Try http://www.angelfire.com/bc/eucalyptus/ a web site by Ian, who post on this board. It is very informative site on the subject of hardy eucalyptus.
Here is another board hosted by Ian that is all about hardy eucalyptus: http://members3.boardhost.com/eucalyptus/. On this board you will find experts like Ex-Cinti Frank aka Eucalyptman, the person you probably talked to at Cistus who have a wealth of knowledge on the subject.
And since you are into eucalyptus you should also check out the Northwest Palm and Subtropical board: http://www.cloudforest.com/northwest/index.html. You will find Ian, Ex-Cinti Frank and others who are very enthusiastic about testing the limits of eucalyptus, palms, and other plants in the Northwest.

Thanks Issafish! I was wondering if they were in fact the same folks. Yes, we were so fortunate to run into Ex-Cinti Frank! He is a wealth of knowledge and very interesting and generous with his expertise. He has been here to our yard 3X and seen this lagoon experiment from the beginning so his advice has been precious to us.

I'm really busy and try not to spread myself out on too many boards but I'll add those, already lurk and post a bit on them. I'm so in love with trees that I could spend all hours all days staring at pictures, reading other ppl's experiences, learning more, growing them, etc. Been obsessed with trees and greenery since birth but late 2005 first time ever been able to start dealing with my own, own house land trees, wheeeeee!

Rainforest, what??? Last I heard, our climate had become scorching and desert-like. In any case it's great to see another euc enthusiast building up a substantial collection. I finally stopped at about 110 species. At my new place, I will have to be more selective, since I really don't want to create a lot of shade. Your trees are looking great, especially the E. scoparia.

Thanks Ian! So you're the one who put together those gorgeous informative eucalyptus pages. Wow! thanks. You are in more of a rainforest in Seattle than I am -- here it is scorching and dry half the year. It started raining here September 27 with a huge dramatic pouring thunderstorm and hasn't stopped since.

110 species? Zounds. I wish I had the land. I wouldn't be able to stop, LOL

That first scoparia is the oldest here and it's really growing now. The first winter it was 2' high and the top 1' froze off so we weren't sure it would survive. But it's come roaring back. It gets full western sun but has to be watered every other day during the summer because it's 3 feet from a retaining wall which is raised. But the water table is just below that so when the roots go deeper it will be very happy.

I am so thrilled to have been introduced to some eucalypti that can withstand cold and standing water. Can't imagine life before the Internet where answers are just a click away. THANK YOU all very much!

I'm glad you enjoyed my web pages. I didn't really have that much land, I just crammed them all together. We'll see how that turns out 20 years from now. Most plantings are 4-10 years old now.

Today was the 22nd consecutive day of below normal temperatures in Seattle.

Ian, some ppl are sure all our eucs in the PacNW will croak in a cold winter. Is that true? How old is the oldest surviving one in Seattle?

How is it going with your cramming together? Do they get along? Do you have to prune a lot?

I've crammed a lot of trees in here but not all will survive, don't want to keep starting over every year ... it's a lake when it rains this hard.

I read that trees occupy the space they can and then reach higher for light. I'm hoping trees have some innate intelligence and resourcefulness in how they grow given the conditions. It's all an experiment for me ...

Ian is selling eucalyptus seeds on his nursery web site from long term survivors in the Seattle area.
I have been watching a E. perriniana in Hoquiam, WA since 1982, that has survived many a Arctic blast. Several of them in the single digit and teens for a month at a time. It was defoliated but re-sprouted new branches and leaves when the weather warmed from branches bigger than three inches in diameter. The 1980's was a tough decade. The 1998 arctic blast only caused it some leaf burn, but then it was a bigger tree, maybe being more able to handle such an event. Of all the eucalyptus I have grown, I have grown many of the ones you have on your list, perriniana has been the hardiest for me. I am now growing E neglecta which is suppose to be hardier, but my tree hasn't experience any really hard cold weather events. Last winter being the hardest with four days around fifteen degrees F and a month of freezing weather. That winter didn't faze either the perriniana or neglecta. I did lose some other eucalyptus from last winters storm, including a fifty foot tall ovata. That was fun cutting down without hitting my house or the buildings next door.
With people like Frank, Ian and others getting sources of seed from extra cold areas in Australia, and people like you who test the hardiness of these trees, some day we will get a completely hardy eucalyptus for the Northwest. They are a beautiful tree and one of my favorite trees. Douglas fir and Western Red Cedar being my favorite.

Good luck

Thank you Issafish! This eucalyptus thing is amazing. I got a wonderful email out of the blue from a very nice exceptional man saying he had some 3gl Australian plants / trees that he'd like to donate to my water-slurping efforts. A miracle! It just so happens Lynn's at the coast for a biz conference so she zipped over there and is now on the way home with a jeep-full of free plants. I'm gonna faint! Some eucs in there, been googling like mad. Lots of bottlebrushes too, which I've loved every since a neighbor planted a hedge of them in Tucson Ariz.

I have no room left in my yard but the neighbor to the west gets lots of water draining; he's a little freaked about the lakes but he's a renter and doesn't pay attention to his yard. This weekend my yard helper and I will plant these goodies along my west fence on his side to keep a lot of my eucs company. Yeah! Praying these are hardy -- don't know if the very nice donating man is really particular about his trees coming from the coldest spots on the planet or not. I just feel really lucky and grateful.

Issafish, yes western red cedars are awesome! I planted lots of them or something akin to them, don't know, no tags. Sssooooo beautiful. My favorites are Cedar of Lebanon, Deodar, Sequoia, Coast Redwood, and the most cheerful perky looking tree I've ever seen is the Black Hills Spruce, sometimes the winner for sheer happiness. And the thuja plicatas -- there's a big cemetery fringed with those here and when I'm there that's my favorite tree. Spectacular! And Lynn's favorite tree is in that cemetery, a gigantuous copper beech that has a trunk like a mammoth elephant hide.

I love looking at the Douglas Fir but was afraid to plant any because I've seen them after they fall on houses and they have such shallow rootballs for such enormous trees. Did buy 2 but one died -- didn't think anybody in Oregon could kill a douglas fir but somehow it happened here. Drats. Planted in the farthest corner away from all houses.

Almost all trees are dear to me ... love the Japanese maples ... want lots of evergreens, including broadleafs ... just need many more acres.

Thanks for the info about the eucs!

I'm wondering if my eucs will interbreed and if the willows will ... could get really interesting ... can see a Johnny Appleseed future for the neighborhood around me :-)

I planted four Eucalyptus neglecta in March 2006 with the idea of coppicing them so that I can cut them for flower arrangements. Read somewhere (could have been Ian's angelfire website) that they should grow in the ground 2-3 years before cutting to get a good trunk & root system. They are so tall already - can't imagine how big they will be in two more summers! The trunks aren't very big though, so I'll try to restrain myself from cutting them next summer.

Some have beautiful foliage, like perriniana, pictured below with blue round leaves. Others like Eucalyptus dalrypleana x viminalis get huge! You can see my daughters by the trunk of mine. I hope neither of these trees fall on my house.

In the seconed picture you can see lot's of flowers about 60-70 feet up into the tree. The hummingbirds were going crazy for them.

It's great to see so many people interested in this fantastic genus.

Brian,

Cute daughters and the trunk of that E dalrypleana x viminalis is very attractive. Also it is very large. Do you think that the hybrid is hardier than either of the species? My E viminalis froze back this last winter. It did resprout this summer. A thirty two foot E dalrypleana that blow down two winters ago had its sprouts froze back last winter. But a twenty five foot dalrypleana wasn't affect at all by last winters two freeze events.
John

Hi John,

Thank you for the compliments. You know, I don't have any idea if the E. dalrympleana x viminalis is more cold tolerant or not. I think Ian still has seed from this exact tree and had seedlings as well, so he might have an answer. This tree when small, did survive the 1998 freeze without a scratch.

This tree is large enough that I have to go to the street to get a shot. You can see the trunk through the neighbors garage.

-Brian

Thanks for starting this thread Cascadians. I just bought my first one this year, but still need to plant it. I got E. nicholii. I did put it in a bigger pot for the summer, so it shouldn't be root bound yet. Do you experts think it will grow amongst 2nd growth timber or will the water competition be too great for it? I have some sunny sites I'm considering that are near some big doug firs and big leaf maples. We get a lot of wind too and I read that this one doesn't like a windy site.
I enjoyed the pictures of the different types. Thanks for showing them!

Ratherbgardening,
E nicholii is one of the less hardy of the hardy eucalyptus. I lost mine last winter with four days of 15F temperatures and a month of freezing weather. So it will depend on where you live and what zone you are in if it survives here. Of course it is an attractive tree and you can enjoy it for many years before a big freeze takes it out.

Brian,
That shot of your tree from the neigbor's sure shows how big and impressive your tree is. With your ideal location and micro-climate you probably don't have much worry about losing that tree to a big freeze event. Specially since it has dalrympleana genes in it and probably the hybrid vigor will help.
I haven't noticed hummingbirds in my eucalyptus when they are in flower, but they are loaded with bubblebees and other pollinating insects.

The established pattern in this region is for these to quickly shoot up big and then freeze out. The 1990 winter, for instance, was murder on them. There were tall ones around before 1990, as now, only for nearly all of them to be killed or wrecked. Some of the larger spinning gums around were even re-seeding in a Seattle garden, only to be hammered along with most of the rest of them (one spinning gum on Bainbridge Island is said to have lived there since the 1950s). Ian may not have to worry about a forest in 20 years, first those specimens all have to live that long. Zone 9 stuff grows for years here, as we go for significant stretches without falling below 15 or 20F. Sooner or later, however, it hits 5 or 10 and then the scene changes. I had several species of gums get nailed just last winter, on Camano Island (she saw it get below 20F on the covered porch, think she said something like 13F). Then there is what happens when tall, slender gums become laden with snow...

For locations of various local specimens visible from public areas see TREES OF SEATTLE - SECOND EDITION by Arthur Lee Jacobson. Ian assisted with the preparation of the section on gums.

Not only do you WA folks get nicer cooler cloudier summers, your winters sound like they're less freezing than here. This area must be missing some protective insulation you have. I remember Feb 4 1989 as the coldest day ever here -- 80 below zero with the windchill factor, heavy snow, bitterly cold, my patient died unexpectedly of an aortic aneurysm, we rushed him to the hospital and drove behind in our unheated car and promptly both got pneumonia. I was running the computer resale store at Lewis & Clark College then and actually hiked up the ravine in waist-deep ice and snow to show up for work, young and stupid then. Dec-Jan05 it was 11 degrees for 3 weeks in the yard; last winter it got down to 11 also but stayed mostly at 19 degrees.

Winter05 the top 1' of our 2' scoparia died off, but the tree flourished in spring and had no damage last winter. None of the other eucs had any damage last winter, even in the snow (course they're babies). Crossing fingers for this and all future winters. Had a baby mimosa rosea that almost completely died back last winter only to go nuts this spring summer fall. Hope it's hardier now.

Have a quercus virginiana I'm praying makes it forever. Sheltered between the house and garage and someday will cover the roof if it branches the way it does in the south.

Almost all the trees planted Dec05 (followed next day by the storm with 11 degree weather in this yard for 3 weeks) got huge freeze cracks and top die-back. Many lost their leaders but most of those trees are now doing really well.

We were told to way overplant because not everything would survive the water and weather and at least this way if/when a tree perishes there will be others growing to get big and provide shade.

Thanks everybody for the explanations and history. Just got a batch of Australian plants unexpectedly that may not be as cold-hardy as Frank's eucalypti so I'm trying to place them very carefully. Gardeners with lots of land, greenhouses and big garages have distinct advantages!

Thanks to all for pictures, extremely helpful, the more pictures the better. Sorry I'm not experienced enough to give advice, can only relate what I'm trying and what works and doesn't so far ... only 1 year 9+ months into this experiment ...

Eucalyptus camphora
Eucalyptus glaucescens
Eucalyptus parvula (formerly E. parifolia)
Eucalyptus pauciflora ssp. debeuzevillei
Eucalyptus rubida
Luma apiculata Chilean Myrtle *Testing for hardiness* ;)

I am trying these this year for fun...just planted them out 2-3 weeks ago, and they were not overgrow. Plus they grew them in those cool air root pruning pots.

cascadians~ My parents live in Stafford, and we talk all the time and compare weather. (I live in Gig Harbor) It is usually WAY hotter than the us in summer, and WAY colder in winter. We go down there a lot too. It seems to be very different weather.

It's very cool that you guys are into Eucalyptus! This former Californian misses them. I love the stands of them that are everywhere in CA. I miss the smell too. We had Red Iron Barks in our old backyard. They were beautiful. We planted them and were thrilled to see how huge and beautiful they were when we visited back home this summer. Also, they are freeway planted everywhere in Northern CA. When I first moved here I thought the Madronas were Eucalyptus Trees. There are a lot of them mixed in with evergreens where I live. We have a few Madronas on our property, they are very beautiful.

It looks like all our Eucs survived this winter! The Bogong and Nitens, just tiny babes, are starting to perk up and even elongate their tiny branches. The new baby Scoparia has a bit of freeze die-back on the tips but is now growing. The gunnii is still just sitting there dormant but has not lost any ground.

Very excited to see them start to grow again with sunshine and milder temps!

Pacnwgrdngirl, you're so right about the Madrones being beautiful! They are hard to grow. I've got 2 related ones surviving now, arbutus unedo compacta and arbutus marina. Very finicky!

You can barely see the skinny delicate baby Scoparia but it's in there between the Lee's Dark Purple rhodies -- recovering from tip freeze dieback and starting to grow. It it is anything like the other baby Scoparia we got, in 2 years it will be well over the roof!

A question from a new euc perriniana owner (thanks, dahliaguy :)): Do the leaves of the *camphora* stay round, and hang off stems? We saw a specimen euc in North Carolina at a nursery (blanking on the name) that had round leaves hanging off stems and they blew in the breeze, making a wonderful quaking-aspen like sound--we've been trying to find that kind of euc ever since (about 8 years now). Is the camphora the one?

Thanks!

There are a few eucalypts that do that, and yes E. camphora is one of them. More common, but less hardy, is E. polyanthemos.

GREAT, Ian! That's so thrilling; an 8 year quest is almost over. I just now need to figure out how to surprise DH with one. He wanted one in the worst way, but we couldn't find it and so gave up. I love g'web :)

May I ask: what are some good sources for E. camphora in the Portland area? Or do folks get these from mail-order?

And cascadians, YIKES--we got to Portland only in 2002 (from the east coast), looking for more moderate temperatures...80 Below Zero??

Flyleft, that was one day, etched into my memory because my pt Dr Ben Vidgoff died that day and my husband and I got really bad pneumonia and almost died too. There was a lot of ice and snow and ferocious winds. Hasn't been like that since but have had 3 weeks of 11 degrees so we do have hard freezes.

I've gotten my Eucalypti from Frank the Eucalyptus Man who lives in McMinneville but is back in Cincinnati for an extended stay helping his mom. Frank supplied Eucs to Pistils and Cistus Nurseries and who knows how many others. You could call Pistils and Cistus and see if they still have Eucs. We were super lucky to meet Frank at Cistus and he very kindly came and saw our crazy yard and has been carefully selecting Eucs from his hardy collection that he thinks will survive our conditions.

Lynn wants another Camphora ... Frank come home! We have no inches left to plant anything else. Even the creeklets are stuffed with swamp trees.

I wish more and more ppl planted Eucs here that could survive the heat of summer and freezes of winter -- have always loved Eucs, need more broadleaved evergreens around here. A lot of the native plants are starting to die because we no longer get enough rain and the summers are too dry and hot. Plus the developers are willy nilly cutting down anything left standing.

cascadians, I can imagine that that day would etch itself into one's memory even *without* the weather...not something you ever want to repeat.

Re the camphora: I'm on a quest to get one of these for my DH now. It was a reminder of his dear west coast when we were living on the east coast, and now that he's back here we can just have one in our yard :)

I have some E. camphora available now; you're welcome to contact me regarding those. I hear that Frank will be back soon but I'm not sure what he is up to.

Hi Ian--just saw this!

Thanks for letting me know you have some camphora -- unfortunately we live down in the PDX area and I can't justfy gas to go up there for that...guess I'll wait for Frank or maybe go down to a place I found that has them here--willing to pay a reasonable amount if it's not a trade with someone, which unfortunately one place here is not charging. Have to find out about the other place.

Wow, they're growing fast now. Took some pictures a few weeks ago but need to take more because these trees are really taking off. Forecast for more sun and heat so they'll keep growing.

Here's an update that's already outdated, LOL