Tristaniopsis Species, Kanooka, Water Gum

This is an outstanding smaller growing tree or shrub. I have kept it as a 12 foot clipped hedge where it produced masses of yellow flower...Read Mores in early summer. Bees love them. Bark peels to reveal satiny white trunk.

They have a reputation for extreme tenderness they do not seem to deserve. My 2 year old plants went through 19 degree F. temperatures in containers and suffered only tip burn, nothing serious at all.

I have also trained the selection "Elegant" (new leaves come out bronzy, very attractive!) which has larger leaves (and for me a more open habit) as a multi-trunked speciman in a large patio container for a couple of years and then planted it out in the garden. It is something special to see, although I have never gotten the same profuse bloom from "Elegant" as I have had from seedlings, the leaf coloring more than makes up for it.

Warning: This plant (like many plants from Australia) will not tolerate all purpose fertilizers. The phosphorus in these fertilizers can literally defoliate the trees (I learned this the hard way, but all of my plants recovered). A nitrogen only fertilizer given once in spring (during cool weather and watered in well) is all I have ever needed to do. Where winters are virtually frost-free another application in the fall is beneficial.

Soil can be wet or dry, tolerates full hot sun or quite a bit of shade. Can be grown as a hedge, multi-trunk or standard. One of my favorite trees, the only drawback is that is quite a slow grower, but this can also be a benefit under power lines, in containers, or wherever you would like a tough, attractive screen that is very easy to maintain at a desired height.

Kanuka is a tree usually growing on river banks and in warm temperate rainforest in South-Eastern Australia. It does well in cultivation ...Read Moreand thrives in drier sites than its natural habitat, although it does appreciate extra water at the drier times. It is beautiful when covered in bright yellow flowers in the summer. I have one established for some years in my garden and flowering beautifully each year, although it found the extreme dryness we had last year a bit of a problem. They are apparently easily grown from seed, although I have not tried seed collection so far.