Eucalyptus Pulverulenta

Description

Eucalyptus Pulverulenta, Silver- leaved mountain gum

Hardy:	Hardy to -14°C
Soil:	Happy in a wide variety of soils, though likes free draining.
Growth:	Slow for a Eucalyptus, less than a metre per year
Height:	Up to 10m if left to grow, though more naturally under 5m.
Biomass:	Not a Eucalyptus variety grown for biomass, generally cultivated for it’s foliage.

Eucalyptus Pulverulenta is also known as the Silver Leaf Mountain Gum and Baby Blue.

Popular with florists for cut foliage, similar colouring to Guii and Glaucescens, but that’s where the similarity ends.Guii is grown commercially for floral foliage. Teagasc published a report on the likely commercial returns. Eucalyptus for Cut Foliage

Pulverulenta is a very unusual tree well suited to smaller gardens. Very attractive as a specimen tree with its pale blue leaves. I would think the one below is around twenty years old, though the ones I am growing here as hedging have grown faster than the general consensus.

Photo by Parick Janicek

Judging by the look of mine at around a year old, I would think that the bark and leaves on the Pulverulenta below are perhaps a couple of seasons old. I’m looking forward to seeing mine develop this white bark which sets off the pale blue leaves so beautifully. It’s easy to see why this variety is popular for floral foliage.

Photo by Kim Star

Like all Eucalyptus, Pulverulenta sheds it’s bark, though this can also be a positive, as the light brown and red new bark with its grey streaks is also attractive. This one shows a new white shoot.

Photo by John Ies

Eucalyptus are evergreen, though even evergreen foliage can look a bit jaded during the winter season. So far my experience here in Ireland is that they generally flower from early spring to late summer. I suspect this one is flowering early, and in a temperate climate as the foliage looks less than vibrant. Plenty of nectar for bees and insects which will in turn attract birds. So great for wildlife.

Eucalyptus Pulverulenta do prefer to grow in full sunlight with shelter from cold winds. So perhaps this one has had a bit of exposure. As I say though, my experience of this variety and of most of the blue leaved floral foliage Eucalypts is that possibly due to the reduced sunlight and colder winds during the winter, the foliage is less vibrant.

Photo by Russell Dahms

My Pulverulenta produced flower buds during the second growing season and started flowering very early during the mild winter of 2022. Just under two years from being in the ground. The foliage is scruffy from the cold winter gales.Quite remarkable to see flowers so early. There are also lots of flower buds on the one year old growth. A eucalyptus for the bee keeper 🐝Photo below taken on the 24th of March, though they started flowering about a month earlier 😮

One last photo for you here of Eucalyputs Pulverulenta, and I suspect this one has either been pruned to keep it small and shrub like or isn’t very old. Eucalyptus Pulverulenta is certainly unusual with its spiky branching and leaves that look as thought they are threaded on.

The one in the photo below looks to have reached around fifteen metres tall, which according to the consensus of the research I’ve done is unusually tall for Pulverulenta. Nonetheless a fabulous specimen tree 🙂 As you can see, Eucalyptus Pulverulenta retain their juvenile leaf form in maturity.

I am hoping those in my sheltered area will develop into an aesthetically pleasing wind shelter. Despite their relatively small mature height, my experience of Pulverulenta has been that they grow at around one and a half metres per year, certainly in the first year or so.

Strong healthy trees with good root growth establish quickly and will require minimal if any aftercare.

Trees regenerate in two ways:

• The awakening of dormant buds at leaf and branch nodes
• Growing from the roots using lignotubers

Eucalyptus Pulverulenta have lignotubers, and are therefore suitable for coppicing. Though this variety is commercially pruned rather than coppiced.