There aren’t many trees as useful as tagasaste. (Chamaecytisus palmensis)
It’s an easily-propagated, fast-growing, frost-tolerant tree that can reach its full potential in just three to four years, it provides shelter, shade, and is a high protein evergreen fodder tree.
But as if that isn’t enough, tagasaste (pron. tag-a-sars-tay) can also fix nitrogen.
It’s known as tree lucerne, a nickname it picked up when farmers in Australia began growing it for its high feed value.
Tagasaste is remarkably tolerant of most growing conditions (although it likes a free draining soil best), taking frosts down as low as -10°C. It’s resistant to diseases and will quickly recover from complete defoliation.
The deep roots of tagasaste make it very drought tolerant and trials have shown it also puts up with high moisture levels through a wet winter.
It’s beautiful, prolific flowering tree that is good feed for bees and if it is allowed to grow unhindered it forms thick branches that are great firewood. It is also a valuable food source for native birds.
This cache was placed on International Geocaching Day, when I was heading to a Search and Rescue course nearby. We regularly use this section of the river reserve to conduct short SAR scenarios, as it is easy to access and has a variety of terrains withing a very small area.
Cache is a micro mint tin, log only. BYOP