Native Frangipani Hymenosporum flavum

Native Frangipani is a slim, open, upright rainforest tree of the east coast, evergreen, with glossy dark leaves gathered towards the ends of tiered horizontal branches. The flowers are the reason to plant it: loose sprays at the branch tips opening cream and ageing to deep yellow, throwing a heavy perfume across a courtyard on a warm evening. That narrow, see-through habit makes it one of the few natives that genuinely fits between a fence and a path, casting light dappled shade rather than blacking out the bed below.

Wind, warmth and the screen it will never be

It belongs to the moist forests of the east coast, so it does best in subtropical and warm temperate districts and in coastal gardens with a mild winter. In cold inland areas give it the warmest, most protected corner you have or choose something hardier, because young growth burns in frost. Soil should drain freely and hold some organic matter, with a deep mulch layer and no digging inside the root zone. Shelter matters more than anything else here. The wood is soft, the branching is tiered and open, and a strong gusty position snaps young leaders and leaves the tree permanently lopsided. Space an informal line two to three metres apart if you want the crowns to meet. The real failure mode is buying it as a screen. Native frangipani is naturally gappy, and plants look leggy and sparse in the pot, which is why so many are dug out at three years old by owners who wanted a wall of foliage. Tip prune it for the first couple of seasons and it branches up into a much fuller shape, but it will always be a tree you can see through.

Perfume tree or privacy tree, and where each belongs

Against the dense evergreens in this batch the contrast is stark. Tuckeroo and Tulipwood both build solid rounded crowns that will hide a neighbour, and both take coastal exposure a native frangipani would resent. Neither has any scent worth walking out for. Take tuckeroo or tulipwood when the brief is privacy, shade or a street planting. Take this one when the brief is a narrow gap, an evening courtyard, or a bed under a window where you want perfume and filtered light instead of a solid green block. It is also the better fit where root space is tight, and it slots neatly into a mixed planting of natives.

Tip pruning while it is young, feeding once it flowers

Prune straight after the flush finishes in late spring or early summer, which gives the tree the whole warm season to build the wood that carries next year's sprays. Pinch the tips of young plants two or three times over the first couple of years to force side branching, and shorten any leader that races away and leaves a bare stretch of trunk. Avoid cutting back into old bare wood, since it reshoots reluctantly. Feed after flowering with a controlled release fertiliser formulated for natives, keep it off the trunk, and mulch generously each spring to keep the shallow surface roots cool.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 9 sizes, from 140mm up to 200L, priced from $16.95 to $1209.00 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.