Hello, We have a piece of land C6 acres at the moment laid to organic hay. The boundary has been overgrown with ash, sycamore etc & an overgrown Victorian Nuttery. The boundary ares will be felled / thinned and additional nut trees + native British hardwoods planted, subject to receipt of the Forestry Commission felling licence. We want to take C2 acres and plant fenced vegatable area (rabbits + deer), small vineyard + some orchard tree with approximately 1.5 acres as coppice with margin up to hay field of native hardwoods. The climate here, in Hanley Swan / Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, England, in my 35 years of living here ranges from +40 C to -25C, with 27" of rain throughout the year. Average year +30 C to -15 C. Soil is glacial outwash with a covering of 1.5 / 2.0 m clay in this location. The coppice species need to be fast growing. We will already have ash which will regenerate along field margins in 10 years or so. We know of poplar - willow hybrid and the fast growth rate but it has been suggested th try Eucalyptus as a coppice? Has anybody got experience? Eucalyptus Gunnii & Eucalyptus Nigens seem to be the only ones capable of living with our climate. Has anyone experienced frost damage as a result of -15 C? I have noted that properties on new housing estates to the south of Worcester City, built in the last 25 years have had huge specimens, nearly all of them gone now. They are beautiful, non native, trees and were probably removed because of their size, temperatures in Worcester would only be a little warmer than here. We would appreciate any feed back as being 54, time is now becoming an issue (for some things). Hate to loose the lot 5-6 years after planting and will almost certainly safeguard with an area of poplar - willow. Regards, Mike
Eucalyptus gunnii would be hardy, but not any faster growing than willow or poplar as coppice. E. nitens is faster, but not very hardy, and would almost certainly be killed in another 2010-11 style winter. Worth bearing in mind though that in Britain, Eucalyptus are wildlife-sterile; unlike willow or poplar, they do not support any significant biodiversity. They would not fit in at all well with your other objectives.
Thanks for this. I am aware that being non-native it is wildlife-sterile, part of the reason it is a fast grower. We would be growing purely to provide fuel. Other areas of the property will be planted with native trees, hawthorn, bramble, elderflower etc. There are a number of web sites offering native trees + polar - willow hybrids but I have not seen any that offer quantities of E.gunnii or E.nitens, do you know of any suppliers? Regards, Mike.
