Eucalyptus question

 A friend and neighbour of mine arrived home yesterday evening with a
Eucalytpus.  I'm not sure which one, but it's one of those whose young
foliage is round.

She wants to plant it in front of her sitting room window on the site of
a dead Cordyline.  She intends to keep it as a low shrub so it doesn't
exclude light.  So far, no problem.  Unfortunately, her chosen planting
site is about 1m (3ft) in front of the house.  I was alarmed.  I have
always believed that Eucalypts were drain-strangling
foundation-wreckers, and advised her to think again.  Am I right?  Even
if she keeps it trimmed, I would have thought the roots would be too
invasive.  I don't want to spoil her plans, but she doesn't want to harm
her house, either.

I would be most grateful for your opinions, urglers all.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

 
In my hometown, people often use essential oils extracted from leaves of
eucalyptus to treat respiratory diseases. Eucalyptus is a large tree,
it's not good to plant it close to home because of its roots as you
said.




--
GardenerBlog

 

As urg's token Aussie (even if Anglicised almost to the point of
cultural genocide) I love gum trees. But not the way your neighbour
wants to use one: your misgivings are wholly justified, and it would
be totally insane to plant it so close to a house. And pruning the top
doesn't prune the roots. Personally, I don't think anybody with a
garden of less than an acre should ever plant a Eucalyptus gunnii,
which is what this presumably is.

I used to have the URL of a table of distances from structures which
the insurance business regarded as safe: it should be easy to Ggl, and
I'd recommend you to do so.

(OTish. Many years ago, my mother was asked over drinks at a
not-quite-statelyish home, "What do your famous gum trees _look_
like?" She looked out the French windows, and pointed out a suitable
comparison: "Oh," responded the not entirely impressed Poms, "that
one's been struck by lightning.")

--
Mike.

 

Without wishing to give a definitive answer, Ray's impression of them
is that they root less deeply in UK because of our much wetter climate.
 My own experience of them in a former, walled, Jersey garden is that
they blew over rather easily, so I do wonder how bad a root problem
there is in Britain.  If Spider's neighbour is going to keep it really
small, all fine and dandy, but if for any reason, she lets it go, they
head for the skies like rockets, ime!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

 
'Sacha[_4_ Wrote:

But they are still going to be as aggressive in sucking the water out of
a clay soil as the most aggressive native tree.
..
A common reason for Eucs blowing over is that they are left to grow on
in a pot for too long before being planted out.  They become pot-bound
very quickly and it affects their root structure for the rest of their
life, unless you are very rigorous about carefully untangling and
spreading out the roots.  They should be put in the ground small.
Another reason is misguided staking of the tree. See 'Cultural
information for growing Eucalyptus in cool climates'
(http://tinyurl.com/6hvsr9b )




--
echinosum