Why Eucalyptus?

As we have finished cutting eucalyptus this year I thought this week’s ‘why’ would be about that! Eucalyptus is quite rightly a very popular foliage, with its striking silver leaves and elegant line, and it’s excellent out of water and can be dried. Perfect foliage!

Here in the U.K. it is cropped as a winter evergreen between October and April when the trees are dormant. Eucalyptus grows very quickly, at least a metre a year, and the new growth is prone to wilting. That is in itself not that unusual, new growth can do that, but as it’s so great when it’s mature it’s not worth cutting at the unreliable stage…. Which is why we don’t cut it in the summer months!

For British Flower businesses, eucalyptus isn’t an option now until autumn. Instead there are lots of foliages that have beautiful colour, shape and movement to use instead… we have planted hundreds of trees and shrubs over the last two years to ensure we have a great selection of foliages, once they’re a bit more established. Our DIY Foliage buckets contain a mixture of foliages and grasses, and there’s likely to be a bit of hedge in our bunches and bouquets all year round!

This bowl arrangement is made from fresh, young foliages growing here and now in Cumbria. Its foam free design is intended to create a dense ribbon of foliage down a wedding breakfast trestle table, instead of a Garland made from imported eucalyptus.

-Harriet x