Indian Hawthorn Rhaphiolepis Hot Tips (Raphiolepis)

Hot Tips is a compact, densely branched Indian hawthorn that holds a low rounded dome without much persuasion. The point of difference is the new growth: several flushes through the warmer months come away bright red to coppery pink over leathery dark green mature leaves, and every trim triggers another coloured flush. Small clusters of white to blush flowers follow in spring. It is planted almost entirely as a low clipped hedge or a repeated mass planting where nothing is allowed to grow tall.

Keeping the red flush coming

It grows through most of the settled parts of the country, from cool temperate gardens in Victoria and South Australia to subtropical coastal beds, and it copes with reflected heat off paving, driveways and light rendered walls better than most flowering shrubs its size. Full sun to part shade both work, though tip colour is stronger and growth denser in sun. Dig compost through the bed before planting, make sure the soil drains, and keep water low to moderate once the roots have run out into the surrounding ground. Autumn planting gives the roots a cool season to settle before their first summer. For a low clipped hedge, set plants around 50 to 60cm apart in a single staggered row.

Leaf spot is the failure mode. In humid weather, or under sprinklers that soak the foliage every evening, the leaves pick up dark purple blotching and then drop from the base upwards, leaving bare ankles under a green top. Water at ground level, leave enough space between plants for air to move along the row, and rake fallen leaves away instead of letting them sit underneath as a spore reservoir.

Hot Tips or Maximus

The direct comparison is Rhaphiolepis indica Maximus, the larger growing form in this range. Maximus is the one to plant where a hedge has to screen a fence line or a bin bay. Hot Tips is for the knee high run under a window, along a path edge or in a repeated block where the coloured new growth is doing the decorative work. Decide the height you want to hold before choosing, since either plant cut well below its natural size thins out at the base. On a genuinely exposed coastal site, White Correa is the more forgiving low dome and does not spot in humid salt air, but its flowers are small and white and there is no seasonal colour change at all. More options sit in the hedging range.

Clipping and feeding a coloured hedge

Trim lightly and often rather than once a year. A light clip as each coloured flush hardens keeps the dome tight and brings the next flush forward, and the main shaping cut should be made straight after the spring flowers finish, so buds forming for the following season are not cut away. Old, leggy plants take a hard cut back in early spring and reshoot from bare wood, which is a rescue many flowering shrubs will not tolerate. Feed in early spring with a controlled release fertiliser, water it in well, and top up mulch before summer while keeping it off the stems. Established plants need very little beyond that.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 2 sizes, from 140mm up to 200mm, 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 coastal planting.