COLOURFUL OPTIONS

The word ‘pōhutukawa’ conjures up a picture of Christmas and a sunny beach overhung with gnarly old trees covered with bright red flowers. The image of rātā is a holiday scene in January, the hillside a blaze of scarlet.

Keep the Christmas season alive at home with red-flowered ‘St Nicholas’ or ‘Xmas Dream’, two small (3m) forms of southern rātā, or pōhutukawa ‘Christmas Cheer’.

Yet not all Metrosideros have red flowers: they can be white, yellow, orange or pink, too.

WHITE MAGIC

Four climbing rātā – M. COLENSOI, M. Diffusa, M. perforata and M. ALBIFLORA – have white flowers, although sometimes pinkish or cream blooms are seen.

White is almost unknown in taller Metrosideros except for white southern rātā (M. umbellata ‘Alba’) and the extremely rare Bartlett’s rātā (M. bartlettii). First found near Cape reinga in Northland in 1975, only about a dozen trees remain in the wild, down from 34 in 1992. Not surprisingly, it has been referred to as the kākāpō of the plant world.

IN THE PINK

Pink is an unusual colour, although occasionally it appears in northern and southern rātā. It has also been recorded in pōhutukawa, as have apricot and salmon shades.

M. umbellata ‘Kaka’ was found by Denis Hughes at Kaka Point in south Otago. This 3m shrub has salmon-pink flowers and the glossy foliage typical of southern rātā. Like pōhutukawa, ‘Kaka’ has proved to be ideal for coastal locations, thanks to its resistance to wind and salty air.

GO FOR GOLD

The first pōhutukawa (M. excelsa ‘Aurea’) to be marketed as a named cultivar had greenish-yellow flowers, not red. Two trees were found on Motiti Island in the Bay of Plenty about 1940 and leading nursery Duncan & Davies began selling ‘Aurea’ in 1947 and some nurseries still stock it. ‘Moon Maiden’ is a selected form of ‘Aurea’. Other yellow pōhutukawa have since been found in the Bay of Plenty and near Whakatāne.

Initially thought to be a separate species, a bright yellow form of scrambling or climbing aka (M. fulgens ‘Aurata’) was first found in 1890. A lovely plant, it can be difficult to source, although Blue Mountain Nurseries in West Otago has it listed in its current catalogue.

Yellow-flowered southern rātā is an attractive smaller tree, suitable for the West Coast, southland and coastal Otago. Unfortunately, it does not seem to appear in any current nursery catalogues.

ABOVE ‘St Nicholas’ is a southern rātā selection that grows to 3m. BELOW FROM LEFT A yellow-flowered rātā in a Dunedin garden; Metrosideros perforata is one of four climbing rātā with white flowers. OPPOSITE Golden-flowered pōhutukawa in an Auckland garden.