Eucalyptus hedraia ‘Falls Creek’ – 1 of the amazing ‘Snow Gums’

Description Eucalyptus hedraia ‘Falls Creek’ PLUS: LIMITED OFFER – FREE ECO-MULCH MAT KIT with every tree purchased (while stocks last) or to give it its full name, Eucalyptus pauciflora subsp hedraia ‘Falls Creek’, is the most amazing member of the Snow Gum group.  We feel it is more exciting than its ubiquitous cousin E. pauciflora subsp. niphophila. Pronunciation of hedraia – try ‘hairdryer’. Honestly – we couldn’t make it up! This extremely rare tree is unique to us at Hardy Eucalyptus, with seed harvested from a very small group of trees restricted to the Falls Creek and Mount Bogong area of eastern Victoria, Australia. Eucalyptus hedraia ‘Falls Creek’ has beautiful blue-green foliage of quite a distinctive shape and spectacular bark – one of its best features. Furthermore, it is quite a small Eucalyptus, only growing to around 8-10m after 10-15 years. To get all botanical on you – It differs from its other snow gum cousins in a few characteristics: Sometimes the ‘egg-shaped’ juvenile foliage continues into the adult leaf stage Larger than usual flower buds with no stalks (sessile) and covered in protective white wax followed by huge fruit (gumnuts) of 1.0-1.5cm wide and hemispherical in shape (like a ball cut in half) Hop across to the ‘How to Use’ Tab to see how you can enjoy and deploy this spectacular and rare tree in your landscape Visit the ‘Planting and Soil’ Tab to learn about the preferred growing conditions for Eucalyptus hedraia ‘Falls Creek’ Biometrics for Eucalyptus hedraia ‘Falls Creek’ Shoots ‘n Leaves: Very ornamental foliage.  Young shoots are blue-green and covered in white wax. Juvenile leaves are blue-green and ‘egg-shaped, and can be up to 12cm long x 6cm wide – so quite chunky. Adult leaves glossy green to blue-green, up to 15.5cm long x 4cm wide. The adult leaves can be broadly lanceolate to egg-shaped to falcate/lanceolate, but all with the typical snow gum parallel veins Bark: Absolutely beautiful – a fabulous garden feature, especially in winter. Smooth and tactile. A mosaic of pearly-white, silver and pewter with occasional dramatic stripes in custard yellow, lime, burnt sienna and coffee. Flowers: White, in large groups of 11-15 resulting in huge, hemi-spherical fruit of 1.0-1.5cm wide. Most impressive! Leaf Aroma: typical for a snow gum – faint eucalyptol. Growing at a high altitude, the snow gums do not require much in the way of strong smelling oil to deter flying, biting insects Rate of Growth: medium for a Eucalyptus 1.0-1.2m (3-4ft) per year. Height in maturity, if left unpruned:   8-10m (24-30ft) after about 15-20 years.  Easy to keep smaller by regular pruning – March 18th and end of May. If pruned, it can be trained to form a bushy screening tree, a lollipop standard or can be grown to produce a multi-stemmed bush like a species rose or coppiced Hazel tree. Responds well to coppicing and pollarding, when done at the right time of year, and provided it has attained a fat trunk. Please don’t attempt to pollard a Euc with a girth of less than 50mm (2 inches) or coppice to ground level with a girth of less than 100-125mm (4-5 inches)  – it will only end in tears! Unless you are growing for cut foliage, please refrain from voluntarily electing to prune your Eucalyptus from August through to February; it can kill it. To receive monthly pruning and aftercare advice, sign up to our Gumnut Club – its free and you can unsubscribe at any time.  To subscribe – just call or ping us an email to [email protected] Click here for further advice on pruning can be found in our Guidance Notes Click here to visit our pruning video Hardiness: Good hardiness rating, root-system should be happy down to around -14 to -16°C, once mature. Hardiness in Eucalyptus is governed by provenance of seed (all our seed is sourced from frosty or cold locations) how it is grown (i.e. high nitrogen levels reduces cold tolerance), the age of the tree – the older your tree, the hardier it will be. Younger Eucs are more susceptible to frost damage. how long it has been planted in the ground. The deeper you can encourage the rooting by digging a deep planting pit at the time of installation, the quicker your tree will establish and you will increase its ability to survive cold winters. See our planting notes for more details. For more information on how to help increase the hardiness of your Eucalyptus – click here to visit our Guidance Notes