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Re: Eucalypts

Susan George wrote:

"At the Society for Growing Australian Plants Conference in Sept. we had a
very interesting lecture from Prof. Sedgely from the hort. dept. at Uni. of
Adelaide and she showed slide after
slide of australian plants being grown and developed overseas for markets
we have
completely missed out on. Something like the macadamia story. Anyway, she
showed
e. globulos (I think that's what it was) being grown in, um, coppiced
plantations I think
would be the word. The trees were kept small and heavily pruned to
encourage the
glaucous young growth which is prized by florists. In this situation I
don't think it would
be such a fire hazard."

Susan, I wonder if the species was E. pulverulenta. I am not aware of
E.globulus being grown for foliage. The young leaves of E. pulverulenta are
much more silvery. Certainly it is the species grown here by the hundreds
of acres for the cut flower market. It sells well with Banksias and
Leucospermums. It is planted in long rows as in an orchard and is pruned
heavily so that the plantations look almost like bare vineyards until new
growth starts. Yes, indeed, it does not constitute a fire danger in that
condition.

Incidentally, E. globulus is widely used in counties such as Ethiopia as
both a source of badly needed firewood and as a means of preventing further
erosion of mountain slopes. That is not to justify its use there but, now
that the native forests have been largely destroyed, it is an inexpensive
way of limiting further damage.

Andrew
San Diego, California
awilson@fda.net
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