Lilly Pilly Syzygium tierneyanum (Acmena)

River cherry grows along creek banks and river flats in north Queensland, and that origin is the entire reason to buy it. It handles damp ground and short periods of inundation and keeps moving in a spot where most screening plants yellow off and stall. Growth is upright and open when young, filling into a dense rounded crown, and left alone this becomes a tree that can pass 15 metres rather than a clipped wall. New foliage flushes pink to copper against glossy green, the flowers are the fluffy white brushes typical of the genus, and the fruit is pale pink and edible. Use it for large screens, boundary lines, shade and revegetation on wet ground.

Frost stops it, and there is no working around that

This is a tropical and subtropical species and it does not pretend otherwise. It is at ease in Queensland and along the warmer New South Wales coast. Young plants are cut back by frost and a cold inland garden will not hold it at all, so in the southern states keep it to frost free coastal positions or choose a different plant. That is a real constraint rather than a caution, and it is the question to settle before anything else about this species matters.

Wet ground and spacing

Everything after the frost question is easy. Sun or part shade, and unlike the rest of this range it accepts heavier soil and a low spot that stays damp for days after rain. It will grow in clay, in silty river ground and in improved sand, provided it is not left dry for long stretches through its first summers, which is the one thing that checks it. Set plants 1.5 to 2 metres apart and let them grow into each other, since this is a plant for a tall informal screen rather than a tight formal hedge. Keep the root zone mulched and weed free while it establishes and it moves along quickly.

Water splits this group

Water splits this group. The brush cherry selections and both Acmena entries want ground that drains and will sulk or rot where it stays wet, and they are chosen to be clipped rather than to stand as trees, so they are the wrong answer for a large informal screen in any case. River cherry is the one that takes the damp corner. Giant water gum is the other large scale screening tree here, finer in leaf and far better suited to cooler southern gardens, so it is the substitute when the site is wet but the climate is not warm enough for this one. If the ground drains and you are gardening in Victoria or the Adelaide hills, take Acmena smithii instead. Related plants sit in privacy screening.

Tree or screen, decided early

Decide early which shape you are after. Prune for a clear trunk from the start if it is going to be a shade tree, or tip prune from the first season if you want a screen furnished to the ground, because converting one into the other later is a long job. Cut after each flush hardens through the warm months and stop as the weather cools, since soft growth heading into a cold snap is exactly the growth that gets burnt. Feed young plants in early spring and again in mid summer, remembering that nutrients move through wet ground faster, so lighter and more often beats one heavy application. Once established in damp ground it asks for very little.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 8 sizes, from 75mm up to 400L, priced from $16.95 to $2749.00 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 choosing a lilly pilly.