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Eucalyptus help!

PiggiesPiggies Posts: 2
in Problem solving

Can anyone help, I'm a bit of a gardener novice!

I bought this eucalyptus about 5 years ago. it had lots of folliage and lovely rounded leaves, however it now looks like this with only a bit of foliage at the top and the leaves have changed to these pointed ones.

It has been a bit neglected I'm afraid.

Is there any hope for it or has it had it? Should I plant it in the ground?

Grateful for any advice!

Thanks

Posts

  • PiggiesPiggies Posts: 2

    image

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889

    looks like it's changed form juvenile foliage to adult foliage. Possibly E. Gunnii.

    Eucalyptus are huge , hungry trees and are not in the slightest bit suited to be grown in small pots. 

    Devon.
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700

    Sounds like you liked the juvenile leaves? Not sure what the labels tell you when you bought it initially, but Eucalyptus are trees when they mature, and if you want to keep them shrubby and also have rounded leaves, you ought to prune it often when young. The leaves on the photo are the leaves when they mature, so if you leave it, then you will have those shaped leaves instead.

    Another point, if you plant in the ground and leave it, that's fine too, but you may find the tree growing quite fast and taking over your garden and casting shade because it's evergreen. It all depends on what you want from this tree. Personally, I don't recommend it for a tree in a small garden, but you might.

    For now, if you liked the original leaves, try cutting back to the second branch from the base. Hopefully that may bring new side shoots from there. A bit servere, but hopefully it will survive.

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340

    Here's a E. Gunii I planted about 25yrs ago when it was about 3ft.
    Cost me £1.99 to buy and £1,100 to have it taken out

    Beware!

    image


    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039

    I have a number of E. gunnii which I grew from seed.

    I chop them back to about 3 inches from the ground every spring. This ensures that you get the lovely juvenile foliage and also keep the maximum height of the plants to about 3-4 feet tall.

    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
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