{"product_id":"karo-red-coprosma-coprosma-karo-red","title":"Karo Red Coprosma - Coprosma Karo Red","description":"\u003cp\u003eKaro Red is a coprosma grown for its leaf and nothing else: small, polished, dark red leaves packed densely along stiff, branching stems, so the plant forms a tight, rounded shrub that clips into a low hedge or holds a shape in a border without much fuss. The colour is strongest through the cooler months and in full sun, and it can drift towards bronze in the heat of summer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat colour needs the right setting. A dark red hedge disappears against a dark stained fence or shaded brick, and stands out in front of pale render, grey gravel or silver foliage. Pick the backdrop first, then the position.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eSalt wind, sun and drainage\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike most garden coprosmas, Karo Red handles salt laden wind better than many small hedging shrubs, so it suits exposed front boundaries and seaside gardens in the southern states, though not beside dunes or coastal reserves (see the weed note below). Full sun gives the deepest colour. In part shade the leaf turns greener, the habit opens up and the hedge loses the density that made it worth planting. Sand suits it, and so does reasonable clay if winter rain drains away quickly; on heavy ground, plant on a low mound. Once established it gets through dry spells on rainfall in most southern gardens, though a long, slow watering every ten days or so in a hot summer keeps the leaf glossy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHeavy frost burns the tips and can knock young plants back, so on cold inland sites plant it close to a wall that holds the warmth of the day. Humid summers are the other weak point: from Brisbane northwards it is less reliable, the colour is duller and wet summer soil raises the risk of root rot, so give it sharp drainage and open air there.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eMirror bush, and gardens beside bushland\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eMany coloured garden coprosmas are selections or hybrids of mirror bush, Coprosma repens, which has escaped into coastal bushland: Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania all record it as an environmental weed. It has also naturalised in New South Wales, including on Lord Howe Island. Birds eat its orange red fruit and drop the seed into dunes and cliff scrub. Each coprosma plant is either male or female, and berries need both sexes growing close together; the coloured selections are grown for leaf rather than fruit. Even so, where a garden adjoins a coastal reserve or bushland, check the council weed list first, clip off any berries that appear and hand pull any seedlings you find. Karo Red is a New Zealand garden plant, not an Australian native, so for a native or habitat planting use \u003ca href=\"\/products\/coastal-rosemary-westringia-fruticosa-zena\"\u003eWestringia fruticosa Zena\u003c\/a\u003e instead: it holds a similar low clipped line, in grey green rather than red.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eClipping for colour and density\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eKaro Red takes a clip well and is more forgiving than many small leaved hedges, because it reshoots from older wood rather than leaving bare stumps. Pinch out the growing tips in the first season so young plants branch low, then shear it about three times between spring and autumn. The newest leaves carry the richest gloss, so a light, regular trim keeps the face polished, where one hard cut a year leaves it patchy for weeks. A hedge gone woody and tall can be cut back by up to half in mid spring. Spacing of 60 to 80 cm gives a low hedge that knits together in about two seasons. More low and formal hedges are in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/hedges\"\u003eHedging Plants\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKeep feeding light: a handful of slow release fertiliser around each plant in early spring. Heavy feeding, or lawn fertiliser drifting into the bed, pushes soft green growth that dulls the red. Scale occasionally builds up along the inner stems, with sooty mould blackening the leaves above it; horticultural oil, used early, clears both. Root rot in wet soil is the one problem that kills it outright. Kept dry at the roots and clipped a few times a year, it needs little else, and earns its place among the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/low-maintenance\"\u003eLow Maintenance Plants\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is supplied in one size, 300mm, at $129.00 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\/hedging-plants-for-australian-conditions\"\u003ehedging plants for Australian conditions\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"300mm","offer_id":67671122477425,"sku":null,"price":129.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/karo-red-coprosma-coprosma-karo-red.jpg?v=1791518955","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/products\/karo-red-coprosma-coprosma-karo-red","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}