Types and characteristics of Pittosporum Hedging

Pittosporum hedging is a popular choice in many gardens, front and back. Robust, dense, good-looking and ever versatile, Pittosporums also make excellent specimen plants…

The genus Pittosporum in the family Pittosporaceae includes around 200 species of evergreen shrubs and trees native to Australasia, Oceania, eastern Asia and parts of Africa. The genus includes plants that will achieve a height of anything from 2m to 30m. The name comes from the Greek for tar-seed as their seeds have a sticky, resin-like coating.

Pittosporums are evergreen and have small, leathery leaves and proportionately sized flowers bearing woody, spherical fruits containing the eponymous seeds. Many Pittosporums (including all four of the varieties we grow) are renowned for the fragrance of their five-petalled flowers as well as for the simple elegance of their foliage. Pittosporum tenuifolium is our main focus and this variety produces clusters of dark purple flowers in late spring and early summer producing an unmistakeable honey scent. Hailing from New Zealand, it is also known by its Maori names of Kohuhu, Kohukohu, Black Matipo or Tawhiwhi.

Pittosporums can also be grown indoors as bonsai and are an excellent starting point for beginners learning the craft. As we will see in a future post, the foliage is also a mainstay of contemporary floristry.

First, though we will take a closer look at four popular varieties and how to grow them. We supply all our Pittosporum in 10 litre containers;