of the house…I’ve also been looking for ideas to plant a bit further out, say 30 to 50 metres, to the west of the house…this will cut down the storm gusts…

i planted local indigenous trees and understorey on the west side of my house.
you may not be able to eat them but they are firewood and – an endless fascinating cavalcade of passing insects, lizards and birds.
the knowledge gained in knowing your indigenous vegetation is also very handy.

The hedge I want to get rid of, is just 2 metres from the house…lilly pilly is not a fast burner like, say, eucalypt or callistemon?

Dinetta said:

The hedge I want to get rid of, is just 2 metres from the house…lilly pilly is not a fast burner like, say, eucalypt or callistemon?

Less likely to explode i’d say, but not necessarily fireproof.
2m is close. Does it have to be that close? Maybe something taller, a little further away?

This is the position of an existing bed surrounded by concrete pavers…immoveable (well not by me it’s not) and here when we came…

Yes, explosive natives is what I was trying to avoid…

I’m happy with the hedges in that bed as it allows the room beside it to stay cool…however I am no longer a fan of duranta…it’s fun for people who like to control it as a neat hedge but it doesn’t do anything for the birds or other wildlife…the birds get more use (nesting, e.g.) out of the bouganvillea!

Yes, explosive natives is what I was trying to avoid
——-
ah

- oleanders? – the italians laff @ aussies because the isle of capri is full of oleanders and in 3,000 years no pet or person has got sick (let alone die) from the poison.

i will be planting my chinese pistachio close to the house on the west as well.

Oleanders, along with Cook trees, used to be the mainstay of many an inland town’s land- and street- scaping. We even had Cook trees in the school yard, and played Housie under them…nobody got sick or died because we knew they were poisonous and we understood what “dead” was too…nobody wanted to go to hospital because the nursing sisters were rough as guts at our hospital…

However I think Oleanders would be too big and too high maintenance in that spot… thanks for the suggestion…

Oleander should be on the weeds list. Really don’t know why people n Australia keep putting them out there.