Description
Olearia paniculata is a useful hedge plant, especially in dry or exposed sites. It is a dense, evergreen shrub featuring leathery light green leaves with a decorative wave. Fragrant white flowers between the months of March and May and goes into the fruiting stage between the months of April and July. It has reddish twigs bearing very smooth and wavy-edged leaf, white underneath.
This shrub typically grows to 3m tall, performing best in full sun on a well-drained site. Intolerant of wet sites, but wind and coastal tolerant. Often when Olearia paniculata is mixed with coarse sand, compost, or organic material it improves the soil’s health and moisture structure. This makes it ideal for coastal plantings.
Olearia paniculata is endemic to both the North and South Islands. It is often found in dry woodland plant communities that include but are not limited to Pittosporum tenuifolium, Discaria toumatou, Melicytus alpinus, Poa cita, and Muehlenbeckia axillaris.
For more information on plant communities, we recommend DOC’s publication Native Plant Communities of the Canterbury Plains.
