Manuka Leptospermum scoparium Burgundy Queen

Deep wine red double flowers are what separate Burgundy Queen from the plain white manuka of the New Zealand hills. They sit tight against fine, aromatic, needle like foliage that takes on bronze tones through the cooler months, on a shrub that reads as dense and slightly stiff rather than soft. It is a bed plant first: a block of strong colour in a native border, a low clipped hedge in a cool garden, or a source of long lasting cut stems that bees and small birds work heavily.

Why manuka thins out in a humid summer

It performs most reliably in cool to warm temperate gardens with full sun, open air movement and sharply drained soil, and it comes from a lineage adapted to lean, acidic, wind exposed ground rather than rich beds. Lean soil suits it better than an improved bed, and established plants take frost without complaint. Space plants around 60 to 80cm apart for a low hedge so air moves between them.

The failure mode here is humidity and still air. Manuka selections sulk through hot humid subtropical summers, particularly in enclosed courtyards, against solid fences, and in gardens where sprinklers run at night: the interior of the plant thins, stems die back in patches, and the shrub declines over a couple of seasons instead of thickening. If you garden in a humid coastal or northern district, give it the most open, breeziest position you have, water at the roots rather than over the foliage, and treat it as a shorter lived plant to be replaced rather than one that grows old in place. In heavy soil, mound the bed; Leptospermum collapse suddenly from root rot rather than fading slowly.

Burgundy Queen against the spreading and coastal forms

Pink Cascade is the other flowering selection here, and the difference is form: it grows low and arching with pink flowers along the stems, made for the front of a bed or a wall edge, while Burgundy Queen stands upright and holds a defined shrub shape. Coastal Tea Tree is the choice where exposure and salt are the problem and flowers are incidental. Neither of them screens; the lemon scented tea tree is the plant in this group that reaches that height. Pick Burgundy Queen for the flower colour, in a temperate garden with sun and moving air. More in flowering plants.

Pruning after the wine red flowers fade

Prune immediately after flowering, cutting only into wood that still carries leaves. Manuka does not reshoot reliably from bare stems, so a shrub allowed to go woody cannot be brought back by cutting it hard. A light annual trim as the flowers fade keeps it dense and sets up the next display. Feed once in early spring with a native fertiliser low in phosphorus, applied lightly and watered in. Cutting stems for the vase counts as pruning, so take them from around the whole plant rather than one side. Watch for scale on the stems and the sooty mould that follows it, treating with horticultural oil outside the hottest hours.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 3 sizes, from 140mm up to 300mm, priced from $16.95 to $88.95 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.