Lilly Pilly Syzygium Aussie Compact

The leaves on Aussie Compact are small and packed so closely along the stems that a clipped hedge shows one solid green surface. That density is why it gets planted. It grows quickly in a warm, well watered garden, so it still wants regular trims through the warm months like any hedging lilly pilly; what you gain is a face that stays solid between cuts rather than one that opens up and shows its stems.

Kept clipped, it suits the hedge most suburban gardens actually need, from chest height to just above a standard boundary fence, in a bed with room for a plant around a metre wide. The same tight growth makes it a good subject for clipped balls and cones in large pots, and for a dense block in a small garden where a full sized brush cherry would take over.

Compact is a relative word

The name sets up the commonest disappointment with this plant. Aussie Compact is compact beside the full sized screening brush cherries, not beside a dwarf, and left unclipped for a couple of seasons it will stand well above the fence and spread wider than most beds allow. Anyone expecting a knee high border that looks after itself ends up cutting it hard every few weeks and getting a woody, gappy result. Buy it for a hedge you intend to keep at chest height or above, and plan on a light trim after each flush of growth from spring into autumn, more often in a wet, warm summer.

A dense hedge also hides what is happening inside it. Check along the stems for scale each spring and treat it with horticultural oil in mild weather. One feed in early spring with a fertiliser for natives is enough for a plant that already grows this quickly.

Where the light falls decides the hedge

The densest growth comes in full sun. In part shade it stays healthy but opens up, and a hedge shaded on one side will be visibly thinner on that face for its whole life, so work out which side of the fence gets the light before you plant. It handles light frost and no more, so away from the mild coastal belt give it a sheltered spot and plant in spring, which allows a full season of root growth before the first cold night.

It copes with damper ground than many hedging plants, but not with a trench that holds water after rain, so in heavy clay plant on a slight mound. Keep mulch out to the edge of the row and a hand's width back from each stem. Plants set around 600 to 800mm apart close into a continuous hedge in a reasonable time. Start shaping while they are young: tip the leaders in the first season so the base branches before the plant gains height.

Little Tom below it, Pinnacle beside it

Of the clipped cultivars in Lilly Pilly, this is the one to choose when the hedge must sit between chest height and a little over the fence and you want a face that stays solid between trims. For a hedge held at knee height along a path, Little Tom Lilly Pilly is better scaled and will not need constant cutting to stay down. For a tall screen in a narrow bed, Pinnacle Lilly Pilly holds a narrow column. Aussie Compact is the plant for a dense, clipped hedge in a bed with a little more width than either of those needs.

Choosing a size

This plant is supplied in one size, 300mm, at $139.00 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 choosing a lilly pilly.