Yeah, I've seen groves on Maui and other spots in Hawaii; very cool tree. Where did you get it? I tried it in Sacramento but failed; too cold but now I live in the Peoples' Republic of Berkeley where, it seems, one can grow anything. I'm hoping to give it another try.

F

I too have seen it in Hawaii, would definitely plant it if I lived there.

Sunset WESTERN GARDEN BOOK (2007, Sunset Publishing, Menlo Park) says it's hardy to 24F to 26F/-4C to -2C:

Fast-growing, erect tree from jungles of Indonesia, Philippines, New Guinea. Trunk is the spectacular feature. Regular water

hmm, all my update posts were deleted, here goes

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Never saw one of those until now. That's spectacular.

Many thanks,

Dax

Your rainbow looks great! Seems very healthy and robust. I can't believe all the growth in just under a year. How often do you water it during the dry season? Do you fertilize it with anything? I need some advice on how to make my rainbow look like that. It is in a container for now (no land to plant in, so unfortunately not an option).

Have you seen the big one at Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami? It is quite nice.

I have one here in Gainesville that has nice bark and is flowering - in a pot. It is too cold here in winter for them. I tried once and it died by November.

They do grow fast and need moisture year around. I keep mine well watered and fertilize every 2 weeks in summer with a typical liquid fertilizer.

Mine doesn't look healthy or well. How does one post photos?

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the color toned down a bit, i think the rain will promote growth and more colorful bark shedding

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yesterday

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a Tilandsia i mounted in its canopy
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Wow! Your rainbow is growing like crazy. I have managed to grow one out here in the AZ sun. It survived 115+ degree summer temps, it's about 6 feet tall now (it was 2 feet when I planted it in March). Yours looks much fuller but our bark colors are the same. Thanks for the pics!

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Wow that tree is amazing! Do you know if it have a shallow root system like the Banyan Tree or deeper?

Thanks for this wonderful log. I imagine by now the tree is much much larger. Post new pictures when you can. It is really interesting for us to see the progression.

I got my foot tall seedling snapped in half by strong winds. It is in
the pot outdoors for the past several months. I have 12 of them in pots
outdoors and 1 of them got broken in half when placed in the corner
outdoors, but it was not separated so I repaired it with tape. I wonder
how these trees grow in New Zealand, Lord Howe Island or your country
and do they survive hurricane winds? I live in a heat zone that I would
describe as zero or 1, but the hardiness zone is 11B. Also I would guess
one has to allow up to 200 ft. to plant it away from the house or any
valuable structure or street. Does anyone have experiences these trees
toppling over or breaking in high winds?

One of the "coolest trees in the world" kind of trees! Add to the list, Delonix regia, banyans, kapok trees......but yeah, these are something.

+oM

Wow, I like what you are trying to achieve here, it will look amazing in a few years,

I am concerned for your house tho, eucalyptus are known for dropping branches and yours seems to be a little too close for comfort,

I want to plant one here in my house in fort lauderdale, What distance did you leave between the tree and your house?

does anyone know the footprint of a mature tree?

Antonio, it's just going to get too tall for your yard if you can't accept any chance of calamity. I'm not saying don't plant one-I think they're fantastic trees, and well worth trying to grow in Florida-just that unless you have a large estate...or some acreage, you're simply not going to be able to "get out of the way" of one should it come crashing down. We live with such risks all the time. Imagine if every tree in every yard in every town in just the US that was tall enough to fall on a house or something of that nature was taken down. The place would look very, very different.

You've got homeowner's insurance, right? In my experience living with a very large silver maple-the largest one in my city full of silver maples-we did have branches come down a few times. Nobody ever got hurt, the damage was minimal, and life went on. That's how you have to look at this, I think.

I love it!,

Yeah I can live with risks for such a gorgeous tree,

If anyone is ever in Fort Lauderdale, there is a cafe called The Alchemist and they have a courtyard full of rainbow e trees, it is just fabulous! I will try to get some pictures next time I go

By all means! Great trees indeed.

They seem to grow fast only if temps are above 20C (68F) and get damaged by winds. Very beautiful trees. Waiting for them to grow up more so I can plant them into the ground here.

I planted the seed for this one in June 2015, now in May 2016 it is 2ft tall. I'm not sure if this is a normal speed for growth, but I water often and will now start fertilizing. I live in southern california so I hope it will like the weather!

Beautiful tree.

Southern Cali is a bit marginal for this tree of the deep tropics. Still, what have you to lose? Good luck!

FWIW there are huge ones at the Huntington, which other than an urban heat island isn't an anomalously mild climate for inhabited southern CA. However they are not commonly seen in gardens there. Maybe they are hard to establish or something. But they are clearly more cool tolerant than say, a coconut.

I was given a rainbow eucalyptus last year and between May and October and it grew about 12 to 13 feet. Over the winter it's seem to die off but now there are new leaves growing from the root area. Will the tree come back should I cut it at all. Has anyone seen this before?

Where ya at, Amy? Indeed, some plants of marginal cold-hardiness do just this: The entire top dies back but not the root system. What you're left with is a sort of "hardy herbaceous perennial" that isn't really herbaceous, lol. What would be the determining factor-for me anyway-in such a scenario is whether or not you get the cool bark in what amount to single year's growth. Do you? Or rather, will you?

I'm in Virginia beach. We thought we would be good to go last year because it grew so fast and looked so healthy. I hope we can still get that cool rainbow look but I'm really just happy I'm getting any growth at all right now. We have hot and humid long summers and the winter is hit or miss with the cold/snow (if we get any at all). I guess I'm wondering if I should cut the dead looking part of the tree back? We have a lot of crepe mertles here that people cut back and the tree regrows its branches back, would a eucalyptus do the same?

"I hope we can still get that cool rainbow look but I'm really just happy I'm getting any growth at all right now."

Not in Virginia Beach but it's impressive, surprising even, that it managed to return from the roots. Where did your gift giver get it - or did you ask? I think they are pretty rare in commerce.

"We have a lot of crepe mertles here that people cut back and the tree regrows its branches back, would a eucalyptus do the same?"

It would but it's a bad idea, especially for crape myrtle. Google "crape murder" - I believe there used to be a website.

Hahahahaha, that's what I call it to. We have one in our yard and I never cut it back. A friend of ours ordered the eucalyptus trees online. They have one as well. Theirs only grew about a third of the height of ours (they have a lot less sun) but it is regrowing at the bottom like ours is.

It's different of course if you have to cut back a trunk that died. In that case you have no choice.

A Eucalyptus like Eucalyptus neglecta should be perfectly hardy down there and able to become a fairly big tree, but won't have rainbow bark. It will still have nice bark though.