Description
Why we like this variety:
- Good specimen, medium sized, evergreen tree for your garden.
- Impressive bark – an all year round feature.
- Easy to grow, being very tolerant of cold, windy and exposed conditions.
- Fantastic large leaves with attitude.
- Great in planters and containers, grown as a multi-stem.
Botanical Name: Eucalyptus pauciflora subsp. debeuzevillei, syn. E. debeuzevillei
Common Name: Jounama Snow Gum, Giant Snow Gum
Status: Evergreen Tree MYRTACEÆ; Myrtle Family
Origin: Native of the sub-alpine habitats of Eastern Australia, but also grows in lowland habitats, where they are sometimes known as White Sallee.
This Eucalyptus is a sub-species of the pauciflora group. A good specimen variety, it slowly grows to form a relatively small to medium sized tree or mallee with an attractive crown. It takes its time to become established, before eventually growing away strongly.
Shoots ‘n Leaves: Young shoots and emerging leaves on young plants are a striking transluscent copper crimson with a white bloom, which is very attractive when back lit by the sun.
Juvenile foliage – huge, almost oblong angular blue leaves of an incredibly thick leathery texture – very substantial and wind resistant
Adult foliage is of a blue/green hue maturing to glossy olive green. Leaves are often broadly lanceolate with prominent lateral veins.
Bark: Beautifully patterned bark. Smooth pale grey to pure white with an additional mosaic of russet, cream, olive and silvery grey, which shreds in ribbons from both the trunk and branches.
Flowers: White flowers in groups of 9 to 15.
Leaf Aroma: Fruity eucalyptus.
Rate of Growth: Medium rate of growth at 1.0-1.5m per year, once established – takes a couple of years to get its roots down, so slow to take off. Slow for a Eucalypt – still fast for an evergreen!
Height in maturity, if left unpruned: Approximately 10m tall, responds well to tip pruning.
Hardiness: Generally tolerating down to -18°C, exposed locations and salt laden winds, this is the hardiest of all Eucalyptus and has been introduced to Norway – which is impressive! Please note younger trees are less tolerant of frost and may suffer exposure damage in early years at low temperatures.
Great in a winter garden border with stunning bark detailing and gorgeous wine red fresh spring growth.
Excellent when grown in patio pots as a multi-stem, but do continue to grow it in an Air-pot container within a heavy ornamental pot – see our guidance notes on growing in containers. Feed and water regularly throughout the summer months. Tip prune the spring growth during the 1st week in June to keep a compact bushy habit. More serious pruning can be done earlier in March (National Eucalyptus Day is March 18th).
The Snow Gums are very well adapted to survive harsh winter conditions:- Flexible branches bend almost to vertical in heavy snow, to avoid snapping and to shed the load. If cut down by excessively harsh weather conditions they can not only grow back through their seed (but only in Australia, not in the UK), but trees can produce epicormic shoots from buds lying dormant beneath the bark and also from lignotubers. E. pauci. subsp debeuzevillei also has a lignotuber (a woody doughnut like structure where the trunk meets the root plate), which will generate new growth if the tree is coppiced. However, the Snow Gums do not respond well to regular, aggressive coppicing.