Eucalyptus neglecta Maiden

The Omeo Gum is a popular species and deservedly so, having spectacular large leaves on a small tree or large shrub that make it ideal for use as a screening plant. It is tolerant of some shade, and of both cold and humid heat, making it one of the few eucalypts suitable for the southeastern United States. In North Carolina, Tony Avent (pers. comm. 2007) has found it hardy to –18 ºC with only tip damage. As usual, circumstances can make a difference to survival: a plant grown by Frank Callia in Cincinnati is reported to have survived –27 ºC with minimal damage, only to freeze to the ground at –22 ºC another year (Hardy Eucalyptus Page 2004). It also seems to respond well to heat. The foliage has a habit of remaining juvenile for some time, even on apparently mature, flowering trees, and as it flushes reddish under the glaucous wax it is extremely attractive. Not the least of its charms, for those who like an aromatic garden, is its intense scent – a sort of ‘essence of eucalyptus’. As a mallee E. neglecta cannot be expected to achieve great height, and most specimens form a wide multi-trunked bush, but it achieved 13 m (18 cm dbh) between 1986 and 2008 at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, and 10 m in ten years at Plant Delights Nursery, North Carolina (T. Avent, pers. comm. 2008). Although fast-growing in warm climates it is much slower where cool: a bushy tree at Logan planted in 1966 is currently only 4–5 m tall. It can tolerate periodically damp ground (G. Cooper, pers. comm. 2007).