Is this normal for a eucalyptus

this is in my neighbours garden....lower leaves circular upper leaves elongated.

If its normal-why?

 

Normal yes but why....... The rounder leaves are the juvenile ones and the longer ones those which the tree will produce from now on. Haven't a clue as to why but my Eucalyptus trees were all like this when young. I wonder if your neighbour has any idea as to how big these trees grow and they grow at some rate too. I have a couple which are about 15 odd years old and they are heading towards being the tallest trees I have and I have some ENORMOUS trees!

 

Some of the Aussie stuff is strange, I'll say no more.

But gum trees all pretty much go through a juvenile stage before producing adult leaves.
They are often hard pruned so that each year they produce the juvenile leaves rather than the adult ones.

On a smaller scale, but most of the Aussie Acacias do similar, they grow different leaves early in growth until they produce the normal leaves later.
Acacia pravissima seedlings. notice the pinnate early leaves before the adult ones start forming.

 

And it's curious why should hard pruning allow the juvenile leaves to form - the plant is still the same age! My enormous E. perriniana now always produces elongated leaves even when branches have been hard pruned - I think the pruning only works if you keep doing it from the beginning. But gums are interesting and great for insects - when they flower they smell of honey and are covered with bees. And the patchy coloured bark is gorgeous

 

Yes, I have a Gunni that has grown fairly large, I chop it down to 7 ft each spring, but it never goes back to juvenile foliage, I think you are right, you need to not let adult foliage form in the first place.
To be honest I'd like to let it go for the sky but not sure the neighbours would go for it, I really like full grown Gum trees, I think they mostly look the part, and interesting as you say, with peeling bark etc.

 

Gunnii here is pruned hard in March/April to 30 cm or so of the ground every year.
Juvenile foliage is then produced and maintained all year and it is for this juvenile foliage that I grow it Superb next to purple or yellow foliage shrubs
Very few plants....the grass elymus magellanicus, for example.....have such a pale blue foliage.
To allow gunnii to grow without restriction needs careful positioning....it will rapidly make a very large tree in just a few years so needs a large garden to accommodate it. And, yes, it produces then only "adult" foliage.
In a garden I once maintained.....still look in on occasionally....a eucalyptus gunnii looks wonderful at over 40' but this is a garden approaching 6 acres.

 

Whilst talking about Gum trees, this is a pic of my E. neglecta (Omeo Gum) with juvenile foliage. I intend keeping it to juvenile leaves by harshly pruning it every year.



and this is E. sturgissiana, now a vulnerable species in Downunder and only found in a small swampy area in NSW. (It's now to be found in my garden as well.)

 

And here is my e. perriniana. Unlike @pete I cannot cut it back... I have measured the trunk today and it is 7 feet circumference
It's a good job it's at the bottom of the garden, next to a field.

 

Really like that trunk @CarolineL , bet the crown looks good also, some shade without being oppressive I'm guessing?

 

Hi @pete yes, the crown is pretty high, and the shade is minimal. Things grow well very around it. Unfortunately very few branches are now low enough to get this view of the flowers.

 

Nice flowers,
I did have one some time ago that had nice white flowers, but a hard winter finished it off, never did work out the species as it was grown from one of those T&M mixes of seed. Had really nice red new stems each year and long leaves.
Pity we can only grow the white flowered ones.

 

Optimistically, I am growing e. ficifolia...

 

Ficifolia, have you tried it outside in winter yet?

 

Sorry @pete - hadn't seen your response. Ummm... well it lived in a cold polytunnel all last winter and didn't even curl a leaf. I'm not going to press my luck too far, so it will go there again this winter. Some euc. blakeyli is also doing well in the tunnel. I grew it thinking that 'Blakeyli's red gum' must have red flowers. Wrong. I MAY have one doing rather too well in an outside border - lost my label so not sure...