Rainbow Eucalyptus
This is my husband’s favorite tree; possibly the only tree he ever really focused on. The ornamental, exfoliating bark is the main feature of this tree. Native to the Phillipines and surrounding islands, it is sometimes called the Mindanao Gum tree. The tree provides most of the pulpwood for paper and is grown on plantations in the Phillipines.
We first ran across this tree and its spectacular bark on the road to Hana in Maui, Hawaii. Intrigued by the tree, I researched it and was interested to find that it can be grown in South Florida. The tree is not tolerant of frost and our average low is 40 degrees. It is sited in a protected area, but is getting pretty tall.
Bark
And grow it does. I bought this tree in November 2012 at a plant sale in West Palm Beach at Mounts Botanical Garden. It was run over with a Riding lawn mower shortly after being planted and smashed flat. This resulted in two scrapes down the entire length of the trunk. Eschewing arboricultural reason, I decided to try and save the tree rather than buy another one. I went to Home Depot and bought a tree staking kit, cleaned its wounds, took out the damaged bark and wrapped the trunk with tree wrap and staked the tree until it healed. A few months later the bark had calloused and the tree was off to the races.
Currently, nearly two years later and overwhelmingly robust I would estimate the tree is 30 feet tall. It doubled in size in one year (it was 5-6 feet tall when I bought it!) and has grown 18 feet in the past year. Now I am a little afraid.
The bark is currently not showing any purple or blue, but I believe it will. The new growth is red and it flowers in summer, not terribly exciting flowers, little white panicles – fortunately, no fruit thus far. The bark is the star of the show.
The Shrub Queen 
I love that you were able to rescue that beauty! Well done!
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Thanks, I thought he was a goner.
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Wow – that’s an impressive growth rate. Well done on the repair job after the mower incident….it didn’t seem to slow the tree down 🙂
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I agree and it seemed one day I went out, looked up, and the tree was taller than the house – and it wasn’t like that the day before..
I guess I triumphed over John Deere just this once.
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That bark is beautiful. I have never seen such a thing before.
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It is very cool, when the trees are a little bigger the striations in the bark get smaller and have more color – blues and purples.
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When the bark falls off, is it also multicolored? I can’t find that info anywhere.
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What falls off is usually a russet color and the rainbow remains on the trunk.
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18 feet in one year? I’d be afraid too. Kinda like if it grew eighteen feet in one year. But that bark is a beauty. and you must be so proud to know that you rescued a tree that others would have thrown out — and look how nicely it’s rewarded your life-saving efforts.
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Maybe it is just happy to be alive and will slow down.
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