Spotted Gum Corymbia maculata (Eucalyptus maculata)

Spotted Gum is grown for its trunk as much as anything else. The smooth bark sheds in irregular patches through the warmer months and leaves a dappled surface of grey, cream and soft pink over a long, clean bole. Above that sit narrow glossy adult leaves in an open crown that lets light through to whatever is planted underneath. Creamy white blossom brings lorikeets and honeyeaters. It is a forest tree used for feature and shade planting on large blocks and parks.

Coastal ranges, and why it will not screen

Its country is the coast and coastal ranges of New South Wales, running north from the far south coast, so it suits the southern and central eastern seaboard and the near inland, and it will also grow in Melbourne, Adelaide and drier districts given drainage. Full sun. It wants soil that drains and copes with clay loam, gravel and moderate fertility, and once established it needs very little water. Frost is tolerated by established trees, though young ones want shelter in cold gardens. It gets large and it gets there quickly, so allow the space of a forest tree well clear of buildings, pools and services.

The mistake to avoid is planting it as a screen. This species naturally lifts its own canopy as it grows, dropping lower branches to build that clean bole, and within a few years the foliage sits high above the fence line while the view you wanted to block is wide open at eye level. Nothing you prune will bring the low growth back, because the tree does not shoot from old wood down low the way a lignotuberous eucalypt will. Plant it for high shade and a trunk to look at, and use a low branching species if screening is the job.

Choosing between the spotted gums on climate

The trunk here is close to that of coastal spotted gum, the northern relative long sold as Eucalyptus maculata, and the practical difference is climate: that subspecies belongs in the warmer, more humid north, this one in cooler southern coastal districts. Lemon scented gum is the third of the group and the only one with true citronella in the leaves, on a paler, powdery trunk. Choose Spotted Gum for southern coastal country where you want the mottled trunk and high, open shade. All three lift their canopies and none of them screens at eye level, so if that is what the site needs, look at a low branching species instead of any of them. More in flowering.

Little more than formative pruning

Formative pruning in the first few years is all it needs: one leader, competing stems shortened while small, tight forks removed, and the canopy allowed to lift in its own time with a little help, the work done in late winter. On established trees limit work to deadwood and clearance from roofs and gutters, and use an arborist for anything large, because the timber is dense and the limbs are heavy. Feed lightly while it is young, using a native product, and check the phosphorus figure on the bag before you buy it. Mulch a wide ring, keep turf away from the trunk, and water deeply through the first two summers.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 12 sizes, from 140mm up to 200L, priced from $16.95 to $1419.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to Australian native trees for shade.