Eucalyptus rubida - Candlebark
Beautiful ornamental tree, gorgeous smooth white bark, pretty colourful foliage. Responds well to coppicing. Amazing shredding bark. For help in choosing your Euc, call us on 07307 413 052
Why we like this variety:
- Beautiful ornamental tree
- Gorgeous smooth white bark
- Pretty colourful foliage
- Can use the bark for kindling
Botanical Name: Eucalyptus rubida Family: Myrtaceae
Common Name: Candlebark, Candle-bark Gum, Ribbon Gum, White Gum
Status: Evergreen Tree
Origin: It can be seen growing in the high country of South East Australia and also Tasmania, usually in open woodland, around the lower slopes of the Great Dividing Range, but also in taller forests and sub-alpine forests; often growing alongside E. delegatensis
Seed Source: South-east Central Highlands, Tasmania
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Nursery Notes 2020: Spring/Summer
3 litre stock of this year - growing on - a few ready now
9 litre - very sturdy standards ready now with 8-10 cm girth
Larger pot sizes available again in 2020
Description, habit, uses and attributes:
A most beautiful, ornamental tree, which has a lignotuber and responds well to coppicing. It is closely related to E. dalrympleana and is similar in hardiness.
This Eucalyptus gets its name 'Candlebark' from the appearance of the mature tree. The trunk often has a ragged base where the shredding bark has not peeled down completely, making the tree look like a dribbly candle stub at the bottom, with the smooth, shiny white new bark above.
Tree branches exposed to full sunlight often take on hues of amber and cherry in the summer months.
How to use this species:
- Specimen tree with a single trunk - very effective as a winter garden feature, especially when fitted with up-lighting and also as a tree to provide shade in the summer
- Coppiced to grow as a multi-stem
- Cut foliage for flower arranging
- Can be trained for hedging/screening
Shoots 'n Leaves: Young shoots are flushed bronze and burgundy - very pretty
Juvenile foliage: similar to glaucescens - silvery blue and rounded with shades of pink
Adult foliage: glaucous and elongated
Bark: Foxy brown bark peels to reveal striking white, smooth, often with rose or salmon pink tinges, which is accentuated in moist cool climates
Flowers: white and held in groups of three, very good for honey production
Leaf Aroma: aromatic foliage
Rate of Growth: medium to fast
Height in maturity, if left unpruned: around the 20 m mark in the UK. Can be kept shorter by coppicing. Possibly a candidate for growing as shrub-onna-stick, like a Bay Tree
Hardiness: A bit of an unknown quantity for the Uk but we suspect E rubida will tolerate -11°C to -12°C, may be even down to -14°C on a good site.
Planting Position and Soil Preference: Easy to grow on soils low in fertility, both alkaline and acidic, always in full sun. Will grow in normal loamy garden soils, clay and sandy soils. Once established E. rubida is quite drought tolerant, but will need watering well until established. Use Rootgrow fungi to help your tree get settled into your garden.
One of the varieties that is best in the more southerly counties of England (draw a line across the country east from Gloucester), West coast of England and Scotland or if you are a Garden Pioneer - a sheltered garden anywhere else - give it a go.
It may be worth providing a newly planted young tree with a horticultural fleece enclosure (wrapped around a chicken wire and cane supporting frame, but open to the sky) for a very cold winter - just for the first winter.