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RE: eucalypts

Hi Vanessa,

There are just some many spp. I'm not sure I could begin
I have grown E. caesia and I wouldn't have described it as tender but
then its not THAT cold in Perth
One of my favourties is E. erythocorys (illyarrie).  It has an
interesting growth habit between a small tree and a mallee tending to
grow more sideways as it ages.  Its leaves are the classic long curved
blade and it has a typical shaggy bark that peels off and lays around
the trunk.  But the flowers!!!
The buds are huge, 1-2 inches across and four sided with brilliant red
caps (proper name is Operculum) when the caps fall off the stamens are
vivid yellow.  The fruits are in clusters of three to four and with some
in full bloom and some still in bud the tree is a mass of red and
yellow.  The fruits formed are no less delightfull as the flowers swell
into huge four sided nuts that stay on the tree untill removed.  I
collected the red caps after they fall sometimes, they can be used for
all sorts of hobby type stuff as the colour is pretty well fixed and
they are quite tough.  I belive it is grown in California but I'm not
sure where else overseas.
Beware of growing Eucalyptus spp. from seed, check the frass very
carefully as you may have nothing but a bunch of aborted ovules.  Many
Many people have been sucked in by all the little brown seed like bits
that fall out of Euc nuts believing it all to be seed.  The seed will be
a slighlty different colour and shape to the frass and quite often
different texture as well.  But you need to look carefully, with
experience you can pick it easily, to check just cut one in half, if its
seed it will be white inside, if not well it will be the same colour all
the way through and probably quite difficult to cut.

Other species I like 

E. erythonema,  red flowered mallee 
E. forrestiana,  fuschia gum
E. torquata, coral gum

Three smallish mallees, at least in Australia, with very attreactive
flowers and in the case of the last to unusual bud shapes
I would suspect that they would not like extremely humid/wet conditions
for to long being mallees
but should tolerate cold & dry as detailed by David previously.  
A few people have expressed suprise at how species seemingly reverse
their growing seasons when moving hemispheres.  But its more a case of
moving climates, 
from cool wet summers & dry cold  winters 
to     cool wet winters & dry hot  summers
 you can see which way plants work eh? all our major annual weeds here
work that way.

Cheers, Rod

Rod Randall
Weed Risk Assessment
Weed Science Group, Agriculture Western Australia
Home Page  http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/progserv/plants/weeds/Weedsci.htm

             "I weed..."

> ----------
> From: 	vee@lanminds.com
> Reply To: 	vee@lanminds.com
> Sent: 	Monday, 12 January 1998 2:12 PM
> To: 	medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> Subject: 	eucalypts
> 
> Can anyone recommend any different and wonderful eucalyptus?  I love
> E.
> niphohila in the garden as it is fairly well behaved and that white
> bark..
> but there must be more...
> 
> Has anyone grown E. caesia (I hear it's a bit tender), E. rubida or E.
> glaucescens?
> 
> Vanessa Kuemmerle
> 
>
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