EUCALYPTOLOGICS: GIT Forestry Consulting Information Resources on Eucalyptus Cultivation Worldwide :: EUCALYPTOLOGICS: GIT Forestry Consulting Recursos de Informacion sobre Cultivo Sostenible de Eucalyptus :: Information Resources on Eucalyptus Cultivation Worldwide

Ornamental Eucalyptus? You must be kidding!

Warning: ironies below

As you well know, Eucalyptus are those little diverse Australian trees, that all become giants, invasive unestoppable weeds, they deplete soil and lower watertables, so aggresive nothing grows under them, so poisonous nothing can grow where they once grew, as much troublegiving as unable to be planted in gardens because their roots spread for a hundred meters and can cause havoc to anything growing in their way. They have nil or low ornamental potential and in addition they are not cold hardy!

Pruned compact cold hardy Eucalyptus in big containers for ornamental use / Eucalipto ornamental resistente a la helada en grandes contenedores /GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal. Lugo, Galicia, Spain, España

Fig 1: Example of compact growth in sculpted cold hardy Eucalyptus grown in big containers

Minilyptus, cold hardy sculpted ornamental Eucalyptus for medium sized gardens / Minilyptus, eucalipto ornamental esculpido y resistenete a la helada para jardines medianos / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal. Lugo, Galicia, España, Spain

Fig 2: Example of garden performance for Minilyptus, sculpted for mallee growth habit. Planted in company of red flowering Callistemon and with an understorey of different Hebe cultivars.

Eucalyptus perriniana, cold hardy sculpted ornamental Eucalyptus for medium sized gardens / Eucalipto giratorio, eucalipto ornamental esculpido y resistenete a la helada para jardines medianos / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal. Lugo, Galicia, España, Spain

Fig 3: Example of distinct connate juvenile foliage and flower buds of the Spinning Gum Tree.

Eucalyptus gunnii, cold hardy sculpted ornamental Eucalyptus for medium sized gardens / Eucalipto de la Sidra, eucalipto ornamental esculpido y resistenete a la helada para jardines medianos / GIT Forestry Consulting, Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal. Lugo, Galicia, España, Spain

Fig 4: Example of heavily pruned (pollarded) Eucalyptus gunnii cultivated from a potted specimen and planted too close to infrastructures. Obligatorily submitted to size control operations and hence avoid excessive height growth and root spread.

So as you can see, our main recommendation is wihtout any doubt that you please keep growing Leylandii and forget about Eucalyptus as ornamentals.

Especially because in addition to the examples of non ornamental foliage displayed above, you can also check that their boring bark and too similar flower buds are not at all worth of cultivation from an aesthetic point of view! So we do not need to consider their flowers at all.

Summing up, the right thing would be sending them all back to Australia, because as you well know, eucalypts cannot make good timber either!

Contact GIT Forestry Consulting / Contact Eucalyptologics / Contacto GIT Forestry Consulting / Contacto Eucalyptologics / Lugo, Galicia, Spain, España

Contact GIT Forestry Consulting - Eucalyptologics

If you want to join us in this fundamentalist crusade for the erradication of Eucalyptus worldwide, please do not hesitate contacting us!

GIT's Eucalyptology Topics

Pruning ornamental eucalypts: Eucalyptus gunnii example

Early growth in ornamental eucalypts: Sculpting Eucalyptus gunnii

Gustavo Iglesias Trabado

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

We have put together some images of ornamental Eucalyptus growing in our own garden and some explanatory texts on horticultural recommendations at each stage of cultivation during their early years in order to control their growth and form. Just click the images to enlarge them and follow the links under each figure for full description of each stage.

STEP 1: Get a good quality ornamental Eucalyptus plant

Eucalyptus gunnii / Cider Gum / Cold Hardy Ornamental Eucalyptus for gardens in temperate climates / Eucalipto ornamental resistente a la helada para jardinería en climas templados / GIT Forestry Consulting, Galicia, España, Spain

Fig. 1: Standard potted ornamental eucalypt ready to be planted out

Read more on ornamental Eucalyptus in standard containers: add an Australian touch to your garden.

STEP 2: Plant your Eucalyptus and observe during the first year

Early growth in Eucalyptus gunnii / Cider Gum / Cold Hardy Ornamental Eucalyptus for gardens in temperate climates / Crecimiento temprano en eucalipto de la sidra / Eucalipto ornamental resistente a la helada para jardinería en climas templados / GIT Forestry Consulting, Galicia, España, Spain

Fig. 2: Early growth during the first year post-planting

Read more on early growth in garden Eucalyptus and how observing the progress of your tree will let you decide on when to start sculpting your big bonsai.

STEP 3: Keep your Eucalyptus bushy, size control via pollarding

Fig. 3: First winter growth and spring Eucalyptus pollarding

Read more on size control operations in garden Eucalyptus to restrict height growth and encourage lateral branching.

STEP 4: Make your Eucalyptus compact, branch division via pruning

Fig. 4: Second year early growth after size control operations (pruning & clipping)

Read more on risk minimisation when pruning garden Eucalyptus. Time well your maintenance operations!

STEP 5: Observe Eucalyptus branch length growth and keep sculpting

Fig. 5: Pollarded & pruned ornamental Eucalyptus 65 weeks after planting

Benefits of combining pollarding, pruning and clipping on young ornamental garden Eucalyptus

Size control achieved, important for gardens with limited space (tree size estabilised around 3 m)
Basal branches retained (not discarded by the tree after building up higher crown)
More compact form (noticeable length growth in basal branches)
Balanced aerial part/root system ratio (we minimise windhtrow damage risks)
Fresh Eucalyptus foliage harvest from pruning operations, useful for flower arrangements

Keep an eye on...

New branch architecture after pruning: Not all Eucalyptus trees managed this way develop several main branches after pollarding. The pictured one shows how one of the lateral branches took apical dominance. We obtained good branching in other specimens.

Leaning towards light: Development of new main branches can be achieved but they tend to grow towards the light. This is important if Eucalyptus are planted in partial shade. This effect can be somewhat controled using stakes and wire to train future main branches to the desired direction while they are yet flexible and not woody.

Time invested in maintenance during the first 65 weeks

- Planting: 1.5 hours
- Fertilising: 0.1 hours
- Pollarding: 0.1 hours
- Pruning: 0.1 hours
- Clipping: 1.5 hours
- Watering: 4.5 hours
Total: 8 hours

Want to know more?

Fill the contact form or explore GIT Forestry Consulting's main website and this blog!

GIT's Eucalyptology Topics

Pruning Eucalyptus: there are some risks to minimise

Prune Eucalyptus with care, they will be grateful

Or how to avoid unnecesary damage to pruned Eucalyptus

Gustavo Iglesias Trabado

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

If you decide to give pruning and/or clipping a go in order to keep your ornamental Eucalyptus plant size controlled to some extent it is important keeping in mind that, as with any other plant being, secateur wounds require some caution. A first caution is trying to avoid freezing events affecting recently pruned plants, which can cause bark detachments and further dieback "down the cut". But a second and maybe more important because of less predictable caution has to do with trying to avoid wound infection by decay fungi.

Some important risk factors for the later have to do with climatic conditions (high humidity, no winds, occasional rains being risky), with plant isolation from infection sources (proximity to other plants or plant based materials susceptible of hosting decay fungi), and of course of the number and intensity of wounds (potential entry points for pathogens).

Many fungi can cause decay on pruned trees, and many are common in fruit trees and other very common ornamental hardwoods in humid temperate gardens. Their spores are released in high humidity conditions and their colonisation of fresh cutting wounds can lead to undesired effects as Silver Leaf, causing dieback on whole shoots and hence an aesthetic nuisance or if a serious case, plant mortality.

Pruning Risk Minimisation for Eucalyptus

Some possible ways to try to minimise these two risks (frost damage and fungal decay) in ornamental eucalypts are:

Delaying pruning operations until there is enough safety of harsh freezing events not happening on recently wounded plants
Trying to delay pruning operations until dry days are more common (depends on the type of spring and rainfall patterns you have), choosing sunny and windy days if possible and better even if it has not rained or been foggy the previous night
Trying to avoid having favourable environments for fungal growth near the pruned plants (wood debris, sawdust, organic material suitable for the compost bin)
Monitoring your garden for fungal reproductive organs growing on wood and keeping an eye on them to schedule pruning after the mushrooms are scorched (their spores have been released)
Applying the protective layer of a good quality pruning wound dressing immediately after cutting, especially in large wounds
Keeping freshly pruned potted plants outside of the greenhouse until pruning wounds age if these are to be kept in high humidity and warm temperature (+15ºC) conditions and there are potential sources of fungal inoculum nearby
If the worse happens, removing and destroying infected plant tissue if that is possible without causing new fresh wounds
If the worse happens and you have more than one specimen plant, observing variation in damage to try to screen individuals with higher tolerance to pathogens

GIT's Eucalyptology Topics

Pruning Eucalyptus: compact E. gunnii in pots

Some of the most commonly cultivated Eucalyptus species as garden plants in cold temperate climates are fundamentally chosen because of their reasonable tolerance to winter frosts. Many of these species, including Eucalyptus gunnii, can become medium to big sized trees if planted out and left to grow "at their will". However this is not always the desired outcome for tiny gardens, and surely not for pot grown plants in urban "yardless" gardens. Is there something that can be done? Yes.

If the eucalypt species you decide to grow is a good coppicer (not all of them are), you can try to train it from the beginning or convert a plant getting too big sized into a small multistemmed shrub looking like specimen by severely cutting back to almost soil level in the right time of the year. With proper care afterwards the new coppice growth will soon fill up. But perfect symmetrical and compact growth is not always achieved by letting it grow again "at their will". Some training is needed, and this involves trying to get as many branch divisions as possible. One way to do so is clipping the terminal growth in some branches of your choice, trying to make sure you remove the very top part only and you do that when new lateral branches are already emerging and well visible a bit down each stem. This operation can be repeated along the same growth season two or three (or more) times depending on how fast the growth rate of your plant is (which depends on how much you take care of it, how much light and watering it receives, and fertiliser dosage).

Here you have an example of a coppiced E. gunnii in a 15 litre pot getting ready for formation pruning. Target is either keeping it as a potted plant for years trying to achieve a compact outlook or planting it out as a low shrub and keeping it like that at the garden. Not a miniature bonsai but some of its principles also apply here.

Depending on where and when you start training your eucalypt tree the final visual outcome can be different. You can also obtain medium height globose sculpted trees!

Please remember there are some cautionary measures to take before using secateurs!