Eucalypts have been grown on Vancouver Island for at least forty years, yet there are few mature, undamaged specimens today, a sure testimony to their limited hardiness, but also to a poor choice of species planted.
Eucalypts originated in Australia about twenty-five million years ago, when deserts and tropical and temperate grasslands began to develop on Earth. Then, as now, Australia was situated in the Southern Hemisphere, though somewhat further south, and its climate was milder and wetter. As it drifted northward into lower latitudes, the land became hotter and drier; no really high mountains ever developed. Eucalypts, therefore, adapted with these changes to drought and heat, but not to severe cold. As a result, of the more than 600 or so species of Eucalyptus, the only ones that can survive our cold snaps are found in the coldest places in Australia.
Alpine snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora ssp. niphophila) in Australia's Snowy Mountains. Author’s photographs
The coldest places are the upper slopes of the Snowy Mountains and the adjacent ranges, which straddle the border between the states of New S...
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