Jacarandas to wisteria?

10 November 2014 - 02:06 By Dominic Skelton
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Pretoria may have to change its name from the Jacaranda City to Wisteria Lane.

This, as the city uproots hundreds of jacaranda trees to make way for the bus rapid transit system on Lynnwood Road and other jacarandas are suffering from a rotting fungus.

City officials have replanted 100 trees on George Storrar Drive, but experts believe their chances of survival are slim.

Mike Wingfield, director of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute at University of Pretoria, said in his 30 years of experience he had never seen trees of this age and size transplanted successfully.

Another 150 trees are due to be moved from Lynnwood Road, according to City of Tshwane metro spokesman Lindela Mashigo.

The city was looking to replace the jacaranda with the indigenous wisteria tree, which also gives a purple display in spring.

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