From: rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au (Bob McKay)
Subject: Re: List of cold climate gums
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:40:39 GMT

arkdr@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (Dave Rindos) writes:

>che358w@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au writes:

>>A  few weeks ago someone wrote asking about growing Eucalypts in Boston
>>and this sparked a conversation about cold climate gums. Here is a list
>>of cold climate gums from the Better Homes and Gardens Native Plants book.
>>As they are australian they can withstand high temperatures and dry
>>conditions as well as cold, snow and frost.

>Beware, however, that "cold" and "frost" are relatively relative terms!
>Even the *coldest* regions of Ozzie (like Canberra, fer instance) are
>very mild by north american standards.  "Frost" hence means slightly
>below freezing (like the high 20's F); "cold" means the low 30's F.  I
>doubt very very much that ANYWHERE in Australia would have anthing even
>vaguely approaching a typical Boston winter (weeks of below freezing
>temperature with nights going to zero F or so and days in the teens F). 

So I thought I'd annotate the original list to try to give some indication
of just HOW cold, and perhaps other aspects (beware: this is just a summary
of my personal and somewhat erratic knowledge of these species; it may not be
all that accurate)
> 
> Latin Name              Common Name
> 
> E. alpina               Grampians Gum
Can stand Canberra frost (ie down to around 20F), but the Grampians are not a
really cold region - ie Canberra may well be on the limit of its tolerance
> E. chapmaniana          Bogong Gum
No experience
> E. coccifera            Tasmanian SnowGum
No experience
> E. glaucesens           Tingiringi Gum
Grows on rocky peaks, probably very cold tolerant, but from its distribution, 
unlikely to tolerate much ground water
> E. manifera maculosa    Red Spotted Gum
Fairly similar to E Alpina in tolerance (ie it grows around Canberra, but not
above about 3000'
> E. pauciflora           Snow Gum
Depends on the variety - coastal forms (v large leathery leaves, large trees) 
are not particularly cold tolerant, alpine forms (smaller leaves, only grow
to around 20') are some of our most cold tolerant vegetation, and survive
a couple of months of snow cover. Not very tolerant of waterlogging, however.
(the form I'm referring to was for a while called E nipophila - don't know
what it's present classification status is)
> E. perriniana           Spinning Gum
Similar to glaucescens in environments - probably less cold and wind tolerant,
more tolerant of waterlogging.
> E. risdonii             Risdon Pepermint
No experience
> E. stellulata           Black Sally
One of the two best bets - grows in high mountain frost hollows, definitely
tolerant of waterlogging and freezing down to 0F or below

and my favourite 
E gregsoniana		  Snow Gum
The highest growing Euc in the Australian alps (the one that grows up above
Charlotte's Pass - also sometimes classified as E pauciflora, but last I heard
the separation was pretty definite). Grows to around 20', usually smaller,
tolerates perhaps two months of fairly continuous snow burial plus extreme
low temperatures once the snow cover melts, and also appears pretty tolerant
of long periods of soil saturation.

As for growing these in Boston, though, I'm still doubtful that they will have
their requirements for
	Summer temperatures
	Winter light levels
met. If you take those into account, you might be better off with the two
Tasmanian species che mentioned (E risdonii, E coccifera) even if they are
(as I would guess) not quite as tolerant of extreme cold as stellulata or
gregsoniana,
     Cheers
       Bob McKay

-- 
Bob McKay		   	Phone:	+61 6 268 8169	    fax: +61 6 268 8581
Dept. Computer Science		Internet:	rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au
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