{"product_id":"cherry-bomb-lilly-pilly-syzygium-australe-cherry-bomb","title":"Cherry Bomb Lilly Pilly - Syzygium australe Cherry Bomb","description":"\u003cp\u003eCherry Bomb does two jobs that usually take two plants: a dense screen with a hot cherry red flush, and a crop of deep pink berries worth picking. Each push of new growth comes through that intense red and then settles over a few weeks to a rich, deep green, and because the plant stays leafy right down to the soil, the colour sits over a solid body of foliage instead of a scatter of bare stems. Left unclipped it is upright and taller than it is wide, which is why it gets planted along fence lines, side boundaries and narrow paths, all places where a broad screening lilly pilly would spill over the edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFluffy white flowers open through summer and into autumn and set clusters of deep pink berries that can be eaten straight off the bush, cooked into a sharp jam or used to flavour gin. The catch is that a tight hedge and a heavy crop pull against each other, because every trim removes wood that would have flowered. Decide what a particular row is for before you make the first cut.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFull sun for the red, a fence line for the shape\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFull sun gives the strongest red and the tightest growth. Part shade will do, but the flush comes through duller and the plant opens up as it reaches for light, so save it for the shadier end of a run rather than the whole thing. Brush cherry is a coastal rainforest species from New South Wales and Queensland, and it does well through the eastern states and in watered gardens around Adelaide and Perth, provided the soil drains freely and has compost worked through it. Set plants roughly 800mm to 1 metre apart for a boundary screen, tighter where it will be kept low.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDropped fruit is what the crop costs you. Ripe berries stain concrete, pavers and car paint, and the birds that strip the plant leave their own marks underneath. Let what sits below settle which plants crop: over lawn or a vegetable bed, let them fruit; over a driveway, an outdoor table or the pool fence, clip them as hedge only.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eRed flush and a crop, or a neater face\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/lilly-pilly-syzygium-australe-straight-and-narrow\"\u003eSyzygium australe Straight and Narrow\u003c\/a\u003e is the slimmer brush cherry, with a smaller leaf and a bronze to coppery flush. It is the tidier of the two under the shears, while Cherry Bomb gives up a little of that neatness for a louder red and a real crop. If psyllid has wrecked hedges in your street before, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/cherry-surprise-lilly-pilly-syzygium-australe-cherry-surprise\"\u003eCherry Surprise Lilly Pilly\u003c\/a\u003e is a compact form of a different species that the pest largely leaves alone. Because the berries are worth picking, Cherry Bomb also sits with our \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/fruit-trees\"\u003eFruit Trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eCutting for crop or for colour\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA row kept for fruit gets one light shaping after the berries are picked; a row kept as hedge gets clipped each time a flush hardens, which brings the next red push on sooner. Brush cherry will reshoot from older wood if it is cut back hard, but the hedge sits bare and twiggy for a season while it does, so regular light trims are the easier path. Cherry Bomb is described as psyllid resistant, which should mean smooth new leaves on a healthy plant, but a hungry or droughted one can still show pimpling on soft tips. A fruiting row needs feeding as much as a clipped one: a controlled release native fertiliser when spring growth begins, and a second dose in midsummer, watered in. Until it has two summers behind it, soak the root zone in dry spells and keep mulch over it. In a pot, use a large container and a quality potting mix, water more often in hot weather, and lift or root prune it every few years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 4 sizes, from 300mm up to 100L, priced from $149.00 to $499.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/choosing-a-lilly-pilly\"\u003echoosing a lilly pilly\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"300mm","offer_id":67670623355249,"sku":null,"price":149.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":67670623650161,"sku":null,"price":299.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false},{"title":"75L","offer_id":67670623682929,"sku":null,"price":499.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false},{"title":"100L","offer_id":67670623715697,"sku":null,"price":459.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/cherry-bomb-lilly-pilly-syzygium-australe-cherry-bomb.jpg?v=1791514371","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/products\/cherry-bomb-lilly-pilly-syzygium-australe-cherry-bomb","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}