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Eucalyptus

Cecelia-LCecelia-L Posts: 120
Anyone tried eucalyptus as a hedge? Unclipped and left to its own devices. How would it look? 
Site is clay, partial sun, boggy wet in winter and baked dry in summer. 
Purpose: privacy screening evergreen 

thanks!! 

Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    You'd need to be very vigilant re keeping it under control if it established. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • You  would need to keep it cut back very regularly as it grows fast and tall. The natural growth is a 30/40 ft.  straight bare trunk with foliage at the top. The trunks also get rather thick in diameter.
    Probably why it is never seen grown as a hedge.
    There are plenty of other evergreen, more easily managed hedging bushes available.
  • Cecelia-LCecelia-L Posts: 120
    Oh dear, definitely not as a big hedge then. I suppose two or three eucalyptus planted as a group would still work. Underplanted by something floral and evergreen. 

    Thanks for your help @Fairygirl @Joyce Goldenlily
  • Still not a good idea.
    Eucalyptus will take all of the water and nutrients from the ground under them, leaving anything smaller really struggling to grow. Even weeds.
    The voice of experience and a lesson learned the hard way on my part.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Eucalyptus grow very tall and, as has been said, suck the life out of the soil around them.  There's one next door which is way taller than their house and is only a youngster planted about 12 years ago.

    I suggest you start with one and keep it regularly coppiced which simply means cutting it back to the base so you get fresh new stems with the lovely new foliage that flower arrangers adore.  That'll keep it a hedge height but you'll have a gap after coppicing it. 

    https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/eucalyptus/pruning-guide 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Eucalyptus are lovely, but need to be carefully managed. I grow them as stand alone shrubs, pollarding them every year. I find it quite possible to grow perennials around them without problem.
    They are not imo hedging plants.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I had one in a previous garden @punkdoc, and did the same as you, as it was clear how quickly it was going to grow. Plenty of other planting below and around it.
    Not a hedging plant in the usual sense of the word though, as you say. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    I was a little mad on eucalyptus a few years back because I loved the leaves and the exotic feel. I grew quite a few different species from seed and a couple, including gunnii, grew taller than my house and thicker than your thigh in under 5 years. I tried coppicing but they didn't really work for me in that situation so I swapped them for something else. 
    I didn't have many problems growing anything near them but they were a pain to remove and my lesson was learnt.
  • Cecelia-LCecelia-L Posts: 120

    Can’t be a hedge, makes sense. 

    Coincidentally, I was initially hoping to create a small arboretum in this place so it’s fast growing abilities works quite well. 

    How about this?
    Right by the boundary under planted with bushes. Perhaps some dwarf  eucalyptus bushes. 


    Thanks! 
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