I bought a eucalyptus debeuzevillei 2 years ago in a one gallon pot (it was 1 foot high). The label said slow growing to 18 feet. It has already exceeded 18 feet and shows no sign of slowing down. (it has grown a foot a month even during the winter months). I have a small yard, with several fruit trees already sharing space. I wonder if anyone knows what width and height to expect from this tree in Vancouver, and if there is a mature specimen in Vancouver that I could look at. Melody
Melody Eucalyptus pauciflora ssp. debeuzevillei is commonly known as the Giant Snow Gum in Australia and is probably the next best known, and is also esteemed as the hardiest of all Eucalyptus species depending on what you read. This subspecies is less variable than E. niphophila, but still variable enough to give vastly differing results in hardiness. It can be made to grow in hot climates but generally performs best in cool climates, and achieves a height of 40 - 70'. Requires decent drainage but is not extremely fussy like some alpine eucalypts and ashes. The juvenile leaves are a bit squarish. -8 to +8°F. I am sorry but I have not seen a mature specimen in Vancouver by from my childhood in New Zealand and Australia 40 feet tall would be a small one. In Canadian climates especially vancouver the growth rate should be slow. now even for a eucalypt a foot a month is a little on the quick side!! but it must love what you are doing to it. I have checked with Straley's Trees of vancouver but unfortunately he does not list any eucalypts in the area. doesn't mean there is none just not what he wrote about. the closest I can remember is on Oak bay avenue in Victoria just between the methodist church and the garden centre. alittle far to go but that is the only one I can think of at the moment. Hope this helps Pierrot
oops just looked through Straleys book closer and he lists Eucalyptus gunnii the cider gum and he lists the following locations UBC Alpine garden. If I remember rightly it is in the north west corner by thunderbird stadium in amongst the australasian section. and VanDusen Southern Hemisphere collection on the way to the zig zag bridge Pierrot
10-15m tall according to this link: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/euctax.pl?/PlantNet/Euc=&name=Eucalyptus+debeuzevillei Another link said up to 18m.
Depending on how a particular individual does 18' is pretty small for any of the snow gums. Slow growth is usual. But your tree will probably try to grow at least 3x as tall as it is now within a reasonable period time, perhaps much larger if it overwinters long enough for that. There ARE some snow gums down here that aren't much bigger than yours that are much older, but I definitely wouldn't have put only 18' on the label--without at least indicating this estimate was for a comparatively short period of time.
Thanks for the info. Do you know anyone who might like to dig up my gorgeous eucalyptus tree and transplant it somewhere more appropriate?
Not ordinarily considered transplantable once they root out well, at 18' it is probably not a good prospect.
I have an unknown euc. about 7 feet tall. I planted it last Spring unfortunately too close to a euc. neglecta and now I need to move it. I have successfully transplanted eucs of perhaps 4 feet tall but never one quite this big. Any suggestions on how big a root ball to take, when or how to move this tree would be much appreciated. Photo at : http://bobs-eucs.blogspot.com/ ps - on my blog there are a number of eucs I can't properly identify. Any help would be good.
Bob, I don't know the answer to your question re: transplanting Eucalyptus, but I did want to suggest you visit the Alpine Garden here at UBC if you haven't done so recently. The curator, Brent Hine, has planted a number of Eucalyptus in the past 2-3 years, and browsing through the collection would probably help sort out yours.
Thank you for this. I have about a dozen different eucs and know the real name for only a few of them so a trip to the UBC gardens would be really interesting. Next time I'm over on the mainland I'll drop by.
