Eucalyptus pauciflora ssp. pauciflora ‘Mount Buffalo’ – Mt Buffalo Snow Gum

How to use in the landscape and/or garden: How to grow or train it to get the best out of it

Rare and special Snow gum selection from a tiny area on Mount Buffalo, Australia. This handsome Eucalyptus looks more like a dwarf version of E. pauci subsp. debeuzevillei. ‘Buffalo’ can be grown as a standard or multi-stemmed tree with a bushy habit.  The large, boxy and blue juvenile leaves make quite a statement and ultimately give way to typical scythe shaped adult foliage on springy branches; which are designed to shed snow…… if we ever have any.

 Fabulous Specimen Tree for the wider landscape, arboretum collection or avenue planting if grown as a standard and for the smaller, medium and larger garden on free draining soil. No winter-wet feet here please!

 Growing a full-sized standard: planting the tree and running away is an option, but it won’t necessarily give you the best results.

We suggest you maintain a leading shoot and tip prune the lateral shoots to encourage bushiness.  Keep all the sides shoots as they are building up the strength of the main trunk. ‘Buffalo’ is naturally dwarf and won’t require a great deal of pruning to keep it in great shape.

Prune the tree every March 18^th and tip-prune annual shoots at the end of May to keep your tree small and bushy.

For more, see our guidance notes for growing specimen Eucalyptus in our Help and Advice section.

For monthly emails on how and when to prune and care for your Eucalyptus, sign up to our Gumnut Club and we’ll send you the Bush Telegraph – it’s totally free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Growing shrub-on-a-stick clipped standard: this is an opportunity to grow a Eucalyptus in a confined space like a courtyard and also control its overall size. You can produce a small tree on a trunk with a height of anywhere between 2.4m (8ft) and 4m (12ft). Prune back growth every March 18^th or thereabouts and tip prune the annual growth back by up to 90% at the end of May. Light tip pruning can be done again during July, but no later. Don’t prune from August through to February.

Growing a multi-stemmed bush or tree. Naturally dwarf E. pauci. subsp. pauciflora ‘Mt Buffalo’ readily produces a multi-stemmed specimen.  For a pre-trained multi-stemmed tree, keep pruning the leading shoots every March 18^th to keep them in balance until the multi-trunked tree has established itself.

Why would you want to do this?

To create:

• a tree with more body or ‘mass’ of branches and foliage for screening purposes. Once grown back up to its full potential, it will now have several main trunks
• an attractive multi-stemmed architectural tree, especially if it has exceptional bark
• to control height, whereby your Euc can be usefully maintained anywhere between 2.4m (8ft) and 7m (20ft).

REMEMBER: No grass, no weeds and a thick boring 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.

 Pot Culture outdoors:  E. pauci. subsp. pauciflora ‘Mt Buffalo’ is an excellent choice for growing as a multi-stemmed shrub in a container.  Good all-year-round features, beautiful foliage and compact bushy habit. Pot on at the recommended intervals and to supply it with sufficient water and food during the growing season.

Always keep pot grown Eucalyptus in the air-pot container system for healthy and happy trees.

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!’

Hedge-Screens:  E. pauci. subsp. pauciflora ‘Mt Buffalo’  is not on our selected species list for hedge-screens and windbreaks in the traditional sense. However, ‘Buffalo’ would be a good choice to establish a loose, billowy windbreak in a coastal setting.

Always prune your hedge-screen March 18^th and maintain a profile like a capital ‘A’.  That is broad bottom, narrow shoulders and a flat head.  This allows light to all parts of the hedge and keeps it bushy.  If you let your hedge develop into the shape of a capital ‘V’, its bottom will open up…not a great look!

Floral Art:  E. pauci. subsp. pauciflora ‘Mt Buffalo’ is not on our ‘Cut foliage’ list, but I see no reason why you could not use the odd branch in a vase of flowers

Firewood Production:  E. pauci. subsp. pauciflora ‘Mt Buffalo’  is not on our selected species list for Biomass or Firewood.  The wood will burn well, but it’s a dwarf species and Snow gums are generally not sufficiently productive for log production.

Do give us a call on our nursery mobile 07307 413 052 if you would like to discuss growing firewood with one of our consultants

Rural/Agricultural:

Silvo Pasture: ‘Buffalo’ would not be my first choice recommended for this job, due to its compact nature and requirement for free draining soil.

Ecology:

• All Eucalyptus produce flowers with nectar and pollen, and ‘Buffalo’ provides useful flowers for foraging honey-bees and other pollinating insects

 Environmental:

• Growing on the Coast Snow gums have extra-thick leaf cuticles, which make them extremely tolerant of cold exposed conditions and salt laden winds, once mature in the ground. To make this work, we recommend that:

1. you plant a smaller multi-stemmed specimen (5 litre, around 1m-1.2m tall)
2. encourage fast establishment in a deeply prepared planting pit (follow our planting advice), to encourage deep rooting to grow an upright, stable tree.
3. Staking will be required.
4. Newly planted trees will very likely require a wind break shelter for their first winter in the ground with you.
5. Zero grass or weeds during the period of establishment is non-negotiable!

• Shelter Belts and Windbreaks pauci. subsp. pauciflora ‘Mt Buffalo’  is not on our selected species list for hedge-screens and windbreaks in the traditional sense. However, ‘Buffalo’ would be a good choice to establish a loose, billowy windbreak in a coastal setting.
• E. pauci. subsp. pauciflora ‘Mt Buffalo’  can be grown to form a good evergreen windbreak when planted as a single species stand on free-draining soils.  It can be mixed in with other plant species provided care is taken to mitigate competition from other plants whilst the Eucalyptus is establishing as they don’t compete well when young. We recommend that you establish the Eucalyptus for a year prior to planting additional species or you install an automatic irrigation system to ensure the Euc is receiving sufficient water, during the summer months. However, this snow gum doesn’t want to have winter-wet feet.

We recommend

1. you plant a smaller multi-stemmed specimen (less than 1.2m tall in a 5 litre air-pot)
2. encourage fast establishment in a deeply prepared planting pit (follow our planting advice), to encourage deep rooting to grow an upright, stable tree
3. Staking will be required
4. In exposed locations, newly planted trees will very likely require a wind break shelter for their first winter in the ground with you
5. Zero grass or weeds during the period of establishment is non-negotiable!

• Drying up wet soils pauci. subsp. pauciflora ‘Mt Buffalo’ is a snow gum and will not enjoy wet soils
• Tolerant of cold and exposed growing environments inland pauci. subsp. pauciflora ‘Mt Buffalo’ will grow in open fields and free-draining pastures, once established.

We recommend

1. you plant a smaller multi-stemmed specimen (less than 1.2m tall in a 5 litre air-pot)
2. encourage fast establishment in a deeply prepared planting pit (follow our planting advice), to encourage deep rooting to grow an upright, stable tree
3. Staking will be required
4. In exposed locations, newly planted trees will very likely require a wind break shelter made from horticultural fleece or sail cloth, for their first winter in the ground with you; this very much depends on the level of exposure
5. Zero grass or weeds during the period of establishment is non-negotiable!

• Tolerant of poor stony soils once established pauci. subsp. pauciflora ‘Mt Buffalo’ does not require a rich soil and can survive in poor, stony soils and arid environments 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, deep root system before it can survive in dry, challenging conditions.

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. Growth on impoverished soils will always be reduced.