Stranger danger!

Where did that come from?

We had a couple (three, four) volunteer trees of the same type pop up at PRG a while back and I pondered them cautiously as saplings, then grew somewhat alarmed as they quickly increased in size. Um, what are you and where did you come from?

When Friends of the Urban Forest were out for their final tree trimming jaunt I mentioned the new-tree sized things and while they didn't ID them they agreed to raise the canopies on the two larger ones to prevent that annoying disease Stick In My Eye which you get from walking past a tree that pokes into a pathway. 

Stop trying to hide.
I can see you.

Two of them are in actually OK spots but there a new baby and one that's too close to an extant tree, and another that's got pretty big behind an Acacia baileyana so they will need to go.

But what are they? Today I used Urban Tree Key to determine that they're probably Red-eyed wattle (Acacia cyclops) and basically the devil incarnate. Invasive beasts!

Leafy though...

It is TBD what their fate is... on the one hand they are invasive. Then again, what do we care about invasive species - we're in the middle of a city! (I kid.) On the other hand, how much do these trees love PRG with its zero water and hot, hot sun? They love it a lot. In fact they look better than the handful of tragic Tristaniopsis laurina "Elegant" (Small-Leafed Tristania) along the street which are not exactly thrilled with PRG life. So maybe we want them...

No surprise they are happy considering the other two Acacia species at PRG (A. baileyana and A. stenophylla) are also looking stunning and growing well.