How to use in the landscape and/or garden: How to grow or train it to get the best out of it
Beautiful small elegant multi-stemmed bushy tree with mallee (many stems) and upright habit, and a bit like an upright Callistemon. We think this multi-stemmed form is the best shape to cultivate this species.
Eucalyptus moorei can also be pruned to form a small tree. The elegant form of Eucalyptus moorei is most desirable and looks good in both traditional gardens and xerophytic landscapes. Associates well with Eucalyptus stricta to maintain a low, evergreen canopy, planting group, but with variety of foliage interest.
Its light canopy allows for underplanting of a wide range of plant species.
Commercially: a good choice for open public spaces, parks, business parks, university campus where a large fragrant-foliage shrub would be appreciated. In our view, in large landscapes, they are best planted in groups of 3, 5 or 7.
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.
- For a small tree, tip prune the leader when it reaches 1.2m, thereafter let the head develop. Then prune the tree every March 18th and end of May to keep your tree small and bushy.
Click here for our guidance notes for pruning a specimen Eucalyptus
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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 18th 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. Eucalyptus moorei responds well to pollarding and readily produces a multi-stemmed specimen, but only do this once it has attained a trunk of some 50 mm in diameter.
Q: Why would you want to do this?
A: 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 1.5m (5ft) and 2.4m (8ft), but genetically it will want to grow taller if ignored.
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: Eucalyptus moorei is a great species for container growing. It can be successfully grown as a multi-stemmed shrub in a large container for several years provided you are prepared to pot on at the recommended intervals and to supply it with sufficient water and food during the growing season. Prune out unwanted growth every spring.
Always keep pot-grown Eucalyptus in the air-pot container system for healthy and happy trees.😊 They do not thrive in smooth-walled containers ☹
Click here 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!’
Summer Patio then Winter Conservatory: in colder, northern counties UK, Eucalyptus moorei will benefit from being overwintered in a greenhouse type environment. Only return your Euc outdoors permanently overnight, once all fear of frosts has passed at the beginning of June.
Floral Art: Eucalyptus moorei is fabulous for cutting. It produces excellent, fragrant cut foliage for Flower Farmers and floral art
Firewood Production: Eucalyptus moorei is not on our selected species list for Biomass or Firewood.
Do give us a call on our nursery mobile 01905 888098 if you would like to discuss with one of our consultants the growing firewood, biomass or lumber.
Rural/Agricultural:
- Green foliaged species, which looks comfortable and not ‘foreign’ in a rural setting – with willow-like foliage and gently swaying branches
- Could be good for agroforestry, planted in chicken pens and areas where poultry roam
Ecology:
- Eucalyptus moorei is good choice for apiculture, prolific flowers providing high quality pollen and nectar for foraging honey bees (as well as other beneficial insects). Could be planted in groups near swampy ground to provide cover and shelter for wildlife and establishing plant species, without dominating the landscape.
- 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.
- Chickens: The shredded foliage of Eucalyptus moorei is excellent at keeping Chicken nest boxes and hen houses free of red mites, which detest the presence of Eucalyptol. I used to line our Chicken boxes with shredded leaves, strew the floor and pile up the spindly branches for the chickens to make nests. It was all great till the foxes moved into the next field L
Environmental:
We have no experience of growing Eucalyptus moorei in a coastal environment. It is on record as a species which will tolerate light sea-spray, but not saline soil conditions.
I suspect it may do well in milder coastal districts, when grown a mile or two inland of the sea, but this needs trialling. Do get in touch if you are giving this a go and let us know how you get on.
To make this work, we recommend that:
- you plant a smaller specimen (3 litre or 5 litre plant, around 1m-1.2m tall),
- encourage fast establishment in a deeply prepared planting pit (follow our planting advice), to encourage deep rooting to grow an upright, stable tree.
- Staking will be required.
- Newly planted trees will very likely require a wind break shelter for their first winter in the ground with you.
- Zero grass or weeds during the period of establishment is non-negotiable!
- Tolerating wet soils Eucalyptus moorei is very at home in moist but draining soils, such as a draining clay, draining peaty/loamy soils and draining sandy loams.
It must be remembered that Eucalyptus are not aquatic like a Mangrove, but several species of swamp gum (click here to visit our collection of swamp gums) tolerate flooding for up to 6 months of the year in their native lands.
Eucalyptus moorei is a great species to deploy when you require an evergreen shrub for intermittently boggy ground which does drain.
- Tolerant of poor stony soils once established Eucalyptus moorei does not require a rich soil and, being fairly drought tolerant, 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, and 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.
