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Eucalyptus cinerea

 
Eucalyptus cinerea
A large shrub by the end of season two

Common name silver dollar eucalyptus; argyle apple
Family myrtaceae
Life cycle tree (Z8-11)
Flowers white
Size to 30'
Light sun-part shade
Cultural notes ordinary garden soil
From seed germinate at room temperature
detailed seed-starting info below

Medium-sized tree from Australia, commonly grown as a smaller specimen (annual shrub, or juvenile small tree) for its round, silvery-blue-green leaves that smell like menthol. Branches of foliage are often used by florists. Leaves on mature trees take a different shape. Flowers grow only on mature trees, and in any case are insignificant. We don't intend to grow a full-sized tree, but would like some of that evergreen silver-dollar goodness. Way back when we first started gardening, I started a packet of seed, and got a few plants to last for the season in our Pennsylvania garden. After moving to the Houston area, we stand a chance of keeping them alive through the winter. Since Amy loves these plants dearly, we decided to try again, both from seed and from small nursery-grown plants. My six tiny seedlings haven't shown much growth, but those nursery plants got a better start, and had grown to short-statured shrubs by their first autumn. Even so, that didn't prepare us for the growth spurt that was to happen the following year: our two primary plants, grown close together, zoomed up to well over six feet, together making a wonderful mass of bluegreen leaves, and completely overshadowing the much slower-growing magnolia at whose feet we had planted our eucalypti the previous year.

silver dollar eucalyptus; argyle apple
Young specimen, newly planted
Eucalyptus cinerea
After a season's growth
silver dollar eucalyptus; argyle apple
December – the newer leaves have acquired a pink blush after some mild freezes
Eucalyptus cinerea
Handsome reddish-brown bark on a tree-sized specimen
silver dollar eucalyptus; argyle apple
Regrowth near the base after the '21 megafreeze killed the above-ground parts of our plants

In our garden, this plant grows in the following areas: waterfall pondside, left fence border

About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Eucalyptus cinerea


Seed-starting details for this plant

  1. Seed from the Seed Man online. Seed packet to fridge for a few weeks, then germinated at room temperature


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