I’ve for a few years now been growing different Eucalyptus species in zone 8 NC. I have tried about a half dozen and a dozen or so others I’m going to try or hope to someday.
I’m curious if anyone else has grown any and how it’s going. And of course which ones.
The first one I planted was Eucalyptus camphora, commonly called mountain swamp gum. Unusually among eucalypts, it’s a water loving species that prefers wet sites, though it seems to handle drought extremely well regardless.
Looks like I haven’t taken a photo of it in a while, will need to do so and upload it…
It handles cold and ice fairly well. The wood is very flexible so it bends a lot during wind and under load, but so far I’ve not had any breaks. I’ve seen partial defoliation after a low of 12 F but little or no dieback. My guess is it’s hardy into the single digits. It does form a lignotuber, so it should resprout if it ever gets like to the ground. My guess is this long term is an easy zone 8b and probably 8a tree.
Growth rate in moist soil is greater than six feet a year, it’s a very fast growing tree. Drier soil slows growth but not by much. The leaves are broad and fairly large. Stems tend to be reddish and the outer bark a pale color. The smell is classic eucalyptus like with a heavy camphor scent as well. It’s not as bright or medicinal as stereotypical eucalyptus oil, a bit more complex. Reminds me a lot of how some dried arraignments smell.
A more marginal one is narrow-leaved peppermint, Eucalyptus nicholii or Eucalyptus radiata, I’m not sure yet which one I have. I lost one plant to cold but another more sheltered one survived, so it’s not clear to me how cold tolerant it is. This is my favorite smelling one, it’s an awesome mix of classic eucalyptus and rich peppermint.
My surviving tree is in moderate shade, and Eucalyptus is intolerant of much shade so it’s slower growing, about a foot or two a year so far. Not sure how fast it would be in full sun.
One of my best performers is Eucalyptus neglecta the Omeo gum. Grown from seed last year, it received no damage over winter as a seedling despite several year old camphora defoliating and some supposedly more hardy snow gum seedlings started at the same time having dieback. The growth this past year was quite good and I think I can expect three feet or more a year. The blue leaves are very large for a eucalyptus and the new growth is often a very pretty purple.
This one is completely safe in zone 8. I’ve heard it’s not a big tree either which is nice for landscaping and just generally a good thing in the South since hurricanes and 150 ft trees don’t mix.
Intriguingly, it’s actually a fairly rare species in the wild.
The smell is very typical eucalyptus and quite nice.
Only recently started from seed, I’m very excited about Eucalyptus dalrympleana, mountain white gum. It’s likely going to be similar to camphora in hardiness or slightly more tender but I won’t know just yet as my plants are going to be indoors this winter. Should be very fast growing as well and become a large tree. Once mature, these have the most incredible brilliant white trunks.
The smell on the seedlings isn’t strong yet but it’s interesting. It’s eucalyptus, but with a lot of spicy notes and something pungent going on.
I grew Eucalyptus parvula in zone 8a in NC for about 8 years. I got it from Mckenzie Farms as a little seedling and it grew to about 25 feet and had a trunk of over six inches in diameter at ground level and survived winter lows in the single digits F. It eventually died a few winters ago when the lowest temp was only in the teens, but we had an abrupt plummet in temp in November that I presume was was what killed the tree.
Here’s a more recent photo of Eucalyptus camphora
And photos of my narrow leaved peppermint, which ever species it is.
Here’s Eucalyptus neglecta
I have two species of snow gums so far. These are the ones with the classic rounded leaves florists love. In theory these are some of the cold hardiest eucalyptus species, but I think they’re actually pretty variable with some not being that reliable.
One that isn’t looking promising despite being a very pretty plant and being touted as hardy is Eucalyptus pulverulenta often called silver dollar eucalyptus or florist eucalyptus or just “Baby Blue” which isn’t actually a true cultivar best I can tell.
The smell is classic eucalyptus and very clean. Growth is pretty fast once established, maybe three feet a year. This one had dieback last winter and this year it already has some splits in the trunk from freezing. Might just be a coppice plant, which with most eucalyptus honestly is fine since the prized leaves only form on juvenile growth and adult leaves are plain looking, but I believe this is one of the species that keeps the cool looking leaves even when mature.
The other snow gum I have is Eucalyptus perriniana, spinning gum.
Growth is similar, fairly fast. The first year they were extremely floppy but these ones have some a good job of straightening up. The spreading form, tight clusters of small, rounded, twirling leaves and good colors are very attractive. Smells like eucalyptus, though maybe a little muskier than pulverulenta.
Much less cold damage on these so far. Which is good as I have almost a half dozen of them.
