It’s just my cup of tea
The tea shrub is one of many wonders New Zealand has given us
A PRETTY shrub with vivid pink frilly flowers caught my eye this week. On closer inspection it turned out to be Leptospermum scoparium, better known as the New Zealand tea shrub.
You might have heard of manuka honey which is derived from this shrub – in recent years it became very popular for its antibacterial and anti-viral properties and the price of manuka honey rose correspondingly high.
Its flowers are nectar rich and bees flock to drink from them. It also makes a pretty garden shrub though is probably best in milder coastal areas as it’s borderline hardy.
It got me thinking about other shrubs from New Zealand that have become a normal part of our gardening vocabulary in these islands.
With its cool, temperate climate, New Zealand has given us interesting plants that we have adopted as our own.
For example, New Zealand flax, or phormium, is a very common sight in these parts, grown for its evergreen thick strappy leaves and architectural shape.
It is undemanding, is often used in exotic-style gardens and will occasionally provide additional drama by throwing up a large flower spike which looks really unusual.
They are also good for injecting bold colour as different varieties have vibrant colour variegations.
For example ‘Sundowner’ has leaf margins tinted with the rosepink of a tropical sunset.
‘Chocomint’ has a rich brown band running down the centre of green leaves and ‘Blondie’ is a cheerful yellow striped version.
If you need to prune damaged leaves, remove the leaf completely from the base. Chopping back halfway just ruins the shape of the plant and the leaves will not regrow from this point.
There are also some really useful coastal plants that hail from Aotearoa, the Maori name for New Zealand which translates as the land of the long white cloud.
Hebe is one, an easygoing, evergreen low maintenance plant that is often overlooked.
The flowers come in white, blue and pink and the leaves vary from small round to elongated.
‘Nicola’s Blush’ has pretty white and pink flowers that are good pollinators for butterflies, bees and moths. The green foliage of ‘Pascal’ will turn a deep burgundy in winter and it’s a compact shrub suitable for smaller gardens with delicate lilac flowers in summer.
Then there’s Parahebe, related to hebe, which is a mat-forming evergreen shrub with really delicate flowers.
For example, the variety ‘Avalanche’ has pure white flowers with a purple ring encircling a green eye at the centre. This will grace a rockery or container in full sunshine.
Regular readers will be familiar with my enduring passion for tree ferns. The ones I grow are Tasmanian tree ferns, Dicksonia antarctica.
I think it may be time to attempt the New Zealand tree fern – this is Dicksonia squarrosa and is considerably more tender than those I grow. It has a tall, slender, dark trunk which dries out easily so would need daily moisture in summer and probably a good wrapping up in winter.
I’ll let you know how I get on!