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Landscape Design Florida Gardening Trees

Please help me decide where to plant a new tree

3 years ago

I have a backyard area that is about 80' wide by 70' deep, fully fenced. Located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida USA zone 10b.

I would like to plant a new rainbow eucalyptus. Yes, I know, a big tree.

Here is a sketch of my back yard. The house is on the south side, the back yard is to the north. I have also annotated the existing plants and trees nearby.

Going from west to east, there is a large oak tree to the west that is on my neighbor's property but close to the property line. On the north side near the fence is a mango tree, to the east of it a coconut palm, further to the east is a hedge of bamboo along the back fence. Then on the south east end of the back yard is a pongame oil tree. I have recently planted two fishtail palm clusters just north of the patio hoping to offer some filtered shades in the future.

The middle of the yard is quite bare with just grass.

I am trying to decide where I should plant the rainbow eucalyptus. I know this tree can grow to over 100' tall, but I have seen a few mature species here in South Florida they top off about 35' to 40'.

I am trying to decide whether to plant is right in the middle of the yard, or further to the right, or left, or the NE corner where there isn't an existing tree but the canopy will grow over my neighbor's yard in the future.

I would appreciate any ideas on where to plant it. Here are some additional annotated pictures of the back yard area.

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Comments (6)

mindshift
3 years ago
Planting a large-growing tree doesn't just impact your property, but your neighbor's as well. Trees seems so small when planted; it's really difficult to imagine their ultimate size. And tree roots can spread much farther than their canopy. I would place this tree in the middle of the open space, more or less equidistant between the coconut palm, the bamboo and the pongame oil tree.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
if you are planting a tree with that huge of potential ... i would not really focus on all the other plants.. because.. in tree time.. they will probably all need to go.. due to lack of sun under the Goliath ...

but im guessing.. we will all be dead by then ... lol ...

i would also note.. this is probably a tree for a park or a golf course.. and not your rather minuscule back yard.. no matter how cool it is ...

any idea how storm worthy the leviathan will be ...

just because you can.. doesnt mean you should ...

ken

they really look photo-shopped.. any one ever put actual eyes on one???

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Eucalyptus+deglupta+forest&t=ffcm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images
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Miami Cuse
Original Author
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Yes I have seen three of these locally. Two of them at two different nurseries. One at a local tropical garden. The colors are vibrant but not as contrasting as in these pictures, I think they might have enhanced the brightness of the pictures but the colors are wonderful.

The three I saw have all been in the ground for over 20+ years and they are no more than 35' tall at the very top. One of them was plantec five feet from the corner of a house at the nursery where they sell indoor plants, pots and ornamentals. The concrete walkway three feet away does not even have a crack. I asked the nuseries and were it's told it's fast growing but it's been that size for half a dozen years and it won't get to the huge size where I am (of course, they have a conflict of interest in terms trying to sell plants).
scogebear
3 years ago
We have a couple in my neighborhood. The trunk colors are amazing. I would only suggest trying to space it away from homes as they get quite tall and are supposedly not storm tolerant. However, the larger, older tree seemed to fair pretty well in Irma. The younger one is probably over 30' tall and hasn't been in the ground very long.
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
3 years ago
Make sure it won't interfere with any underground lines - like sewer...
Miami Cuse
Original Author
3 years ago
Here are some pictures of one at a nearby nursery. Spoke to the owner who told me they planted this one right after hurricane Wilma in 2006 so it's been 14 years. It's fast growing, about 35' tall now but definitely will not get anywhere near the 100' or 250' range in it's native environment. They had it in a smaller yard. The colors are incredible.

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