Eucalyptus neglecta – Omeo Gum

Eucalyptus neglecta ‘Dargo Plains’– Omeo Gum

Specimen and Screening Tree: Perfect for the wider landscape, arboretum collection or avenue planting; also for the small, medium and larger garden. Grow either as a standard tree or shrubby bush.

Full-size Standard: Planting the tree and running away is an option, but it won’t necessarily give you the best results. For information on how to do it properly see our ‘Help’ pages here.

Shrub on a stick/clipped standard: This is an opportunity to grow a Eucalyptus in a confined space and 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).

E. neglecta naturally lends itself to this growth habit and can be achieved with bi-annual pruning at specific times of year.

To get the best results:

• Prune to reduce overall height on March 18th – National Eucalyptus Day UK.
• Tip prune by halving all new growth at the end of May – The Chelsea Chop.
• Avoid pruning at other times of year

Growing a multi-stemmed bush or tree.  E. neglecta responds well to coppicing and readily produces a multi-stemmed specimen.

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 and 7m (8-20ft.
• To produce your own multistem from a young tree or maxi tree see our growing notes here.

Floral Art:  E. neglecta is not on our list of cut foliage species, but I see no reason why you could not use the odd branch in a vase of flowers. It would look great with Dahlias.

Firewood Production:  E. neglecta is not on our selected species for Biomass or Firewood as it is not sufficiently vigorous.  However, it is of interest to firewood/biomass Eucalyptus breeders because of the hardiness it can confer on its offspring. I have no doubt the seasoned wood will burn well from a felled mature E. neglecta.

Hedge-Screens & Windbreaks: A row of standard E. neglecta trees would provide an effective screen at 5 to 7 m tall, which could be easily managed, by pruning once or twice a year (see growing ‘shrub-onna-stick’ notes).

E. neglecta is not on our usual list for bushy hedge-screens or windbreaks, but I guess you could plant a row of them, to grow as a screen, providing you have a lot of space to accommodate the bushiness at ground level.

E. neglecta readily produces sub-lateral shoots – i.e. branches off the side-branches and finds no problem in becoming bushy. This is unusual for most Eucs.

For information on how to grow hedge-screens, see our ‘Help’ pages here.

Rural/Agricultural:      

• Good shade tree for livestock to stand under. Eucalyptus provide a cool environment for horses, cattle, llamas, and sheep to shelter from the sun on hot days, as the mass evaporation of water through the leaves creates a cool shady canopy beneath. Also, I have been told that the eucalyptol in the leaves deters flies.
• Green foliaged species, which looks for comfortable and not ‘foreign’ in a rural setting – reminiscent of big-leaved willow species.

Ecology:  

• Bees and other pollinators. All Eucalyptus produce flowers with nectar and pollen. E. neglecta produces useful flowers in August providing foraging for honey-bees and other pollinating insects.
• Habitat creation and Game Cover: this species lends itself to providing good trouble-free habitat creation for wildlife and game cover, when planted in groups.
• Birds enjoy roosting in eucalyptus trees and pheasants like rootling around underneath them. Over winter, we have 100’s of Goldfinches roosting overnight in our E. neglecta. The seem to enjoy the protection once the leaves have dropped off our hawthorn hedges.
• Chickens: The shredded foliage of E. neglecta is excellent at keeping chicken nest boxes and hen houses free of red mites, which detest the presence of eucalyptol. We line our chicken boxes with shredded leaves, strew the floor and pile up the spindly branches for the chickens to make nests.

Environmental:

Coastal: We have no experience of growing E. neglecta in a coastal environment. I suspect it may do well, but the strong winds may shred the young foliage; this needs trialling. Do get in touch if you are giving this a go and let us know how you get on.

See ‘Help’ pages for further details on growing in coastal locations here: hyperlink to help page

Drying Wet Ground: E. neglecta is very at home in moist soils. This is a great species to help you regain the use of boggy ground. Dry up wet ground that intermittently floods, gain remedial treatment for winter boggy ground or which suffers from outflow from a septic tank system or unwanted dew ponds. If you have unusable marshy pasture, I suspect that planting a couple of swamp gums and some E. neglecta will help dry the ground up and give you a crop of firewood logs too, if coppiced every 5 to 8 years; certainly worth giving it a try.

SUDS – sustainable drainage systems:  Needs trialling, but planted singly or in groups, E. neglecta may draw on drain water percolating into swales or similar. Coppice or pollard every few years if you need to control the overall height of the trees. Eucalyptus draw on ground water for twelve months of the year, unlike willows, which lie dormant for 5 months through the winter.

Exposed Conditions: Tolerant of cold and exposed growing environments inland  E. neglecta will grow in open fields and pasture; it does not require a sheltered position. No grass, no weeds, a big dollop of Rootgrow mycorrhizal fungi and a thick bark chip mulch, are essential to assist with good establishment

Poor Soils: Tolerant of poor stoney soils once established:  E. neglecta does not require a rich soil and can survive in poor, stoney soils, but I imagine it will grow into a taller tree with a more open canopy. It is essential that your Euc is given lots of water 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 these challenging conditions. No grass, no weeds, a big dollop of Rootgrow mycorrhizal fungi and a thick bark chip mulch are essential to assist with good establishment.