Dwarf Pohutukawa Metrosideros collina Little Dugald

Little Dugald is a compact form of Metrosideros collina rather than the large coastal pohutukawa, and the difference shows in the frame: a dense, twiggy evergreen shrub with small leathery dark green leaves, close enough in growth to clip into a ball. The flowers are the same brush of crimson stamens the group is known for, carried in flushes on a plant small enough to stand in a pot beside a door. It suits courtyards, low informal hedges and containers on exposed coastal balconies.

Sun, salt and myrtle rust on soft new growth

Salt wind and sandy soil are no trouble at all, which is why these plants turn up on beachfront jobs where other hedging burns. Give it full sun; in shade the growth goes open and flowering thins out. Free draining soil is the other requirement, and heavy clay that stays wet through winter will not do, so raise the bed or use a pot with a coarse mix. Space plants about 50 cm apart for a low hedge run. Growth is moderate, so a hedge takes a couple of seasons to knit, and hard frost knocks young plants about, which is an argument for spring planting and a sheltered first winter inland. The risk to plan around in humid coastal districts is myrtle rust, which attacks the soft new growth of the Myrtaceae and is encouraged by exactly the flush of tender shoots that clipping produces. Trim so the new growth hardens off in drier, cooler weather rather than in a warm humid spell, keep the plant open enough for air to move through it, check young shoots for yellow powdery spots, and bag and bin affected clippings rather than composting them.

The courtyard shrub or the boundary tree

Both metrosideros stocked here take salt and clip well, so the choice comes down to final size. Metrosideros thomasii builds into a dense rounded small tree and comes in large grades, which makes it the one for a screen along a boundary, a row of standards or a clipped hedge above head height. Little Dugald stays low and twiggy, so it is the choice for a courtyard, a balcony pot, a low hedge under a window, or a clipped ball either side of an entry. On a windy balcony or in a courtyard with reflected heat, the compact form is also easier to keep looking right, because every cut is within reach and nothing ever calls for a ladder. Both appear in the hedging range if you are weighing up options.

Trimming after flowering, and feeding a plant in a pot

Trim once flowering finishes, cutting within leafy growth rather than back into bare stems, and repeat lightly through the growing season if you are holding a formal shape. Unlike the banksias and grevilleas in this range, this is a Myrtaceae with no phosphorus problem, so a standard controlled release fertiliser is fine. Plants in pots need it more than plants in the ground: feed in spring and again in mid summer, and top dress or repot before the mix collapses. Water containers regularly, since a small pot in coastal wind dries out fast, and do not let one dry right through while the plant is in flower.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 5 sizes, from 125mm up to 400mm, priced from $16.95 to $229.00 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 fast growing screening plants.