Beautiful Tree

On of my favorite tees is blooming now in the Southland.  It is Eucalyptus ficifolia. The Latin for the species means leaves like a Ficus as you can see it's leaves are very green instead of the more common Eucalyptus grey. "They" recently changed the name to Corymbia ficifolia. Oh, I HATE that and refuse to call it that. It will always be a Ecualyptus to me.  The flowers are exactly like all other Eucs.  And like other Eucs, this tree is native to Australia.  Australian plants grow very well in the Los Angeles area as well as all of SoCal because we have a similar Mediterranean climate with only Winter and Spring rains.  The flowers range from white to coral to orange to cherry red and orange red.  I love the orange and red ones.

 This tree grows to about 25' which is small for a tree compared to the Eucalyptus citriodora(Lemon Gum) which grows to about 70'!    I have seen E. ficifolia grown as street trees in Glendale, parts of LA, Pasadena and Altadena.   I would LOVE to have one for my yard.  But I NEVER see them in nurseries. They are said to only flower after about 7 years.  So you won't know what color flower you'll get!  Ugh! :-(  I guess I will just have to enjoy them when I see them while driving.