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Got a query? call us on 01905 888 098

(Excluding 50 litre pots and above or trees over 3.50m tall (inc the pot),

unless specifically advertised on the product page and
Highlands and Islands- Contact us for a quote)

Eucalyptus gunnii ‘Azura’ – Dwarf Cider Gum – 1 of our absolute Favourites

£55.00£368.00

Eucalyptus gunnii ‘Azura’

An exciting DWARF Eucalyptus variety. Slower growing, with a compact bushy habit. Intense silvery blue foliage. A good choice for hedges and screening. Exceptionally hardy and easy to grow. Air-pot grown for a stable root system in peat free compost.

Why we like this variety:

  • Slower growing for a Eucalyptus (still fast for a tree).
  • Intense, beautiful, silvery blue foliage.
  • Very bushy habit. Great for screening.
  • Highly prunable and exceptionally frost hardy.
  • This is it, the perfect Eucalyptus!

For another beautiful dwarf gunnii alternative, look at our gorgeous Eucalyptus gunnii Silverana or Eucalyptus gunnii ‘France Bleu’!

 

Sizes Quoted are the approximate height band of the tree above compost level, ie. the height of the tree once planted into the ground. Please note: Eucalyptus are living plants and can grow almost all year round, occasionally we may supply you with a plant that is slightly taller than your order. If this might cause you problems, please include a note with your order.

Click the dropdown below to view our different sizes & prices.

REF: EUCAZU1
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Description

Eucalyptus gunnii ‘Azura’ – Dwarf Cider Gum – 1 of our Favourites

Fabulous bushy cultivar of compact habit with much smaller genes than its parents -the monster Eucalyptus gunnii.

Grow Eucalyptus gunnii ‘Azura’ as a shrub-on-a-stick, small bushy screening tree anywhere from 2.4m up to 5m tall.  Allow it to grow a little taller to say around 6-8m, if you want height.

OR keep Eucalyptus gunnii ‘Azura ‘trimmed as a short bushy shrub in your garden.  This is a very versatile plant.

Great for cut foliage – very productive with the classic cute round blue leaf.

The ‘bush’ variant consists of some twin-stems and other shrubby small forms. Please ask for a photograph if you would like to know more.

Biometrics for Eucalyptus gunnii ‘Azura’

Shoots ‘n Leaves: Young shoots are covered in silvery white wax

Juvenile foliage: Rounded, intense silvery blue, with some rose pink and silvery white on the new growth in summer.

Adult foliage: Intermediate foliage is elliptical and then the foliage will change to the typical lanceolate E. gunnii foliage as the tree matures; however the internodes are very short, giving a bushy appearance. Regular pruning will encourage the rounded juvenile blue foliage.

Bark: Smooth bark in pewter grey, cream, olive or sometimes pinky brown, flaking off in large pieces to reveal new bark in shades of pale gold or creamy silver.

Flowers: White flowers followed by gum nuts.

Leaf Aroma: Eucalyptol, but not as strong as its cousin Eucalyptus archeri

Rate of Growth: Slowish for a Eucalyptus. In the nursery, they have grown about 30cm (1ft) over 4 months, so will possibly grow 60-90cm (2-3ft) in an average year.  We will update this page as we gather data from our nursery trials.

Height in maturity, if left unpruned:  Current estimates are that E. gunnii ‘Azura’ will reach 5m (15ft) tall by about 2m wide,  and in the medium to long term approximately 10m (30ft) in the long term. It may be taller in exceptional growing conditions, but still less than half the finished height of its parents.  Remember, E. gunnii ‘Azura’ is a versatile, much bushier tree than straight E. gunnii; reminiscent of a Pittosporum in habit and can be kept trimmed to form a small tree or ‘shrub-on-a-stick’ for the smaller garden.

Here is the link to our short pruning video  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP4ldDRtHeQ

Click here for the link to our Guidance Notes on Pruning with images

Hardiness: Root system hardy in the region of -14 to -16°C, exceptionally hardy for a Eucalyptus, 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). Eucalypts need to be grown without stress – see our blog post on the subject.
  • 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.

Click here to read more about hardiness in Eucalyptus  and how you can help your Eucalyptus to be as hardy as possible

 

Additional information

Weight 4 kg
Dimensions 150 × 50 × 50 cm
Size

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Planting Position and Soil

Eucalyptus gunnii ‘Azura’ – Dwarf Cider Gum

Follow our planting instructions (issued with each order) for the best results.

Requirements:

  • Enjoys full sun and open sky above, for compact bushy growth. Avoid shade cast by other tall trees and buildings.
  • E. gunnii ‘Azura’ will grow happily on a wide range of soil types from moisture retentive clays and deep fertile loams to free-draining stoney ground; any soil pH of alkaline, neutral and acidic persuasion.
  • Water well during the summer, for 2 growing seasons, to ensure your tree establishes well.
  • Grows well on our horrible swampy, alkaline, yellow clay soil at Grafton Nursery.

 

Recommendations:

  • If planting a large number for cut foliage, subsoiling may be a good practice to follow, especially if pastureland has previously been used by livestock.
  • For the best results, follow our planting and aftercare watering instructions, issued with every order; they can also be found under the Help and Advice tab on this website.
  • Improve poor soils with our planting kit, at the time of planting.
  • To encourage deep rooting and therefore good stability, prepare a deep planting pit as per our instructions.
  • Ensure there is no competition from weeds or grass around the base of the young tree as this will seriously cramp its style and slow down establishment. Our research has found that grass around the trunks of newly planted Eucalypts can completely stop them from growing and may lead to failure
  • Make life easier for you and your new tree: Plant with the mycorrhizal fungi product Rootgrow.  Eucalyptus in particular have a special, lifelong relationship with their root fungi, the latter of which actively transport food and water directly into the tree roots, helping your new Euc establish faster and more efficiently, particularly in challenging types of soil.

How to Use

Eucalyptus gunnii ‘Azura’ – Dwarf Cider Gum

Specimen Tree: for the wider landscape and also for the smaller garden where you require a compact, bushier evergreen tree of a very hardy nature.  E. ‘Azura’ could be planted as an avenue, where straight  E. gunnii would simply grow too large.

For growing a full sized standard, planting the tree and running away is an option, but it won’t necessarily give you the best results. See our guidance notes for growing specimen Eucalyptus in our Help and Advice section. For monthly emails on how to prune and care for your Eucalyptus, sign up to our Gumnut Club – it’s totally free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

‘Azura’ looks fabulous in a mixed border, bringing cool silvery blue to the planting scheme.

An excellent structural evergreen tree or trimmed shrub for the winter garden.  Try planting E. gunnii ‘Azura’ with red stemmed Cornus alba ‘Westonbirt’ or team it up with Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ and Phormium ‘Maori Chief’. A great addition to xerophytic gardens and those with mediterranean or Australian planting themes.

Floral Art: can be used domestically for cut foliage, but I suspect it is not vigorous enough for commercial production.

Hedges Screens Windbreaks: would look great planted as a hedge/screen. Its dense habit will make a great privacy screen and the silvery blue foliage will reflect light, making it difficult to see beyond the screen. Prune in spring, with 2-3 dry days forecast, to an ‘A’ shape, to keep it bushy down to the ground. Avoid pruning Eucs during wet weather, to discourage fungal attack. Never prune in Autumn or Winter

Pot Culture outdoors: Eucalyptus gunnii ‘Azura’ is an excellent candidate for terrace pots and large planters or raised beds.   For information on how to successfully grow Eucs in pots, visit our Blog entitled ‘How to grow a Eucalyptus in a pot and keep it alive!’

No grass, no weeds and a thick bark chip mulch, to a depth of 150 mm (6 inches) are essential to assist with good establishment. Our research trials have demonstrated that grass around the trunk of Eucalyptus prevent the trees from quickly establishing and can completely stop them from growing.

For information on how to successfully grow Eucs in pots, visit our Blog entitled ‘How to grow a Eucalyptus in a pot and keep it alive!’

Tolerant of arid environments, poor stony dry soils once established. It is essential that your Euc. is given our recommended quantity of water for its first 2 growing seasons in your grounds, during its establishment phase before you abandon it to its fate.  The tree needs to establish a good root system before it can survive in dry, challenging conditions.

Nursery Notes and Trivia

Winter 2022 into Spring 2023

Good stock levels: 3 litre – bushes and standards, 5 litre bushes and standards,

12 litre and 20 litre standards for instant height.

Beautiful 30 litre multi-stemmed bushes and fabulous 100 litre multi-stemmed specimens for instant effect

Botanical Name: Eucalyptus gunnii ‘Azura’ (Cagire) PBR     MYRTACEÆ; Myrtle Family

Common Name: Cider Gum

Status: Evergreen Tree

Origin: French forestry breeding programme AFOCEL from E. gunnii parents

The French Forestry Commission have a breeding initiative to find new Eucalyptus hybrids for timber production and E. gunnii ‘Azura’ is a product of this programme.  Obviously, if you are breeding and selecting Eucalyptus for timber you want a no-messing incredibly vigorous, fast growing, straight stemmed tree with no side branches.  ‘Azura’ did not meet these criteria at all, as it is compact, extremely bushy and slow growing for a Euc.  Fortunately for all of us, the French recognised the ornamental qualities of ‘Azura’ and now we can plant it in our gardens.

If you are having difficulty deciding which Eucalyptus tree to buy for your garden, please feel free to email us at [email protected] or phone us on 07307 413 052.

Note: Azura and Silverana are grown from cuttings, and as such their young stems are initially sometimes bent or leaning. This doesn’t affect their health or vitality, and you can plant the first inch or so of the trunk underground to mitigate this. Any products listed as ‘bushes’ are multistems, best suited to life as small bushes and low screening. For more traditional trees, consider our taller standards which have been pruned into straight stems by the nursery team.

Azura does not have a lignotuber, so will not regenerate off the root crown if clear felled or cut down by machinery, frost or beast.  However, if pollarded to around 1m, epicormics buds may sprout from the trunk, provided the tree is not very old. Mature trees may not be able to re-sprout.

 

Grown under licence from the French Breeder – the price includes plant breeders rights royalty payment.

The superb tree featured on BBC Gardener’s World review of the Hampton Court RHS Gardens Show 2017 was one of ours 🙂

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