Pink Flowering Yellow Gum

Pink Flowering Yellow Gum (Eucalyptus leucoxylon 'Rosea') gives you a real canopy and a genuine wildlife tree in the same spot. It reaches around 9m tall and 6m wide in a garden, with smooth cream and grey bark and pendulous clusters of pink to red flowers. It blooms through autumn and winter, exactly when honeyeaters need the nectar most.

Why you'll love it

• Shade within a handful of seasons. A fast growing eucalypt, so a 6m canopy over a lawn or driveway arrives far sooner than with a slow growing tree.
• Flowers in the off season. Pink and red blossom through autumn and winter, when most gardens have nothing on offer, drawing honeyeaters and lorikeets.
• Built for hard country. Drought tolerant, heat tolerant, frost hardy, wind tolerant and content in poor soil. A South Australian tree that expects a dry summer.
• Handsome bark and open form. The trunk sheds to cream, grey and yellow patches, and the canopy is light enough to grow lawn underneath.

Where it works best

Shade and feature planting. Give a single tree at least 6m of clear ground in every direction so the canopy develops its natural shape.

Driveways and avenues. For a row along a drive, set the trees 8m to 10m apart. That keeps each 6m canopy in shape and stops the line closing into a tunnel.

Windbreaks and rural blocks. Wind and poor soil tolerance make it a good structural tree in a shelter belt, planted behind a lower layer of shrubs.

Growing Pink Flowering Yellow Gum in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, always. It suits warm temperate, cool temperate, Mediterranean and arid to semi-arid gardens and is frost hardy once established. It is not a tree for the wet tropics or for high year round humidity.

Soil. Undemanding. Sandy, gravelly and low fertility soils are all fine, and it handles alkaline ground better than most eucalypts. Drainage is the one requirement, so mound heavy clay. Place it deliberately, because the roots are vigorous and belong away from pipes and paving.

Water and feed. Deep soak weekly through the first two summers to drive the roots down, then leave it alone. Established trees are genuinely drought tolerant. Feeding is rarely needed, and a low phosphorus native fertiliser in early spring is enough if you do.

Pruning. Formative pruning in the first three years to select a single leader is worth doing. After that, lift the lower branches for clearance and leave large limb work to a qualified arborist.

What to expect when it arrives

This gum is grown in six sizes: 200mm pots in packs of six, 250mm in packs of three, 300mm, 400mm, 45L and 200L. The 200mm and 250mm plants are young whips, often knee to waist height, and establish fast. The 300mm and 400mm sizes suit a single garden tree, while 45L and 200L specimens arrive with a formed trunk.

Some leaf drop in transit is normal rather than a fault. Stake a young tree loosely for the first year only, since a trunk allowed to move builds its own strength. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Advanced and large stock is freighted at cost, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Native plants that bring birds into the garden
• Choosing trees to line a driveway
• Browse the Australian native tree range
• Compare fast growing shade trees

Common questions

How big will it get in a suburban garden?

Usually 8m to 12m tall with a canopy around 6m across, smaller than in open bushland. Soil depth and available water are the main variables, so a dry sandy block holds it at the lower end.

How far from the house should I plant it?

At least 8m to 10m from buildings, pipes and paving. The roots are vigorous, and this is not a tree to squeeze into a narrow strip beside a driveway.

When does it flower?

Through autumn and winter, heaviest in full sun. Young trees often start flowering within two to three years of planting, earlier than most eucalypts.