Videos about Flowers from Johnny's

An Overview of Eucalyptus Varieties for Cut-Flower Filler & Foliage

I'm here in our eucalyptus trial, and I'm going to spend a little bit of time today talking about the different varieties and species of eucalyptus that we offer. Eucalyptus is a genus that contains hundreds of different species. And so there is incredible diversity in this crop. And there are really only a few of these species that are known and cultivated and used for cut flower or foliage use.

For our trials here at Johnny’s Seeds, we put our plants in the ground in mid-May, after the kind of the danger of last frost has passed. And it takes a long time for these plants to bulk up and put on enough growth and become sturdy enough so that we can cut and rehydrate them for cut flower use. So we don't usually start harvesting off of our plants in our trial until, mid to late August. But once they start producing, they're really productive, beautiful and abundant.

I'm going to take just a little bit of time to walk through the different varieties and species that we offer. One thing that could be helpful to know about eucalyptus—again, because there are so many different species—there are also a lot of common names in use for eucalyptus as well. Sometimes you might see different common names applied to the same species and can be a little bit confusing depending on either where you're sourcing your seed or who you're selling your foliage to. Sometimes the same common name can be used for different species. The best way to make sure that you're purchasing the variety that you want or that, to make sure that whoever you're selling it to, you're giving them what they expect is to understand and be familiar with the species name of the eucalyptus that you want to grow.

As I go through these varieties, I'll be sharing the common name that we use, but also the species name of these varieties. Hopefully that will help, make sure that you get the product that you want and that your customers get the product that they want, because it can be a little bit confusing.

'Lemon Bush' (Eucalyptus citriodora)

This variety right here is 'Lemon Bush' eucalyptus. That's the common name. The scientific name is Eucalyptus citriodora. Both the “Lemon Bush” in the common name and the “citriodora” in the scientific name speak to one of the standout features of this variety, which is its very strong lemony fragrance. It has a little bit of a different fragrance than kind of the classic eucalyptus varieties. It's very strong and citrusy and kind of reminiscent of a citronella candle. It's a wonderful scent. And a couple of other things to know about this variety are the plant habit. You can see these plants are quite upright and tall. It also has a little bit more of a elongated kind of arrowhead shaped leaf. And then the color is also different kind of than the classic eucalyptus. So it's more of a sage green leaf with this really distinct reddish hue on the new growth, which is really attractive and a really nice contrast. these stems tend to have a little bit more movement and aren't quite as stiff as varieties like, 'Silver Dollar' or Baby Blue. It's just a little bit of a different look, highly fragrant, quite tall and upright and productive.

'Baby Blue Bouquet' (Eucalyptus pulverulenta)

This variety right here is called 'Baby Blue Bouquet'. And this is similar to Baby Blue, this is also Eucalyptus pulverulenta. But this is a little bit more of a refined selection of the E. pulverulenta. What you will see here compared to Baby Blue or compared to 'Silver Dollar', is that these plants are a little bit more compact, still semi upright. But you'll see a higher degree of uniformity here and also noticeably smaller leaves and leaves that are more densely packed along the stems. And so, hopefully you can see that here from the plants. What I'm holding up here on my left, this is 'Silver Dollar'. You can see those large kind of silver dollar sized leaves stacked on the stems. And then this in my right hand is 'Baby Blue Bouquet'. And so here again hopefully you can see the difference. They're just really uniformly, stacked up these stems. A little bit stiffer stems too, whereas the 'Silver Dollar' can sometimes have a little bit more movement to it.Otherwise very similar and still kind of falls in that kind of classic eucalyptus color with the silvery gray leaves, similar fragrance to Baby Blue and to Silver Dollar. Also, these do, too, have that kind of waxy substance on the stems and the leaves that you'll notice as you're cleaning the stems. I'll show just as for a point of comparison, here in my left, this is 'Silver Dollar'. In my right, this is 'Baby Blue Bouquet'. I think you can hopefully see the differences again between these varieties. It's very similar coloring, but the leaf shape and size is what really distinguishes these varieties as well as, the plant habit too. This is a little bit more open, slightly less vigorous still semi upright. But yeah, just a little bit more compact compared to both Baby Blue and 'Silver Dollar'.

'Silver Dollar' (Eucalyptus cinerea)

This variety here is 'Silver Dollar' eucalyptus or Eucalyptus cinerea. This is kind of the the classic eucalyptus that you would that most people think of when you say eucalyptus. It has that really distinct silvery gray leaf color. It has these big round leaves that are stacked like silver dollars up the stem. It has long, strong, sturdy branches, quite productive. And again, this is just the classic eucalyptus. It has that eucalyptus fragrance. And, it also has kind of that waxy white or silvery substance on the leaves and on the stems. You will notice that your hands will get a little bit sticky as you're cleaning these.

'Silver Drop' (Eucalyptus gunnii)

This variety here is 'Silver Drop' or Eucalyptus gunnii. And this variety presents that sort of, again, the similar blue green leaf color of kind of the classic eucalyptus. But it does have a very upright plant habit, which you can hopefully see here. It definitely grows more like a tree. So that's something to be aware of. And also it presents a little bit of variation in leaf shape and form and color, too, within this variety. So I find this to be a really versatile and great variety to work for mixed bunches. And you are going to see a little bit of difference in leaf shape and leaf color. It tends to sometimes have a little bit more of the darker green leaf colors showing through, compared to varieties like 'Silver Dollar' where the leaf color and shape is a little bit more consistent. This variety 'Silver Drop' tends to also have some variation in stem color as well. Stem color can be anywhere from a light green to a little bit of a darker red. And overall, these plants are quite productive and tall.

'Silver Dollar' vs. 'Silver Drop'

As a point of contrast, sometimes it can be confusing because 'Silver Dollar' and 'Silver Drop' both have silver in the name, they are different varieties and different species. I'll just make a quick comparison between the two here. On my right is 'Silver Drop'. You can see taller plants, kind of small, delicate leaves, some variability in leaf shape and form, some variability in stem color. But overall very productive, sturdy stems. And then on my left, this is 'Silver Dollar'. So a little bit more of that silvery color to it. Also a little bit more uniformity in leaf size and leaf shape where 'Silver Drop' tends to have smaller leaves and the stems tend to branch a little bit more. 'Silver Dollar' tends to have sort of these more single branches without a lot of, you know, not a lot of branching off of here, but just these kind of larger leaves stacked up the stems. Whereas 'Silver Drop' again, has a little bit more variability, a little more branching in the leaves. So just want to compare and contrast these two varieties here. You can see also the plant habit of 'Silver Dollar' is a little bit more semi upright and slightly less vigorous than 'Silver Drop' here on my right.

'Silver Plate' (Eucalyptus polyanthemos)

This variety here is 'Silver Plate' or Eucalyptus polyanthemos. This variety has an upright habit and the leaf form is a little bit different than varieties like 'Silver Dollar' or Baby Blue. The leaves, instead of being kind of stacked along one singular stem, they kind of hang alternately off of these dark red stems. The color contrast between the leaves and the stems in this variety is really interesting. It has the dark red stems and these kind of sage green leaves. And the leaves are large or almost plate like, hence the name 'Silver Plate'.

Another distinct thing about this variety is the way that the new foliage has this reddish purple hue to it, which is another really nice feature. The stems clean and harvest very well. This variety does not have that waxy substance that varieties like 'Silver Dollar' have so that's another nice feature of this variety. And again, it's just a really interesting unique look for a eucalyptus.

'Small-Leaved Gum' (Eucalyptus parvula)

This variety here is called 'Small-Leaved Gum', that's the common name. The scientific name is Eucalyptus parvula. And this is an interesting variety. I really love the dark forest green color of the leaves, in contrast with that dark red stem. So, really nice contrast between leaves and stems, a high degree of uniformity within this variety. And it does have more of a like a shorter, more compact, almost shrub like habit. These take a little bit longer to size up in our trial for our season here in Maine. But once they do get a little bit more height on them, between 20 to 36in, they produce these really nice stems that are great for design work or for smaller mixed bouquets.

Some of the standout traits about this variety are the uniformity, that nice contrast between the leaf color and this stems, and the productivity of this variety, also, even though it is a little bit more on the compact side.

'Book-Leaf Mallee' (Eucalyptus kruseana)

This variety is 'Book-Leaf Mallee' or Eucalyptus kruseana. And while the plants as you can see here are quite compact, these have a unique color and leaf form that make them really well suited for small design work. So some of the things that kind of stand out about this variety are the way that the leaf tips and the new growth takes on almost a pinkish hue. So that's a really nice color contrast to the gray of the leaves. And then they also are such as small and kind of delicate little stem. The tips or the new growth can almost look like a rose bud as they're growing or unfolding. And so again, this is a variety that, just because of its compact size, is probably best suited for design work and smaller floral design work.

Just as a point of comparison, probably the variety that's most similar to 'Book-Leaf Mallee' would be 'Baby Blue Bouquet'. So they both have a little bit of a smaller leaf size, a little bit more of a compact habit. But the 'Book-Leaf Mallee' is much more compact in its habit. And it also has more of that pink coloring coming through on the new growth. And again, also a little bit more of a even smaller leaf shape and size compared to the 'Baby Blue Bouquet'.

Eucalyptus tereticornis

This variety is Eucalyptus tereticornis. This is a very tall eucalyptus that you can hopefully you can see how tall these plants are. This is a fast growing variety and it very much has a tree like habit. The branches extend off of a main trunk. The trunk has a little bit of red coloring, which contrasts really nicely with these green leaves. The leaves have sort of an elongated, arrowhead like shape. And then one of the other kind of key features of this variety is that often the new or immature foliage will have this nice dark red color. This coloring becomes a little more noticeable or pronounced as the weather cools. So you might see more of this red coloring later in the season. The stems are sturdy and easy to clean. This is not a highly fragrant variety, and it also does not have the kind of waxy coating that some eucalyptus species have, so that makes the stems easier to clean and is another kind of nice feature about this variety. You can also see the way that the leaves sort of hang off the stems. There's a little bit of movement to these stems as well. Overall a kind of an interesting and different look for eucalyptus species than compared to the kind of classic varieties that we're used to, but a really interesting, productive, tall, fast growing eucalyptus variety.

Growing Tips

I'd like to share just a few growing tips for eucalyptus. For growing here in Maine in zone 5a or anywhere where you have cold winters, eucalyptus, although they are a tree species, they do not survive cold winters. We grow them here in Maine as an annual. We start them from seed every spring. And again, because they are a tree species, they take a long time to size up. So for us, we're not usually harvesting off of them until, late August and into September. But once we do start harvesting, we can harvest, typically, well into the fall, usually past our first couple of light frosts. They’re are great late season foliage option for us here in Maine.

As far as getting them started in the spring, we typically try to get them in the ground as soon as we're past our last frost date. For us that tends to be middle to end of May. We try to transplant. And for seed starting, we've had good success. We've trialed many different species of eucalyptus over the years. In general, we've had good success with starting from them from seed in a germ chamber (our germination room where we have controlled temperature and humidity). Temperatures that we've found work really well for us, are typically between 75 and 80°F degrees and high humidity in the germ room. We typically see germination on most species within 7 to 10 days in those conditions. I think it's the high heat and humidity and just the consistency of that environment that seems to work well for most eucalyptus varieties that we've trialed. After they pop up in the germ room, we move them out to a greenhouse and allow them to grow on. Depending on the cell size that you're using, it can be 8 to 10 weeks typically before they're ready to transplant and go into the ground.

One other thing to be aware of with eucalyptus seedlings, this is a tree species, so they do develop a taproot. And they can be sensitive at transplanting and also sensitive to things like bumping up. So for us we try not to have to bump them up. What works well for us is sowing them into 128-cell trays and then transplanting from those right to the field. But if you do end up bumping them up, it's something to be mindful of that they have a taproot and are sensitive to root disturbance.

As far as harvest stage for eucalyptus, we wait until the stems have started to get woody and stiffen up. This allows them to rehydrate better. For us, that point typically comes mid to late August for most varieties when we can start harvesting. If you harvest before the stems get woody, you may find you have trouble rehydrating those stems and they tend to droop faster. Once the stems do have that woody layer to them, as long as you're rehydrating them appropriately, they should last for quite a while and be a great source of foliage through the late summer and into the fall.

Thank you for watching. I know eucalyptus is a really important crop for a lot of growers. I hope that this video today helped you understand a little bit more of the differences between the varieties and the species that we offer. If you're looking for more information about eucalyptus, please check out our website. We have a lot more information there, as well as photos, about the different varieties and species that we carry.

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