(Silver Dollar Gumtree)

Its cool blue-green juvenile foliage and moderate size make this Southeast Australian native a popular choice for home landscapes. A medium-sized, upright, evergreen tree with somewhat ascending, often arching branches, it has round silvery leaves when young. More mature specimens bear oval gray-green leaves. Both types sometimes occur on the same tree, providing added visual interest. The aromatic, colorful foliage is popular in cut flower arrangements. Clusters of small white fuzzy flowers appear...

(Silverleaf Mountain Gum)

Grown for its fine silvery green foliage and exceptional drought tolerance, silverleaf mountain gum is a tall, weak-stemmed shrub or small tree with a coarse, interesting habit. Its rounded, juvenile foliage is especially pretty and valued for fresh and dried arrangements. This Australian native was brought to California as an ornamental shrub and has since become naturalized across the San Francisco Bay area where it pops up in coastal plant communities and disturbed urban areas.

Silverleaf...

(Flooded Gum)

A valuable eucalyptus for coastal gardens, this medium-sized evergreen tree is native to seasonally flooded sites in Southwest Australia. It forms an upright, sometimes low-branched, open-crowned tree with rough gray bark. The rounded to oval gray-green to green leaves have red stalks. Bark on young branches and on trunks of some specimens is smooth and light gray. White fuzzy flowers appear from winter to spring, followed by small conical seed capsules that do not pose a litter problem when they...

(Ironbark)

One of the few eucalypts grown for it showy flowers as well as for its handsome bark and evergreen foliage, this medium-sized to large tree is native to coastal and inland areas of eastern Australia. Variable in habit, it has deep red-brown bark whose hardness earns it the name "ironwood". Younger branches have smooth gray bark. The flowers – which are among the largest of the genus – bloom heavily over a long season from winter into spring. Borne in showy pendulous red-stemmed clusters, the shaggy,...

(Ironbark, Pink Flowered Ironbark)

One of the few eucalypts grown for it showy flowers as well as for its handsome bark and evergreen foliage, this medium-sized to large tree is native to coastal and inland areas of eastern Australia. Variable in habit, it has deep red-brown bark whose hardness earns it the name "ironwood". Younger branches have smooth gray bark. The flowers – which are among the largest of the genus – bloom heavily over a long season from winter into spring. Borne in showy pendulous red-stemmed clusters, the shaggy,...

(Swamp Mallee)

Elegant fine textured foliage, a dense narrow compact habit, and adaptability to dry or damp conditions distinguish this eucalypt from the rest of its kin. In its native Southwest Australia it is known as swamp mallet for its occurrence in periodically flooded sites. Its narrow ribbon-like gray-green leaves give the tree a hazy look at a distance, which provides effective contrast to coarser plants. The new leaves are often red-tinted. The smooth bark is a beautiful pinkish-gray, shedding in spring...

(Coral Gum)

Perhaps the most beautiful in flower of all the eucalypts, this small evergreen tree from Southwest Australia is also remarkably adaptable. Of upright, somewhat vase-shaped habit, it has rough dark gray bark on older growth and smooth paler bark on its upper branches. Small lantern shaped red buds open to puffy clusters of coral flowers followed by urn-shaped seed capsules. The abundant blossoms sometimes bow the branches under their weight. This tree blooms on and off year round, giving it high...

(Hardy Rubber Tree)

Amazingly tolerant of drought, urban conditions and alkaline soils, the pretty glossy dark green foliage of the hardy rubber tree casts welcome shade. An upright-branching deciduous tree from central China, it will eventually grow a canopy that is broadly domed.

The long, tapering oval leaves are attractively dark glossy green. When torn a weblike-netting of rubbery fibers is exuded from the leaf tissues. In early spring, before the leaves emerge, inconspicuous green flowers appear, male flowers...

(Brazilian Cherry, Pitanga, Surinam Cherry)

Fresh, new leaves emerge coppery while the fragrant white blossoms of the Surinam cherry soon develop into acidy, spicy, dark red fruits that look like tiny pumpkins. An evergreen tree often used as a hedge in tropical areas, it is native to northern South America. The abundant fruit production can result in birds scattering around fruits and creating a nuisance of new seedlings across the landscape.

The rich green, glossy leaves are oval-shaped with an acute point. When young, the leaves are...

(Ananbeam, Cat Tree, European Euonymus, Spindle Tree)

The rounded form of spindletree is lacklustre until autumn when its pink to red fruits split open to show the orange-covered white seeds and its glossy foliage changes to tones of yellow or red. A large shrub to small tree that is deciduous, spindle is native to much of Europe and also western Asia. With its broad adaptability to any well-draining soil and copious production of seeds, it is invasive in many temperate regions of the world, including the United States.

The glossy dark green leaves...