Tuckeroo Cupaniopsis anacardioides

Tuckeroo grows naturally on dunes and behind beaches from the New South Wales coast into Queensland, which is why it lines streets within a block of the surf. It builds a dense, evenly rounded evergreen crown, and the compound leaves carry blunt glossy leaflets, giving the canopy a stubby, upholstered look. The greenish flowers are easy to miss, but the fruit is not: orange capsules split into three to show a red seed, and figbirds and currawongs arrive for them. It is a screening, hedging and coastal street tree.

Salt wind, sand and the cold that stops it

Full sun to part shade both suit it, water needs are moderate, and growth is moderate to fast, so a screen fills in within a few seasons. Salt-laden wind, sandy soil and heat coming off paving are all part of its natural brief, and the root system stays restrained enough for car parks, narrow verges and courtyards that want shade without a fig sized problem two decades on. Space plants around two to three metres apart for a screen, closer for a clipped hedge. The failure mode is cold. This is a warm coastal species, and in frosty inland districts young plants burn off at the tips through winter, sit still through spring and never build momentum, which is why tuckeroo plantings that look effortless in Coffs Harbour struggle badly on the tablelands. Choose a warm aspect if you are at the edge of its range. The other trade off is litter. Fallen fruit and the seedlings that follow need sweeping off paving and are best kept away from parked cars, so set it into lawn or garden bed rather than over a pale driveway.

Tuckeroo, tulipwood or water gum

All three are evergreen natives sold for screening and street work, and the choice comes down to site. Tuckeroo is the salt and sand specialist with the coarsest leaf texture and orange capsules holding a red seed. Tulipwood has finer, glossier pinnate foliage, hangs orange capsules with glossy black seeds, and is the better pick for an inland suburban street away from salt. Water Gum is the one for ground that stays damp, and it offers mottled shedding bark that neither of the others can match. Beachfront, take tuckeroo, and expect to sweep. A block or two back from the water, where fruit litter on paving is the main worry, tulipwood is the easier neighbour. Compare the whole natives range if the site sits between those descriptions.

Trimming before the fruit sets

Prune in late spring or early summer, straight after flowering, which shapes the tree and removes a good part of the coming fruit load before it can drop on paving. Hedges and screens can be tipped through the warm months, and a young tree can be lifted gradually if you want clearance underneath. Avoid hard cuts into thick bare wood. Feed in spring with a complete fertiliser suited to natives, water it in, and keep a mulch ring out to the drip line, clear of the trunk, to protect the shallow surface roots. A second light feed after the fruit has finished helps a hedge hold dense growth into autumn.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 19 sizes, from 140mm up to 2000L, priced from $16.95 to $6829.00 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 Australian native trees.