{"title":"Tea Tree and Leptospermum","description":"\u003cp\u003eTea tree, sold botanically as Leptospermum, is the quick one among the native shrubs. A banksia takes its time and a clipped conifer must be held at size from year one, but Leptospermum knits into a dense, fine-textured screen inside two or three seasons and then carries a few weeks of heavy flower each spring. That pace is the reason to buy it: a boundary that is bare now, an exposed or coastal block needing a windbreak against salt wind, or an informal hedge you want closed over without waiting five years. It is not the Melaleuca distilled for tea tree oil, which shares the common name from another genus.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStock runs from 75mm tubestock through to 100L advanced trees, covering both a cheap long screen line and a single position that needs height now. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-laevigatum\"\u003eCoastal Tea Tree, Leptospermum laevigatum\u003c\/a\u003e is the salt and wind specialist, grey-green with an open leaning habit, available to 45L. It has naturalised beyond its home range on parts of the southern coast, so check your council list before planting near bushland. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-petersonii\"\u003eLemon Scented Tea Tree, Leptospermum petersonii\u003c\/a\u003e is the tall one, a quick four to six metre tree with citrus-scented foliage, sold to 100L. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-obovatum-starry-night\"\u003eStarry Night\u003c\/a\u003e is the dark purple-foliage form and comes in the widest size range, 140mm up to 100L. For flower, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-scoparium-burgundy-queen\"\u003eManuka Burgundy Queen\u003c\/a\u003e carries double burgundy blooms on a compact bush. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-brachyandrum-silver\"\u003eLeptospermum brachyandrum Silver\u003c\/a\u003e is grown for weeping silver foliage and papery trunk rather than flower, and \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-foreshore-pbr\"\u003eForeShore\u003c\/a\u003e is the low spreading form, 5L only, for banks and coastal edges.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlant in an open, sunny position on ground that dries between waterings. Most forms finish between one and five metres, so match form to space before you plant. Leptospermum roots sit shallow, so on heavy clay plant into a raised bed rather than a dug hole, and keep lawn sprinklers off the crown. Water deeply while establishing, then let winter rain take over. Feed lightly with a low-phosphorus native fertiliser in spring, or not at all. Trim after flowering while the wood is green, taking no more than a third.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat hollows out a tea tree screen is webbing caterpillar, and it works from inside the bush, unseen until the damage is done. The larvae bind foliage, leaf litter and their own droppings into grey matted webs in the branch forks, shelter there by day, and feed out at night until the shoots around them are bare. A hedge solid in spring can show brown gaps through the middle by late summer, and because the webbing sheds water, spraying over the outside of the bush achieves very little. Part the plant and check inside it after flowering and again in late summer. Cut the affected wood out and bin it, then treat the rest with a Bacillus thuringiensis product, which is selective enough to leave the bees on the flowers alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTea tree sits inside the wider \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/natives\"\u003enatives\u003c\/a\u003e range, and \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/bottlebrush\"\u003ebottlebrush\u003c\/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/paperbark\"\u003epaperbark\u003c\/a\u003e handle the same conditions with different flower and bark, so they mix well in one bed. Where the job is a boundary, work from the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/privacy-screening\"\u003eprivacy screening\u003c\/a\u003e collection. Every order ships farm-direct with flat $99 delivery across QLD, NSW, VIC, SA, ACT and WA, a $399 minimum order, and the 30-Day Healthy Plant Guarantee.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-brachyandrum-silver","title":"Tea Tree - Leptospermum brachyandrum Silver","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe weeping habit is the whole point of this one. Leptospermum brachyandrum Silver hangs fine, narrow, silver-grey foliage in curtains from arching branches, and with age it develops a smooth mottled trunk worth pruning up to expose. Small white tea tree flowers appear along the stems in the warmer months, but foliage and bark carry it year round.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFull sun keeps the silver tone; in shade it greens off and thins. Evergreen, moderate in growth rate, low water once established and tolerant of coastal exposure, it works as a screen, a driveway avenue or a courtyard feature tree.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo things to watch. Buyers chasing silver screening often confuse it with Pittosporum Silver Sheen, a much denser hedging plant with a completely different habit. And like most tea trees it attracts webbing caterpillar, which builds a dirty nest of silk and frass in a branch fork; cut the nest out as soon as you spot it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAdvanced stock runs to 45L. We deliver to QLD, NSW, VIC, SA, ACT and WA, flat $99 with a $399 minimum order.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 5 sizes, from 140mm up to 45L, priced from $16.95 to $269.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"400mm","offer_id":64309066039665,"sku":null,"price":209.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64309066072433,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"45L","offer_id":64309066105201,"sku":null,"price":269.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64309066137969,"sku":null,"price":109.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64309066170737,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"420mm","offer_id":64446148542833,"sku":null,"price":299.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/pHur0JLNY-VTdSIr6qswo_S5WbprzI.jpg?v=1787628410"},{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-continentale","title":"Prickly Tea Tree - Leptospermum continentale","description":"\u003cp\u003ePlant this one where nobody has to brush past it. Leptospermum continentale earns the name Prickly Tea Tree honestly: the small leaves end in a sharp point and the twiggy branches are dense, which makes it unpleasant at a path edge and a nuisance to weed around.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUsed deliberately, that density is the asset. It is a southern Australian heathland shrub, found through Victoria, southern NSW and SA, and it builds the sort of impenetrable low thicket that small birds nest in and cats cannot follow them into. Revegetation crews use it on damp flats and roadside batters; home gardeners use it as a barrier planting along a boundary.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhite tea tree flowers cover the bush in spring and early summer, followed by small woody capsules that sit on the stems for months.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvergreen, moderate growing and low water once established, it handles full sun, frost and soil that stays damp through winter. Tip prune young plants to build density rather than letting them go leggy at the base.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 3 sizes, from 75mm up to 300mm, priced from $16.95 to $88.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64309066400113,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64309066432881,"sku":null,"price":88.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"75mm","offer_id":64311650353521,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/RYPNGoEkh9dzYALkKFRB-_xp6M1i21.jpg?v=1787628408"},{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-lanigerum","title":"Woolly Tea Tree - Leptospermum lanigerum","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhere soil stays sodden for weeks after winter rain, most shrubs sulk and the usual dry-country natives rot off at the collar. Leptospermum lanigerum is one of the few tea trees that genuinely tolerates those conditions. In the wild it grows along creek lines and in swampy ground through Victoria, Tasmania and the southern tablelands, which makes it a sound pick for a low corner of the block, a swale or a dam edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe woolly in the common name refers to fine silvery hairs on the young stems and leaves, giving the whole bush a soft grey cast that is strongest on new growth. White flowers cover it in spring.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is evergreen, moderate in growth, frost hardy, and once established undemanding about water in either direction, which is unusual in this genus.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBuyers regularly confuse the grey-leaved forms of this species with the silver weeping tea trees. Lanigerum is an upright, denser, cool-climate shrub rather than a weeping feature tree, so choose on habit, not leaf colour.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 3 sizes, from 140mm up to 400mm, priced from $19.95 to $259.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"400mm","offer_id":64309068038513,"sku":null,"price":259.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64309068071281,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64309068104049,"sku":null,"price":19.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/JszNtp2ml_Y98Ken5TkkT_NbU1zYmG.jpg?v=1787628410"},{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-obovatum-starry-night","title":"Tea Tree - Leptospermum obovatum Starry Night","description":"\u003cp\u003eNot many Australian natives hold dark foliage all year. Starry Night does: fine small leaves in deep purple-bronze that darken further through winter and in full sun, then a heavy cover of small white flowers over the top of them in spring.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe habit is dense, arching and rounded, so it works as an informal hedge, a low screen, mass planting on a batter, or a dark foil among silver, lime and grey foliage in a native border. Leptospermum obovatum is the river tea tree, and it inherits that tolerance for ground which goes periodically damp, along with frost and salt-laden coastal wind. Once established it wants very little water.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrune lightly and often, straight after flowering. Like most tea trees it does not reshoot reliably from bare old wood, so a plant left to run and then cut back hard will often sit there bare and never regain its shape. Stock from 140mm for mass planting through to 100L specimens.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 11 sizes, from 140mm up to 100L, priced from $16.95 to $819.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64309070102897,"sku":null,"price":99.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"180mm","offer_id":64309070135665,"sku":null,"price":26.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":64309070168433,"sku":null,"price":199.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64309070201201,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"45L","offer_id":64309070233969,"sku":null,"price":229.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"75L","offer_id":64309070266737,"sku":null,"price":449.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64309070299505,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"175mm","offer_id":64309070365041,"sku":null,"price":22.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"100L","offer_id":64309070397809,"sku":null,"price":819.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"270mm","offer_id":64309070463345,"sku":null,"price":59.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64309070496113,"sku":null,"price":59.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"420mm","offer_id":64446148575601,"sku":null,"price":279.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/NLmvgdivgEnlQgA4tNwqO_GaXi81ZP.jpg?v=1787628475"},{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-copper-glow-1","title":"Tea Tree - Leptospermum Copper Glow","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is not one of the big pink flowered tea trees people plant for the show. Copper Glow is grown for its foliage: fine small leaves that push bronze to coppery red on new growth and hold that tone at the tips, deepening through cold weather and in full sun, fading back toward green in shade.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe flowers are small and white, scattered rather than smothering, and the bees find them. The plant itself is upright and twiggy, and it clips into a soft informal hedge or fills the middle layer of a native bed without the stiffness of a conifer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrainage decides whether it lives. Leptospermums die quickly in clay that holds water, so plant high, mound the bed if you have to, and ease off the irrigation once the plant is away. Prune lightly and often, and only into leafy growth. Cut back into bare old stems and it will not reshoot. Pull out webbing caterpillar nests by hand when you see them in the branch forks.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 5 sizes, from 140mm up to 400mm, priced from $16.95 to $199.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"400mm","offer_id":64311374086513,"sku":null,"price":199.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311374119281,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64311374152049,"sku":null,"price":59.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311374184817,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64311374217585,"sku":null,"price":109.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/0WkZi5Pa5EiE5BgzZLleQ_k6cDXP7E.jpg?v=1787629277"},{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-liversidgei","title":"Tea Tree - Leptospermum liversidgei","description":"\u003cp\u003eCrush a leaf and the identification is done: a sharp lemon and citronella scent that no other tea tree on the bench will give you. Leptospermum liversidgei is the swamp or lemon scented tea tree of the coastal wallum country of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, where it grows in sandy, acid, seasonally wet ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFoliage is fine and small, held densely on upright stems, and small white to blush flowers open along the branches in the warmer half of the year. That density is why it hedges well. It responds far better to light, frequent tip pruning than to one hard annual cut, and like most tea trees it is reluctant to reshoot from bare old wood, so never let it get away from you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe oil in the leaves is behind the mosquito repelling claims often attached to this species. Enjoy the scent, but do not plant it instead of using a repellent. Full sun, low water once established, and it takes salt laden coastal wind.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 2 sizes, from 140mm up to 200mm, priced from $20.95 to $29.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311431659889,"sku":null,"price":20.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311431692657,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/a1NEDfYOSAF8ex7QaIXyj_A7BLG3EV.jpg?v=1787629501"},{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-laevigatum","title":"Coastal Tea Tree - Leptospermum laevigatum","description":"\u003cp\u003eCoastal tea tree holds the front line on dune country and exposed headlands, taking salt spray and constant wind that strip most other shrubs. It ages into leaning, gnarled trunks with shredding grey bark under a canopy of small, blunt, grey green leaves packed densely enough to slow wind, and it smothers itself in white flowers in spring. Its landscape job is shelter: a windbreak on a coastal block, a clipped hedge on sandy ground, or the framework a whole seaside garden gets built around.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eA sand plant, and what happens in clay\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eFull sun and sharp drainage are the two things it will not do without. It is native to coastal dunes from southern New South Wales through Victoria and Tasmania to South Australia, and outside that range it is treated as an environmental weed in a number of districts, including parts of Western Australia and inland Victoria, so check with your council before mass planting near bushland. On sand it asks for almost nothing after the first year, and its spreading roots bind loose ground as it grows. Space plants around a metre apart for a hedge or windbreak row, and let them thicken from the base rather than trying to fill gaps later.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAway from the coast it is fussier than it looks. This is a plant built for sand, and in heavy clay that holds water, particularly a clay bed on an irrigation system running through summer, it dies of root rot: a healthy looking shrub browns off over a fortnight with no warning. Where soil is heavy, mound the bed well above the surrounding level, work coarse material through the profile, and turn the water off once it is established.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eThe structural tea tree of the group\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eWithin the tea trees here, this is the one grown for structure. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-petersonii\"\u003eLemon Scented Tea Tree\u003c\/a\u003e is finer, softer and grown for the citrus scent in its foliage, happier in a garden bed with better soil, and it lifts into a slim multi trunked tree rather than a wind sculpted mass. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-pink-cascade\"\u003ePink Cascade\u003c\/a\u003e is low and spreading, for the front of a bed or over a wall. Choose laevigatum when the site is genuinely exposed, sandy and salt affected, and when you want trunks and character more than flowers. See the range in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/natives\"\u003enatives\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eShaping young, and going easy on fertiliser\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eShape it lightly and often from a young age. Old plants go woody and open at the base, and cutting back into bare wood does not reliably reshoot, so a hedge left to run cannot be brought back with one hard cut. Trim after flowering, taking only growth that still carries leaf. Feeding is rarely needed on sand; if growth stalls, use a low phosphorus native fertiliser in early spring at a light rate and water it in. Skip rich manures, which push soft growth that salt wind burns off. Take out dead wood while you are in there, because it accumulates inside the canopy on older plants.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 6 sizes, from 75mm up to 45L, priced from $16.95 to $229.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"45L","offer_id":64311433822577,"sku":null,"price":229.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"75mm","offer_id":64311433855345,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64311433888113,"sku":null,"price":109.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":64311433920881,"sku":null,"price":199.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311433953649,"sku":null,"price":36.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311434019185,"sku":null,"price":18.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64446165057905,"sku":null,"price":88.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/plantdrop-coastal-tea-tree-leptospermum-laevigatum_e41b33a3-3874-4739-a12f-4840a6841576.png?v=1785551808"},{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-scoparium","title":"Manuka - Leptospermum scoparium","description":"\u003cp\u003eManuka is the tea tree behind the honey, a dense twiggy shrub of tiny aromatic needle leaves and small five petalled flowers held tight along the stems in white through to pink. It is native to south eastern Australia as well as New Zealand, and the fine texture makes it useful as a clipped native hedge, a windbreak on exposed coastal ground, or a filler among banksias and correas.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt prefers full sun and open, free draining soil, and gets by on very little water once settled. Where it disappoints is warm humid country: heavy clay and muggy summers bring root rot, webbing caterpillar and scale, with sooty mould behind them. Southern gardens do far better with it than subtropical ones.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrune lightly and often, taking a little off the new growth after flowering. Leptospermum will not reliably reshoot from bare old wood, so a hard cut into the brown interior usually leaves a hole that never fills.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"420mm","offer_id":64311462101361,"sku":null,"price":279.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/Nh55pxyK6Ekqi4nykkAq4_LRBBUr8r.jpg?v=1787629644"},{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-little-lemon-scents-pbr","title":"Tea Tree - Leptospermum Little Lemon Scents PBR","description":"\u003cp\u003eCrush a leaf between your fingers and you get the sharp clean lemon scent this dwarf tea tree is named for. The foliage is fine, soft and densely packed, and the plant stays low and mounding rather than growing into the upright shrub most people picture when they hear tea tree. Small white flowers sit along the stems through the warmer part of the year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFull sun, and drainage above everything else. Leptospermums are prone to root rot in soil that stays wet, and a plant that suddenly browns off on one side is usually telling you the roots have already gone. Water is low once established, and go easy on fertiliser: a native slow release at a light rate is plenty.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBecause it is naturally compact it works as a low informal hedge, a path edge, or a mass planting through a native or coastal garden where wind and salt would knock other things about. Tip prune lightly after flowering rather than cutting into bare wood, which does not reshoot. Supplied in 140mm pots.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is supplied in one size, 140mm, at $16.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311481467249,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/y9xG4Ye-cv0ryDchlES1O_jxe9HL16.jpg?v=1787629863"},{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-petersonii","title":"Lemon Scented Tea Tree - Leptospermum petersonii (Leptospermum citratum)","description":"\u003cp\u003eBrush past one and the name explains itself. The narrow leaves are loaded with citronellal and release a sharp lemon scent when crushed, strong enough that the species is grown commercially for its oil. The habit is open and lightly weeping, with fine soft foliage, coppery new growth and small white flowers through the warmer months that native bees work over. It clips into an informal screen, and with the lower branches lifted it becomes a slim multi trunked small tree for a narrow bed or a driveway edge.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eFrost, drainage and a screen that wants to be a tree\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eFull sun keeps it compact; in shade it opens up and the scent thins along with the foliage. This is a subtropical and warm temperate plant that does particularly well on sandy coastal soils and takes salt wind without burning, and in heavy clay it belongs on a raised mound, because wet feet finish it quickly. Space plants around a metre to a metre and a half apart for a screen, closer if you intend to clip it hard.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe failure that catches people out is cold. Young plants are frost tender, and in cold inland districts a first winter in an open position either kills them outright or cuts them back to stubs they never really recover from. Plant in spring rather than autumn where frost is a factor, shelter the first two winters against a wall or under overhanging canopy, and avoid late season pruning that pushes soft growth into the cold. The second thing to plan for is size: this is a small tree in waiting, and a screen cut only across the top runs away upwards. Decide early which you are growing.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eScent, height or flowers: choosing among the tea trees\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-laevigatum\"\u003eCoastal Tea Tree\u003c\/a\u003e is the tougher plant on a raw exposed site and holds a heavier, denser form, but it has no scent to speak of and it will not tolerate clay or regular garden watering. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-scoparium-burgundy-queen\"\u003eManuka Burgundy Queen\u003c\/a\u003e is grown for wine red double flowers on a stiff, fine, low shrub, and it is a bed plant rather than a screen. Both of those stay shrubs. Petersonii is the one to buy when you want height and screening with soft texture, or a scented small tree beside a path or a gate where people brush the foliage on the way through. More in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/natives\"\u003enatives\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eClipping for scent and density\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eTrim after the main flowering flush, taking light cuts into growth that still carries leaves. Tea trees hold very few dormant buds on old bare stems, so a hard renovation into leafless wood tends to leave a permanent hole. Clipping two or three times through the warm months keeps a screen dense and keeps fresh, strongly scented foliage within reach. Feed sparingly in early spring with a low phosphorus native fertiliser and water it in; rich feeding gives long soft growth that flops and flowers poorly. Mulch to keep surface roots cool, held clear of the trunk.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 6 sizes, from 140mm up to 100L, priced from $16.95 to $679.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311482188145,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64311482220913,"sku":null,"price":109.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"100L","offer_id":64311482253681,"sku":null,"price":679.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64311482286449,"sku":null,"price":59.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":64311482351985,"sku":null,"price":199.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311482450289,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"35L","offer_id":64446171382129,"sku":null,"price":189.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/plantdrop-lemon-scented-tea-tree-leptospermum-petersonii-20260609_e63e9214-cc05-476f-88ca-4291d6310641.png?v=1785551984"},{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-pink-cascade","title":"Tea Tree - Leptospermum Pink Cascade","description":"\u003cp\u003ePink Cascade grows low and spreading on fine arching stems, so it reads as a soft mound or a curtain over the edge of a wall rather than an upright shrub. Its pink flowers sit tight along the stems instead of gathering into clusters, which gives the plant its layered look in spring. The foliage is small, narrow and faintly aromatic when crushed. It is used at the front of a native bed, over retaining walls, on embankments and batters, and in wide pots where stems can spill.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eSandy ground, slopes and the cut that never grows back\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eFull sun, free draining ground, and low water once it is established. It handles poor sandy soil and salt wind, which is why it turns up on coastal projects and on batters where the roots hold the surface together, and it will not survive heavy wet clay, so mound the bed where drainage is doubtful. Cool to warm temperate gardens suit it, and it takes light frost once established. Space plants around 80cm to a metre apart for continuous cover and let them run together.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe failure specific to this one is pruning, because a spreading plant grows over paths and wall edges and someone eventually cuts it back. Leptospermum carry very few dormant buds on old stems, so a hard cut into leafless timber usually leaves a dead patch that never fills in, and on a low plant that patch sits at eye level in full view. Clip lightly and often instead, always into growth that still holds leaf, and give it more room at planting than looks necessary. Watch for webbing caterpillar binding shoot tips together in warm weather, and cut affected growth out as soon as you see it.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eHorizontal cover against upright tea trees\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-scoparium-burgundy-queen\"\u003eManuka Burgundy Queen\u003c\/a\u003e covers similar ground on colour, with deeper wine red doubles, but it stands upright and holds a shrub shape, so it goes behind Pink Cascade rather than beside it. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-petersonii\"\u003eLemon Scented Tea Tree\u003c\/a\u003e is the screening plant of the group and shares none of this habit. Choose Pink Cascade where you want horizontal cover: the top of a retaining wall, the front edge of a native border, a slope that needs holding, or a pot with room to trail. Mass plant it in odd numbered groups rather than a single row so the mounds overlap. See the range in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/natives\"\u003enatives\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eLight shearing and a careful fertiliser choice\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eTrim straight after flowering, taking the tips back a small amount across the whole plant rather than cutting selected stems hard, which keeps the arching lines intact. Repeat lightly in late summer if growth has run. Feed once in early spring with a native fertiliser at a light rate, and keep fresh manures and heavy general feeds away from it. The problem with rich feeding on this one is not root burn, it is habit: strong upright shoots stand up out of the mound, break the arching line that is the reason to plant it, and have to be cut out again. Mulch with a coarse material to keep the surface cool and hold weeds down while plants knit together.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 3 sizes, from 140mm up to 200mm, priced from $16.95 to $29.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311487824241,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311487857009,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"175mm","offer_id":64311487889777,"sku":null,"price":22.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/plantdrop-pink-cascade-tea-tree-leptospermum-pink-cascade_3f6e58ec-64d3-40c4-a43e-2a73558e6724.png?v=1785552010"},{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-scoparium-burgundy-queen","title":"Manuka - Leptospermum scoparium Burgundy Queen","description":"\u003cp\u003eDeep wine red double flowers are what separate Burgundy Queen from the plain white manuka of the New Zealand hills. They sit tight against fine, aromatic, needle like foliage that takes on bronze tones through the cooler months, on a shrub that reads as dense and slightly stiff rather than soft. It is a bed plant first: a block of strong colour in a native border, a low clipped hedge in a cool garden, or a source of long lasting cut stems that bees and small birds work heavily.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eWhy manuka thins out in a humid summer\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eIt performs most reliably in cool to warm temperate gardens with full sun, open air movement and sharply drained soil, and it comes from a lineage adapted to lean, acidic, wind exposed ground rather than rich beds. Lean soil suits it better than an improved bed, and established plants take frost without complaint. Space plants around 60 to 80cm apart for a low hedge so air moves between them.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe failure mode here is humidity and still air. Manuka selections sulk through hot humid subtropical summers, particularly in enclosed courtyards, against solid fences, and in gardens where sprinklers run at night: the interior of the plant thins, stems die back in patches, and the shrub declines over a couple of seasons instead of thickening. If you garden in a humid coastal or northern district, give it the most open, breeziest position you have, water at the roots rather than over the foliage, and treat it as a shorter lived plant to be replaced rather than one that grows old in place. In heavy soil, mound the bed; Leptospermum collapse suddenly from root rot rather than fading slowly.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eBurgundy Queen against the spreading and coastal forms\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-pink-cascade\"\u003ePink Cascade\u003c\/a\u003e is the other flowering selection here, and the difference is form: it grows low and arching with pink flowers along the stems, made for the front of a bed or a wall edge, while Burgundy Queen stands upright and holds a defined shrub shape. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-laevigatum\"\u003eCoastal Tea Tree\u003c\/a\u003e is the choice where exposure and salt are the problem and flowers are incidental. Neither of them screens; the lemon scented tea tree is the plant in this group that reaches that height. Pick Burgundy Queen for the flower colour, in a temperate garden with sun and moving air. More in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/flowering\"\u003eflowering plants\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003ePruning after the wine red flowers fade\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003ePrune immediately after flowering, cutting only into wood that still carries leaves. Manuka does not reshoot reliably from bare stems, so a shrub allowed to go woody cannot be brought back by cutting it hard. A light annual trim as the flowers fade keeps it dense and sets up the next display. Feed once in early spring with a native fertiliser low in phosphorus, applied lightly and watered in. Cutting stems for the vase counts as pruning, so take them from around the whole plant rather than one side. Watch for scale on the stems and the sooty mould that follows it, treating with horticultural oil outside the hottest hours.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 3 sizes, from 140mm up to 300mm, priced from $16.95 to $88.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311493460337,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311493493105,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64311493525873,"sku":null,"price":88.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/plantdrop-burgundy-queen-tea-tree-leptospermum-scoparium-burgundy-queen-20260611_e5e29e31-4cfa-4e78-a404-03b8757a043f.png?v=1785552052"},{"product_id":"tea-tree-leptospermum-foreshore-pbr","title":"Tea Tree - Leptospermum ForeShore PBR","description":"\u003cp\u003eFew natives handle salt laden wind as calmly as the tea trees, and ForeShore is aimed squarely at that job: a dense, twiggy, fine leaved shrub for coastal hedging, native beds and exposed front gardens. Small five petalled flowers cover the stems in the warmer half of the year and bring in native bees and small insect eating birds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTrim lightly and often. Leptospermum shoots readily from green wood but rarely from thick bare stems, so a hedge left to run and then cut back hard usually stays woody and open. A light shear straight after flowering, repeated every year, keeps it solid right to the ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLean sandy ground suits it. Rich soil, heavy feeding and constant irrigation produce soft leggy growth that flops apart in the first storm. Look through the canopy for webbing caterpillar nests, which look like a bag of dead leaves bound in silk, and cut them out before they strip a branch bare.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is supplied in one size, 5L, at $29.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"5L","offer_id":64311495590257,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/PAcg0XW5x7WeZL4Dlvsc__f42Hl5jw.jpg?v=1787629997"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/collections\/plantdrop-burgundy-queen-tea-tree-leptospermum-scoparium-burgundy-queen-20260611_e5e29e31-4cfa-4e78-a404-03b8757a043f.png?v=1787348991","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/collections\/tea-tree.oembed","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}