I hope that Banana Bob reads this, as he kindly sent me euc. seeds this spring. Only about 4 geminated, and various things seem to have struck down three of them....BUT I HAVE ONE DOING WELL! It is now about 18" and I am very proud of it. Thanks, Bob.

In my experience, E. gunnii is more reliably hardy than E. nicholii

Here is a link that might be useful: Great eucalyptus reference

Yes, the latter is rather tender. The cider gum will get right into the wires, if there are any on your side of the street plant something less tall. Note also you are supposed to get a permit to plant a tree on a Seattle street.

Why limit yourself to those two species? Plant an E. glaucescens or E. rubida. Oh and who is this 'Banana Bob' anyways???

Possibly you are referring to me. I bleieve I sent you the seeds. I do grow more than two dozen species of Eucs. in my garden. E.gunnii is much hardier than nicholii. However I have E.nicholii growing in my garden since 1997 and it has never been damaged by cold. Location and distance from the ocean also helps with more marginal species. Ultimately trees of good provenance will be the kings of the frost beaters. Cheers, Banana Joe bananajoe@saltspring.com

Being usually seedlings of wild species rather than clonal cultivars, hardiness varies between specimens of same species of gum, enough so that in a hard winter one seedling may burn and another not - even on the same site. That's why expected hardiness of gums often given as temperature ranges, for instance 5 to 10F/-15 to -12C for Eucalyptus gunnii and 12 to 15F/-11 to -9C for E. nicholii in Sunset WESTERN GARDEN BOOK.

A fairly nice 'Nichol's willow-leafed peppermint' in an east Seattle zonal denial garden is now a stump. Others in the general vicinity, such as at Jungle Fever Exotics nursery in Tacoma, as well as various others in Seattle were still intact when checked since the one Seattle specimen seen to have failed.

"Not hardy but still grown; fun while it lasts."

--Jacobson, TREES OF SEATTLE - SECOND EDITION