Gum Tree Eucalyptus bridgesiana

Apple Box has nothing to do with apples beyond the shape early settlers saw in it, a low, broad, densely crowned tree. The feature is the juvenile foliage, round to heart shaped leaves in a soft blue grey, carried on young trees and on any regrowth after a cut. Bark is the box type, rough and closely fibrous on the trunk and main limbs, shedding to smooth pale branches higher up. It is a shade tree for cold acreage, and a reliable source of cut foliage.

Cold damp ground, and the width to allow for

This is a cold climate eucalypt from the tablelands of New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT. Frost is a non event, and it is one of the few gums genuinely comfortable on heavier, damper soils that other species resent, so it suits districts where winter ground stays cold and sticky. Full sun keeps the crown dense. Growth is fast in open ground, and once the roots are down it needs very little water. Adult leaves come through narrow and dull green, with white flowers over summer, so the blue grey look belongs to young trees and to regrowth after pruning.

Space is the thing you cannot fix afterwards. Apple Box builds a heavy, low, wide branch structure with age, and a tree planted within a canopy width of a house, a driveway or a fence line cannot be corrected by pruning later. Removing major limbs off a broad crowned box leaves large wounds, the tree responds with weak regrowth, and you end up with a hazard rather than a shade tree. Give it the width of an orchard tree from the start, on the open side of the block.

Apple Box beside red box and mealy stringybark

Compare it with red box, which shares the round blue juvenile leaves but is an upright dry country tree that resents wet ground. If your site is shallow, stony and dry, red box is the right call. Apple Box is the one for cold, damp, heavier soil, and its crown is much lower and broader. Mealy stringybark also handles winter wet ground, but carries stringy fibrous bark and a narrower, more upright habit that fits a shelterbelt line. Apple Box wants orchard spacing instead, because the crown goes sideways as much as up. Choose it when you want broad, low shade over a cold paddock, ground that stays damp in winter, and cut foliage as a bonus. Choose the stringybark where the row has to stay tight.

Formative cuts, and a second plant for cutting

Formative pruning in the first few years decides how the tree ages. Choose a leader, cut back the stems competing with it while they are still thin, and lift the skirt slowly. Do the work in late winter, before the spring flush. Once the framework is set, restrict yourself to deadwood. If you want the blue juvenile leaves for cutting, run a separate coppiced plant rather than butchering the shade tree, because regrowth on a mature box is weakly attached. Feeding is minimal. Two springs of a native blend while it establishes, then mulch and nothing else. Phosphorus is the thing to keep away from it. Keep stock and vehicles off the root zone. See more in feature trees.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 6 sizes, from 70mm up to 100L, priced from $16.95 to $649.00 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.