Quickribbon

Cold Hardy Pink Flowering Eucalyptus

Share

Cold Hardy Pink Flowering Eucalyptus
Asessing cold tolerance of
E. leucoxylon 'Rosea'

Gustavo Iglesias Trabado Contact GIT Forestry Consulting
GIT Forestry Consulting - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal - www.git-forestry.com - EUCALYPTOLOGICS

One of the ornamental features of Eucalyptus has to do with their flowers. Shape, size, colour. Typical common species overseas usually have white stamens, and can be attractive both when individual flowers are of a big size, or when small sized flowers are well arranged in attractive clusters. But there are other possibilities.


Cold hardiness in Eucalyptus leucoxylon Rosea / Cold hardy Pink flower Eucalyptus in bloom / Resistencia al frio de Eucalipto leucoxylon / Eucalipto de flor roja en floracion / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal, Lugo, Galicia, Spain, España / EUCALYPTOLOGICSFig. 1: Pink flowered Eucalyptus leucoxylon 'Rosea' in bloom in the UK.
(Photo courtesy Matt Smith)


Red or pink flowers are not too common, but some Eucalyptus do have them. A classical example is Corymbia ficifolia, the Red-Flowering Gum. A striking small tree which flowers profusely. But for those trying to add them to garden designs in cool temperate climates of a maritime type, there are other options with a lightly higher tolerance to cold.


Among these, some of the subspecies of Eucalyptus leucoxylon, which as in the pictured example, can be successfully cultivated and subsequently bloom at high latitudes as those of the United Kingdom or Ireland.

At the suggestion of some keen gardeners Growing On The Edge, we prepared an indicative "cultivation map" for this species in the British Isles.

Cold hardiness in Eucalyptus leucoxylon Rosea / Cold hardy Pink flower Eucalyptus in bloom / Resistencia al frio de Eucalipto leucoxylon / Eucalipto de flor roja en floracion / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal, Lugo, Galicia, Spain, España / EUCALYPTOLOGICSFig 3: Suitability of E. leucoxylon ssp. leucoxylon for outdoor cultivation in the British Islands.
(Click image to enlarge)


Inevitably, this map is not a detailed one and is based on just one of the main parameters with importance for plant acclimation, which is extreme minimum temperatures reached for a certain area along a period of time. If we start removing from the coloured areas all the unsuitable microclimates (too windy, too salty, too exposed, too boggy, too chilly even if just once per winter, too shady, etc) the suitable real area for cultivation would reduce considerably. Still, it can be an indication for those willing to add red coloured blooming eucalypts to their gardens.

In this case some caution is yet needed: despite its cold hardiness is higher than for the Western Australian Corymbia ficifolia, a rare Mediterranean eucalypt species, it is not infinite.

Cold hardiness in Eucalyptus leucoxylon Rosea / Cold hardy Pink flower Eucalyptus in bloom / Resistencia al frio de Eucalipto leucoxylon / Eucalipto de flor roja en floracion / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal, Lugo, Galicia, Spain, España / EUCALYPTOLOGICSFig. 3: Tolerance to frost in an E. leucoxylon 'Rosea' ornamental trial in the tablelands of Galicia, Northwestern Spain. (Click image to enlarge).

Our own trials with this type of eucalypt in the tablelands of Galicia (Atlantic maritime climate with a tendence to harsh frost events), where oceanic influence fades, do suggest that Eucalyptus leucoxylon 'Rosea' reaches its cold hardiness limits around -7ºC. This would be roughly equivalent to suitability for safe cultivation in the mildest part of Atl1 Zone, or in USDA Zone 9a and less harsh areas. Our results in the Iberian Peninsula do corroborate earlier trials done by Dr. David Robinson at Earlscliffe Gardens near Dublin, the Northernmost known latitude at which this and several other rare species have bloomed.

If you get to know of any case of successful horticultural use of this pink flowering Eucalyptus at higher latitudes than Dublin, please do not hesitate contacting us!

Contact GIT Forestry Consulting / Contact Eucalyptologics / Contacto GIT Forestry Consulting / Contacto Eucalyptologics / Lugo, Galicia, Spain, EspañaContact GIT Forestry Consulting - Eucalyptologics

We already found the Northernmost Flowering Eucalyptus, and now it is time for the Northernmost Red Flowering one!. And for the matter, you are also welecome to contact us if you see and photograph them growing and blooming elsewhere. The most specimens tracked down, the better future recommendations for growers worldwide!

EUCALYPTOLOGICS: GIT Forestry Consulting Eucalyptus Blog / Information Resources on Eucalyptus Cultivation Worldwide / Forestry Engineering, Eucalyptus Seed, Eucalyptus Plants, Eucalyptus Wood, Eucalyptus Honey, Eucalyptus Essential Oil, Eucalyptus Forests, Eucalyptus Plantations, Eucalyptus Timber, Eucalyptus Lumber, Eucalyptus Furniture, Eucalyptus Veneer, Eucalyptus Plywood, Eucalyptus MDF Board, Eucalyptus Cellulose, Eucalyptus Paper, Eucalyptus Biomass, Eucalyptus Energy, Eucalyptus Floristry, Eucalyptus Foliage, Eucalyptus Garden / Ingenieria Forestal, Semilla de eucalipto, Plantas de eucalipto, Madera de eucalipto, Miel de eucalipto, Aceite Esencial de eucalipto, Bosque de eucalipto, Plantacion de eucalipto, Muebles de eucalipto, Tablero de eucalipto, MDF de eucalipto, Celulosa de eucalipto, Papel de eucalipto, Biomasa de eucalipto, Energia de eucalipto, Ramillo Verde Ornamental de Eucalipto, Jardin de EucaliptoGIT's Eucalyptology Topics

Subscribe to receive EUCALYPTOLOGICS via RSS



© 2008 Gustavo Iglesias Trabado. Please contact us if you want to use all or part of this text and photography elsewhere. We like to share, but we do not like rudeness.

6 Comments by our readers :::

Anonymous said...

Posted by Treeman on 2/19/2008, 1:00 pm, in reply to "Pink flowered Eucalyptus can take -7ºC"

It sure looks like it got slapped around quite a bit. I have numerous ones here that have been burned as such, namely E. scoparia is one.

Those flowers are quite beautiful though, and what a curse it is not to be able to enjoy the pink and red flowering eucalypts here in the cooler parts of the world.

Maybe in the near future through genetics they will be able to shut down the gene that makes plants susceptible to cold damage. How great like will be then!!!

Anonymous said...

Posted by Håkan on 2/22/2008, 9:55 am, in reply to "Pink flowered Eucalyptus can take -7ºC"

Gus, -5.7 ºC, 23 ºF is the lowest for this winter. A so called, Pink flowered Eucalyptus winter!

I dont think we have had to many of this kind of winters here. In Stockholm this is the mildest since 1756. It is now official. -5,7 ºC is also the highest low since 1756!

Anonymous said...

Posted by Phil in Sydney on 2/22/2008, 4:26 pm, in reply to "Pink flowered Eucalyptus can take -7ºC"

This one was at the Sydney botanic gardens, and I think it said ficifolia. Can they be pink as well as red?

Anonymous said...

Posted by talford on 2/28/2008, 2:13 pm, in reply to "Re: Pink flowered Eucalyptus can take -7ºC"

Phil, Gus,

Out here in Orange County Cal., most all the Corymbia ficifolia flower in red. I haven't seen pink yet, but don't doubt it's out there.

I know the exact locations of 2 large ones that flower in brilliant, aviation orange. As usual, I have no photos , and they are near the end of their individual bloom cycles.

Tom - not around a computer much lately.

Anonymous said...

Posted by Gus on 2/26/2008, 10:05 am, in reply to "Re: Pink flowered Eucalyptus can take -7ºC"

Yes Phil, they can. If it was a recent planting, there are chances for it to be one of the grafted ficifolia x ptychocarpa hybrid lines.

Would be good to keep an eye on possible grafts in any tree of this type you might see around, they should be visible even if it is already a mature specimen.

Sometimes you might see new shoots coming from the rootstock at once the scion is doing well. All these signs point to one of the recent hybrids.

But it could be other things too, older strains (always C. ficifolia as part of the ancestry). Orange-ish and pink-ish stamens have been a relatively common (which still means rare) result of gene infussion from other species (intentional crosses or just casual).

I am preparing some stuff about this topic, and I think I am going to grab that photo of yours to aid the graphic part!

Anonymous said...

Posted by mike laurance on 10/30/2008, 8:17 pm, in reply to "Pink flowered Eucalyptus can take -7ºC"

I find that at 20 degrees f. the plant will burn back to the soil.


GIT's Eucalyptology Topics
Subscribe via RSS Subscribe via e-mail