Gum Tree Eucalyptus polyanthemos

Red Box is grown as much for its juvenile foliage as for anything else. The young leaves are round to oval, held in pairs along the stem and coated in a grey blue bloom, and they are cut in quantity for the florist trade under the name silver dollar gum. The trunk carries a persistent grey box bark, fibrous and closely held, with the upper branches shedding to smooth. It builds an upright, moderately spreading crown at speed, and it is used for windbreaks, paddock shade and dry site canopy.

Dry slopes, and holding on to the silver dollar leaf

This is a dry country species from the western slopes of New South Wales and the Victorian box country, so shallow soils, frost and long dry spells are all normal service once established. It suits inland Victoria and New South Wales, the ACT, the slopes and tablelands, and drier parts of South Australia and southern Queensland. Full sun, and growth is fast. Cream flowers appear in clusters and the tree is a dependable nectar source. The one thing it will not accept is heavy ground that stays wet through winter, where it sits, sulks and eventually rots off at the roots, so plant on a rise or mound the bed on clay and keep irrigation away from the base.

Red Box is usually lost by buying it for the silver dollar leaf and then letting the tree run. Juvenile foliage is a phase, not a permanent feature of this species, and a plant left to run puts up a leader and converts to long, dull, pointed adult leaves. The reason you bought it is then gone, and cutting a converted tree back does not reliably bring it back either, because the response from old box wood is patchy, slow and often adult foliage again. Decide at planting and stick to it. If the foliage is the point, grow it as a coppiced stool and cut it to a low framework every winter. If you want the shade tree, accept that the silver belongs to the first few years only. What you cannot do is get both from the one plant.

Red Box against apple box and Argyle Apple

Set it against apple box, which shares the round blue grey juvenile leaf but is a low, broad, cold climate tree that actually prefers damper, heavier soil. If your ground is wet, plant that instead. For silver foliage on a smaller plant, Argyle Apple holds its juvenile leaves far longer and coppices readily, but it is weaker wooded and seeds about. Red Box is the choice when you want the silver dollar leaf on a durable dry country shade tree with sound wood behind it. The bark separates them as well: Red Box holds a fibrous grey box bark on the trunk, apple box carries the same box type over a much wider frame, and Argyle Apple keeps rough reddish brown bark right out along the limbs. Larger sizes are in advanced trees.

Shade tree or cutting plant

Decide early what the plant is for. As a shade tree, select a leader in the first three years, shorten competing stems and lift the canopy gradually, working in late winter. As a cutting plant, cut it back hard each winter to a low framework and harvest the new growth, which keeps the juvenile leaf coming and stops the switch to adult foliage. Feeding is light either way. A native blend as the soil warms, in each of the first two years, then mulch and grass control. Water through the first two summers and then let it be.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 9 sizes, from 140mm up to 45L, priced from $16.95 to $289.00 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.