Growing Scarlet-flowered Gum trees (Eucalyptus ficifolia)

by James K. Sayre

The Scarlet-flowered Gum tree (Eucalyptus ficafolia) is one of my favorite Eucalyptus trees. It is grown as an ornamental tree in many parts of coastal California. In the San Francisco Bay Area, many Scarlet-flowered Gums can be seen in San Bruno. In Morro Bay, in southern California, the Scarlet-flowered Gum is the street tree of choice. In Oakland, several main streets are lined with them; unfortunately, this has little if any dampening effect on the levels of our street crime.

The Scarlet-flowered Gum tree is originally from a small part of coastal Western Australia, in small river valleys that drain southward into the Indian Ocean. Gradually they were grown from seed in other parts of Australia, and eventually they were cultivated in coastal California.

The seeds that I ordered had directions that suggested the soil temperature should be around 75 F; however, I managed to germination one seed in an outdoor pot this spring where the nighttime temperature dropped to about 60 F and the daytime temperature rarely rose above 70 F. The two indoor-sown Gums sprouted in about ten days, while the outdoor-sown Gum sprouted in about two weeks.

After putting up three sets of juvenile leaves, the Gums start producing their adult leaves, which are more irregular in shape and have more oils: they are shinier than their juvenile leaves.

After several years of growth, the Gum trees will produce large beautiful flower clusters of red, scarlet, pink, orange, cream and even white.

End.

Bottlebrush Press has maintained its presence on the Internet since 1996.

Return to the home page of Bottlebrush Press: The homepage of Bottlebrush Press

This web page was recently created by James K. Sayre.

Contact author James K. Sayre at sayresayre@yahoo.com. Author's Email: sayresayre@yahoo.com

Web page last updated on 1 October 2007.