Mallee Native Plants

Around town the many coloured forms of Eucalyptus ficifolia are coming into full bloom. This is a spectacular plant in flower. Amazingly it grows very well here although probably not as large as it would be in better conditions. Some plants show some yellowing due to the lime in the soil but many seem to grow beyond the lime.

The colours range from deep dark red through vermillion, letter box red, orange, tangerine and shades in between and white. I haven’t seen pink but I believe there is that colour form also. This is one of the plants which, when grown from seed, cannot be guaranteed to give the colour required. Some clever people have been trying to graft Eucalypts and strike them also. I’ve read some articles on the techniques but have not had the inclination to try.

As we drove in to the Retirement Village last week I saw this lovely mallee growing on the curb. When I got out of the car to take a photo, I realised that it was one of the colour forms of Eucalyptus calycogona, a very hardy small tree which often has a mallee form. The tree usually flowers in the winter- spring period so I was surprised to see the prolific flowering of this one. It is certainly an asset to have summer flowering native plants.

More information about this plant can be found here and here.

Besides the local native mallee Eucalypt species, many Western Australian species have been planted around the district. These have proved to be hardy trees, frost and drought tolerant and very pretty in flower. One of my favourites is Eucalyptus forrestiana (Fuschia Gum).

This tree has attractive gum nuts (capsules) which have the appearance of a fuschia, hence the common name. It is often a tall shrub rather than tree like, being 3-7 metres high by 3-5 metres wide.

It seems to handle the limestone here very well although it is probably in the smaller range so far as size is concerned. It makes a great tree for home gardens. The Honeyeaters love this tree when it is in flower.

The Eucalypts are flowering prolifically this season. it always amazes me that the local Mallee Eucalypts flower and put on beautiful new growth during the hottest and dryest part of the year. The bees are very busy and the smell of honey is quite strong on a hot day.

I found this mallee at Lowan Conservation Park when we visited there a couple of months ago. It is a frost hardy and drought tolerant plant.

It is often cultivated because of its ability to grow on a range of sites in dry areas, including shallow limestone. It has a moderate growth rate and flowers at an early age. Its height ranges from 2 to 8 metres. Here it seems to be about 5 metres tall with a lovely wide canopy of foliage, making it a nice shade tree.