Tea Tree

Tea Tree 'Love Affair' (Leptospermum 'Love Affair') is a compact Australian native that flowers hard and then asks for very little. It sits at about 1.5m tall and 1.5m wide, dense with fine leaves, and covers itself in small pink and white blossom. Frost hardy, drought tolerant and salt tolerant in one shrub is a rare combination.

Why you'll love it

• Flowers you notice from the street. Massed pink and white blossom covers the whole shrub, and the fine foliage sets it off instead of hiding it.
• A hedge without the upkeep. At 1.5m it makes a low informal hedge that wants one trim a year, not four.
• Tough on three fronts. Frost hardy, drought tolerant once established, and salt tolerant enough for a coastal garden.
• Native, and busy with wildlife. Small honeyeaters shelter in the dense growth, and bees and butterflies work the open flowers.

Where it works best

Hedging and screening. Plant 1m apart for a soft informal hedge. At 1.5m it covers a fence line and holds its shape without shading the bed behind it.

Coastal gardens. Salt tolerance keeps it looking well in a seaside garden where many flowering shrubs brown off. Give it drainage and it will do the rest.

Mass planting and feature. Drifts at 1m centres cover a slope or a wide verge, while a single plant earns its place as a corner feature.

Growing tea tree in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun for the heaviest flowering. It suits subtropical, warm temperate, cool temperate and Mediterranean gardens, and it is properly frost hardy, so cold southern districts are no obstacle.

Soil. Poor soil is genuinely fine, but drainage is not negotiable. Leptospermums die from wet feet more often than from anything else, so plant on a raised mound if your ground is clay.

Water and feed. Deep water weekly through the first summer, then only in long dry spells. One feed in early spring with a low phosphorus native fertiliser is plenty, and decent soil needs none.

Pruning. Trim lightly straight after flowering, taking no more than a third of the new growth. Never cut back into bare old wood, because tea trees rarely reshoot from it and the gap stays.

What to expect when it arrives

It is sold in one size, tube stock: a young plant about ankle height with a small root ball. For a hedge this is the sensible buy, because a long run of tubes costs a fraction of the same run in larger pots and catches up quickly.

Tubes travel well, with little top growth to bruise. Plant in autumn or early spring, keep water up through the first summer, and expect hedge height in two to three seasons. Delivered Australia wide, delivery from $29.95, and every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• The complete leptospermum care guide
• Browse Australian native shrubs
• Coastal and salt tolerant plants
• Screening plants from 1m to 2m

Common questions

How far apart should I plant it for a hedge?

One metre apart in a single row. At that spacing the plants knit into a soft informal hedge over two to three seasons without crowding each other into bare stems.

Can I prune it hard?

No. Tea trees rarely reshoot from bare old wood, so a hard cutback tends to leave permanent holes. Trim lightly after flowering each year and it will stay dense for a long time.

Will it grow near the coast?

Yes. It is salt tolerant and suits a coastal garden, provided the drainage is sharp. Plant it behind the first line of dune vegetation rather than fully exposed to the surf.

How long until it flowers?

Tube stock planted in autumn or spring usually flowers in its second season, once the framework has built some size. The display gets heavier each year as the shrub fills out.