Catalog Description
Year round foliage display on a tidy evergreen plant. Summer leaves are emerald green variegated with cream accented in pink. Fall brightens to magenta and bold red with olive in winter. Shiny thick leaves are wind resistant for lower hedges beds and borders. Best pruned in cool season. Prefers well drained soils. Evergreen. Full sun, shaded in afternoon. Moderate growth to 5 feet tall and about as wide. |
Design Ideas
Good focal point with multi season interest in short range compositions. Use in shrub or mixed borders to provide structure against large leaf exotics or tropicals. Fine foundation plant for year around coverage of crawl spaces, meters and vents. Well sized for framing art or fountains with a nest of attractive foliage. Plant as an informal hedge or barrier to separate spaces. |
Companion Plants
Plant this shrub with other New Zealanders such as Fiji New Zealand Christmas Tree, (Metrosideros collina ‘Fiji’), Bronze New Zealand Flax, (Phormium tenax ‘Atropurpureum Compactum’), and Dwarf New Zealand Tea Tree, (Leptospermum scoparium ‘Nanum Ruru’).
Makes a beautiful compliment to other unusual shrubby perennials such as Mexican Bush Sage, (Salvia leucantha), Sea Lavender, (Limonium perezii), Compact Texas Sage, (Leucophyllum frutescens ‘Compactum’) and Ground Morning Glory, (Convolvulus mauritanicus).
For a unique combination try it with highly fragrant White Bower Vine, (Pandorea jasminoides ‘Lady Di’).
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Average Landscape Size
Compact, rounded shrub 4 to 5 ft. tall and wide. Can be pruned to shape. |
Key Plant Benefits
Glossy leaves offer an amazing rainbow of colors throughout the year. Green and cream variegated leaves are tinged with gold and pink and become hot pink and olive green in winter. A neat compact shrub for a low hedge or container plant. Evergreen. |
Care Instructions
Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system. Feed with a general purpose fertilizer before new growth begins in spring. For a tidy, neat appearance, shear annually to shape. |
Growth Conditions
| Growth Rate |
 Moderate Growing |
| Heat Zones |
High:
| 12 (>210 days) |
| Low: | 1 (< 1 days) |
| Cold Hardiness |
| High: | 10 (30 to 40 F) (see map) |
| Low: | 9 (20 to 30 F) |
| Water Requirements |
| Water regularly, when top 3 in. of soil is dry. |
| Sun Exposure |
| Full to partial sun |
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| Flowering Time/Season |
| Insignificant flowers. |
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Propagation
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Attributes
Dramatic Foliage Color
Drought Tolerant
Easy Care Plant
Modern Garden
Seacoast Exposure
Tropical
Year-round Interest |
Foliage
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Plant Lore
In New Zealand, dyes are made from the inner bark of many Coprosma species which does not require a mordant. A poultice of the leaves is used to treat wounds by the indigenous peoples. Seed is ground for a coffee substitute. |
Plant History
This genus of shiny leaf shrubs hails includes about 60 species scattered across the South Pacific in Australia, New Zealand, and Borneo. The genus was classified by the German, Johann Reinhold Forster in the late 18th century. It was derived from the Greek for a fetid odor, the chief distinguishing feature of some species. One of the most famous collectors of Coprosma species was I. Bauer, who traveled New Zealand in 1804-1805. This species, C. repens hails from North Island of New Zealand where its short stature is well adapted to sand dune habitats where it must keep out of the desiccating coastal winds. |
New Plant
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