Wandella Woods Arboretum: a year after the fires

In the early hours of New Year’s Eve 2019 a massive bushfire ravaged the town of Cobargo in south-eastern New South Wales and numerous surrounding localities including Wandella Woods Arboretum owned and managed by Brian and Shirleyanne Myers. Brian has kindly allowed the Australian Garden History Society to reproduce his report, ‘One Year After the Fire – Wandella Woods Arboretum in New South Wales’, written for the International Dendrology Society Yearbook 2020. His paper covers the extreme climatic conditions that led to the fire, the more benign conditions in the wet year of 2020 that followed, and how the trees in the arboretum have responded. One important lesson learned is to not be too hasty in felling exotic trees after fire damage. Numerous trees that looked totally dead in the first months have new healthy crowns after 12 months.

Read the report here: Myers One Year after the fire