Creeping Boobialla Myoporum parvifolium Fine Leaf

Fine Leaf is the narrow-leaved form of creeping boobialla, with almost needle-like foliage that reads darker and neater than the broad-leaved selections, carried on the same flat running habit that roots down as the stems travel. Small white star flowers scatter across the mat through the warmer months and bees work them hard. It is the boobialla to use where the planting is seen close up: spilling over a retaining wall, running between stepping stones, or covering ground under established trees where mulch keeps blowing away.

Air movement matters more than cold

This is a full sun plant from the drier southern parts of the country, and it wants free-draining soil, coarse or sandy for preference, with very little water once it has taken hold. Frost is not the issue. The failure mode is humidity. In still, muggy, wet summer conditions the centre of an established mat rots out and leaves brown patches that fill back in slowly if at all, which is why it performs more reliably in southern and inland gardens with air movement than through a humid subtropical summer. Plant on a slope or a raised bed rather than flat ground, keep the crown clear of mulch, and avoid overhead irrigation in warm weather, since drip below the foliage is a far safer way to establish it. Space plants roughly half a metre apart for cover in a season or two. Establish it with water through the first summer, delivered at the base rather than over the top, then stop, since a fine-leaved boobialla is far more often lost to too much water than to too little. Treat it as light traffic only because the stems snap underfoot, and expect snails to chew the new runners in spring.

Fine texture against the coarser forms

Set beside Broad Leaf, this form gives a much finer, darker surface and a tidier edge where the mat meets paving, at the cost of looking less solid across a big area. Broad Leaf is the choice for bulk cover viewed from a distance, and Fine Leaf is the one for courtyards, wall tops and anywhere the planting is within a few metres of people. The straight species is the volume option where consistency between plants matters less. Fine Leaf also carries a still, sheltered position marginally better than the broad forms, though humidity remains its limit. More in natives.

Keeping the mat young

Shear lightly each spring, taking the tips across the whole mat so new shoots come from lower down. A fine-leaved boobialla that is never cut goes woody and open through the middle after a few years, and cutting hard into that bare wood at that point does not bring it back, so this is a habit to start early rather than a rescue. Keep feeding light, with a spring application of a low-phosphorus native blend on poor soil and nothing on better ground. Clear fallen leaves off the mat in autumn, since litter sitting on the crowns in humid weather is what starts the rot.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 3 sizes, from 125mm up to 175mm Squat, priced from $16.95 to $29.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to Australian native trees.