Garden Design in the UK- using Eucalyptus
There are over 700 species of Australian Eucalyptus. These are some of my favourites that I encountered in Sydney recently.
Growing Eucalyptus in the UK
Normally gardens are not big enough for these giant trees.
But there are number of benefits.
When the trees reach maturity they have a wonderful open structure which allows you to have a big specimen tree without loosing too much light.
They are evergreen.
They have beautiful bark and trunk colours.
They give an exotic look to the garden and can be used in a tropical scheme.
For cut flower arrangements keep your Gum tree about 5 foot tall and regularly prune the new foliage- given you decorative leaves throughout the season.
The cons would be:
Don’t let them near your house or drains as their roots are impressive
They can drop leaves all year round so make sure they are not near a pool
They can look like amputees if they are not in the right place and you find yourself having to prune them. They need space.
Two Species for the UK
Eucalyptus gunni – 25 meters tall
Eucalyptus pauciflora niphophila- only gets about 8 meters which a spread of 4meters
Why do they shed their bark—‘decoticating?
There are different theories but the main three are:
1) When the tree sheds its bark it also cleanses itself of lichen, moss and parasites
2) Both the bark and new trunk of a gum tree photosynthesizes so if the leaves are burnt in a bushfire the tree can take in the sun’s energy straight away and start regrowing.
3) The tree trunk expands and therefore the bark is too tight . Most of the bark sheds after summer though this theory doesn’t explain why all trees don’t need to do this
