Tea Tree Leptospermum Pink Cascade

Pink Cascade grows low and spreading on fine arching stems, so it reads as a soft mound or a curtain over the edge of a wall rather than an upright shrub. Its pink flowers sit tight along the stems instead of gathering into clusters, which gives the plant its layered look in spring. The foliage is small, narrow and faintly aromatic when crushed. It is used at the front of a native bed, over retaining walls, on embankments and batters, and in wide pots where stems can spill.

Sandy ground, slopes and the cut that never grows back

Full sun, free draining ground, and low water once it is established. It handles poor sandy soil and salt wind, which is why it turns up on coastal projects and on batters where the roots hold the surface together, and it will not survive heavy wet clay, so mound the bed where drainage is doubtful. Cool to warm temperate gardens suit it, and it takes light frost once established. Space plants around 80cm to a metre apart for continuous cover and let them run together.

The failure specific to this one is pruning, because a spreading plant grows over paths and wall edges and someone eventually cuts it back. Leptospermum carry very few dormant buds on old stems, so a hard cut into leafless timber usually leaves a dead patch that never fills in, and on a low plant that patch sits at eye level in full view. Clip lightly and often instead, always into growth that still holds leaf, and give it more room at planting than looks necessary. Watch for webbing caterpillar binding shoot tips together in warm weather, and cut affected growth out as soon as you see it.

Horizontal cover against upright tea trees

Manuka Burgundy Queen covers similar ground on colour, with deeper wine red doubles, but it stands upright and holds a shrub shape, so it goes behind Pink Cascade rather than beside it. Lemon Scented Tea Tree is the screening plant of the group and shares none of this habit. Choose Pink Cascade where you want horizontal cover: the top of a retaining wall, the front edge of a native border, a slope that needs holding, or a pot with room to trail. Mass plant it in odd numbered groups rather than a single row so the mounds overlap. See the range in natives.

Light shearing and a careful fertiliser choice

Trim straight after flowering, taking the tips back a small amount across the whole plant rather than cutting selected stems hard, which keeps the arching lines intact. Repeat lightly in late summer if growth has run. Feed once in early spring with a native fertiliser at a light rate, and keep fresh manures and heavy general feeds away from it. The problem with rich feeding on this one is not root burn, it is habit: strong upright shoots stand up out of the mound, break the arching line that is the reason to plant it, and have to be cut out again. Mulch with a coarse material to keep the surface cool and hold weeds down while plants knit together.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 3 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 Australian native trees.