Northland
The enduring beauty of vireyas has Wendy Laurenson singing their praises.
Even when they do pause to produce their next flower whirl-in-waiting, the plants’ leaves are lush and generous, so vireyas look good in any season. Vireyas are the little subtropical sister in the rhododendron family, and just a few plants will gift you with flowers for most of the year.
However, they need particular conditions to be happy. They want to live somewhere mostly frost-free and in well-drained soil.
Vireyas are actually epiphytes in their homelands of New Guinea, Borneo and Malaysia where they grow on trees or steep banks, so really good drainage is paramount. The light volcanic soils around Bay of Islands are perfect but in heavier soils some people have success by digging oversized holes filled with free-draining compost or potting mix and planting on a raised mound.
Conversely, as subtropical plants, vireyas need water during dry summers and sadly I’ve seen several vireyas die in the drought conditions of the last two years.
Some vireya varieties seem happy in full sun (if they get enough water), but most are more comfortable in morning sun or semishade with protection from baking afternoon summer sun that can scorch their leaves. Not enough light and warmth though means leggy growth and fewer flowers, so the ideal spot is under the edge of a tree or a canopy with protection from intense summer sun but access to the warmth of low angle winter sun, or in a move-it-around pot.
Vireyas are small enough to be used as an understorey plant or find a place in a tiny garden or a big pot.
There are dozens of varieties of vireyas.
Bush sizes range from just under a metre to nearly 2m, and there’s also a dazzling spectrum of colours, most of which are vibrant, such as ‘Tropic Glow’ and ‘Java Light’, but there are also softer pinks, peach tones and whites (a visit to a vireya specialist, such as Browns Nursery in Tauranga for example, would give an idea of the wide selection available).
The flowers form in whirls around the stem and each whirl has several trumpet-shaped flowers, with the size of the blooms varying almost as much as the colours – some, like ‘Little Devil’, are smaller than your thumb; others, such as ‘Captain Scarlet’, have trumpet flowers longer than your palm. All are supported on lush-looking plants with glossy green leaves that on some varieties can tend towards bronze.
Vireyas weren’t known in New Zealand until the late 1950s when plantsmen such as Felix Jury and Os Blumhardt introduced them after plant and seed foraging expeditions to New Guinea and Southeast Asia. With subsequent development of new hybrids, vireyas were gradually propagated and distributed to collectors here, becoming popular in the 1990s in warm, frost-free areas where rhododendrons don’t thrive.
They also proved to be able to withstand more wind and salt air than rhododendrons. The hardier vireya varieties will recover from light frosts, though the tender ones can’t tolerate any.
With the burgeoning of new varieties over recent decades, time has culled out some poorer performers too.
Now the emphasis from breeders and collectors is on selecting compact plants with lots of flowers that remain healthy in a garden context.
Breeders say vireyas are one of the easiest woody plants to root from cuttings but one of the most difficult to produce commercially because they’re tricky to get established on those roots. If the roots aren’t strong, they grow more top growth than they can support, which is another reason to keep cutting back leggy shoots on young plants.
Given the right conditions, vireyas are easy to care for with not much pest or disease damage. Feeding little and often will also encourage constant leaf and flower growth.
Cutting deadheads back conserves energy for fresh growth. Every few months, the bush needs a light prune to keep it compact, especially if it’s got leggy reaching for the light. I always prune back to a whirl or knuckle, and they can handle quite a hard prune into old wood if the plant is overdue for reshaping and renovating.
As expected, a harder prune will mean a delay in the next round of flowers, so treat yourself to several vireya varieties, sizes and stages of maturity to have colour amongst your subtropicals all year.