Eucalyptus pauciflora subsp. niphophila ‘Mt Bogong’ – Dwarf Alpine Snow Gum
Mount Bogong makes for a superb ornamental tree, with the classic Snow Gum bark and foliage. As a smaller, slower species it will also be a good candidate for life in a pot or container.
Being highly ornamental with beautiful bark, it is a valuable addition to any winter garden plant grouping. Being tough and tolerant of difficult growing conditions it is useful as a large open evergreen screen (loose hedge) with attractive bark detail. It can be planted out in farmland and used for wild life protection and game cover, where, for example, pine trees may be suffering from disease problems.
How to use in the landscape and/or garden: How to grow or train it to get the best out of it
Fabulous Specimen Tree for the wider landscape, arboretum collection or avenue planting and for the smaller, medium and larger garden, with outstanding white bark detail.
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.
To encourage a standard E. Mount Bogong, you will need to encourage a strong leading dominant central stem and prune back any competing leading shoots by about 25-30%. Carry out this pruning in March and then review again at end of May. To keep your Bogong small, you can always prune the new spring growth back by up to 90% at this time of year. Avoid cutting back into the older wood this late in the season. Never prune after end of July, Autumn or Winter.
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Growing a multi-stemmed bush or tree. E. Mount Bogong naturally grows as a multi-stemmed specimen in its formative years. It’s easy therefore to encourage this into maturity by pruning out, in March, any contender that wants to be a dominant leading shoot. Maintain balance growth with stems of equal length. Not only does this control the overall height of your tree, but produces many stems with beautiful white bark.
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. Mount Bogong can be successfully grown as a multi-stemmed shrub in a container provided you are prepared to 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!’
Ecology: Bees. All Eucalyptus produce flowers with nectar and pollen, but this species has particularly prolific flowers making it a real draw for honey bees and other pollinators.
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. Newly planted trees may require a wind break shelter for their first winter in the ground with you.
- Tolerant of cold and exposed growing environments inland E. Mount Bogong will grow in open fields and pasture, where the soil is stony and free draining; it does not require a sheltered position, once established.
I have read that ‘in the wild it can be seen clinging to snowy ridgetops and in alpine meadows (and lining ski runs!)’. They are so hardy as to have even been introduced to Norway. We also know of someone growing them in Russia!
Newly planted trees may require a wind break shelter for their first winter in the ground with you.
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
- Tolerant of poor stony soils once established E. Mount Bogong does not require a rich soil and can survive in poor, stony soils. 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, 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
