Ribbonwood

Quite rarely seen in Ireland, the New Zealand species Plagianthus regius is a tall, graceful, deciduous or semi-evergreen tree with a rather narrow, columnar habit and densely bushy, interlacing branches. The toothed leaves are triangular, and pale green, and often persist on the tree in mild winters; unusually, the leaves are small when the tree is young, but grow larger as it ages. In May, dense clusters of small white or greenish-white flowers appear. Only for milder areas, as it is not reliably hardy, and can suffer foliage loss and die-back in colder districts.

Site: Tolerates exposure
Soil: Any reasonable, well drained soil
Position: Full sun
Season of interest: Late spring in particular
Hardiness: Half-hardy
Height: up to 50’ (15m) Spread: 10’ (3m)

Photos by Rudolph89 and Andre Chalmers, cropped, and licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.