Has anyone got a Eucalyptus?

[EauRouge]

I've got a buddleia at the moment which is not the right shape for the space it's in so it has to go. I need something that can be made into a hedge (I am good at keeping up with the trimming!). My mum-a very keen gardener- says anything can be made into a hedge if you keep it trimmed but I am pessimistic sceptical.

Anyway, I've just got some stick insects so I'd like to grow some Eucalyptus gunnii (Cider Gum) for them. Has anyone got any experience of this one?

My soil is pretty heavy clay but the spot is on a south facing slope so it gets quite dry. TIA :)

They tend to grow very very tall rather than hedge like.

I don't have a Eucalyptus but I yearn for lots one ever since I read

this

Apart from the book recomendation,my input was absolutely no use at all,was it

Cider gum can be hedged, and is sold as this in the UK. Make sure your clayey soil gets good drainage. In Oz, trees are sold quite small so as to establish good root systems, so don't be put off; they grow like Topsy. They do not like fertilizer, having developed to grow in very poor soil, so go for low phosphorous

I've just put in a lemon-scented gum - 60+ feet eventually, and 3 feet high now. My garden is an old sand dune, so suitably impoverished soil.

Right by the side of my house I found shoots which turned out to be from the stumps of an old gum growing right next to the house. Not a good idea, so we'll keep trimming back the shoots to keep the bugger in check.

God luck.

I've got a compost bin, can I use compost from that? I've got some sand I can chuck in as well, I do this occasionally to help break the soil up a bit. Thanks for your advice!

www.aussiegardening.com.au/findplants/plant/Eucalyptus_gunnii

This will tell you what to do.