HEAT-RAVAGED trees in Dubbo's Cobra Street look like they are on their last legs, but the city's green thumb brigade is rooting for them.
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Dubbo City Council staff are tending to the trees in median strips, east and west of the Cobra Street and Wheelers Lane roundabout, in the hope they will rally when cooler weather arrives.
Water is delivered by a drip system several times a week and fertiliser has been applied by staff who check soil moisture.
Council horticultural services manager Ian McAlister agreed the Yunnan Poplars planted in the mid-1990s were not at their best.
"They are really struggling in the heat," he said.
"Cobra Street is a bit of wind tunnel."
Motorists using Cobra Street, part of the Mitchell Highway, have been pointing to the trees, some more brown than green and several stabilised by wire.
Mr McAlister said it had been installed to support the regrowth of roots of trees when they were damaged a number of years ago by a vehicle.
The manager noted the trees leading to and past the Orana Mall had suffered from the heat in the past but managed to come back.
They are not seen by council as a danger to the public with Mr McAlister reporting of no indications they might topple over.
Perhaps as big a threat to the almost 20-year-old trees as the heat and wind, is a related poplar planted in a median strip near Bunnings. "They seem to be more hardy and tougher, and haven't suffered as badly," Mr McAlister said.