British Columbia: alpine snow gum---where to buy in B.C.?

Hello, I would like to plant an alpine snow gum (eucalyptus pauciflora or eucalpytus lacrimans). I've read that they are the hardiest of all eucalyptus and hoped that I could grow one in my zone 5 area. Has anyone planted one of these trees and does anyone know where I can get some seeds (mail order) without going to Australia??
thank you for any input.

 

All of our Eucalyptus here at UBC were hit severely during two of the last 4? 5? winters. Given that we're a hopeful zone 8 (but areas of the garden more like a 7), I don't know if the Eucalyptus would survive a zone 5. Many of ours survived, but all aboveground growth (on all but one species) was killed.

 

And a "vicious" winter is predicted to occur this time. Even during more normal conditions, in the softer climate of Vancouver the convention would be to plant marginal plants like gums in spring.

 

Did you loose any of the hardier varieties, like the two I mentioned? An Aussie friend of mine said that alpine snow gums survive the temps of -18 in the higher elevations. Although he is not a tree expert, he is Australian so thought he might know about this. Also, there is a website which I have checked out: http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/cold-climate/eucalypts-cold-climates.html, and the tree I am interested in "eucalyptus pauciflora" is noted to survive to -16!. Of course, many other things may contribute to it's survival and I know that I'm on a fine line here.

 

Yes, E. pauciflora was one of the specific ones to be knocked back so that all of the above ground growth died.

 

In Seattle area the most successful one has been E. perinniana. Some larger specimens in a Seattle garden were even reseeding - when destroyed by the 1990 winter. A small one claimed to date from the 1950's I believe is thought to be still present on Bainbridge Island.

http://www.angelfire.com/bc/eucalyptus/perriniana.html

When attempting southern hemisphere plants in the north the deciding issue is the low humidity that comes with Arctic fronts. When failures occur this is because this lower humidity overrules their ability to endure similar temperatures. Plants from climates where low temperatures may be as severe as ours but brief, followed immediately by significant warming are liable to be killed by the freezing of the soil that occurs during the extended cold of the northern winter.

 

Well this is all very interesting. I had no idea there were so many eucalpytus', let alone all their subspecies. The E. perriniana might be a possible option to grow here. I understand the difficulties in this zone but I'm willing to take my chances. Possibly beside the house and mulched in a big way would help. I haven't checked to see if my local nursery could get me this plant yet, so if you have any links to mail order plants or seeds, that might be helpful. thank you

 

The site that Ron linked to above also has links for hardy plant and seed sources.
http://www.angelfire.com/bc/eucalyptus/euclinks.html#sources2

Seed probably makes more sense. Cheaper, you can try more kinds and it will be possible to order from down under. Try to find seed sourced from Tasmania or high elevation mountain areas.

 

Thank you for all those links...very helpful... good to know there's a possibility of purchasing seed in the U.S. also.