Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Other Names:  Japanese Yew, Buddhist Pine

Description:

This is an exceptional, columnar selection featuring stunning butter yellow new growth with chartreuse highlights; excellent as a privacy screen or sheared hedge because of its dense, long lived foliage; a great landscape accent or container specimen

Ornamental Features

Sunshine Spire Podocarpus has attractive dark green foliage with hints of chartreuse which emerges buttery yellow in spring on a dwarf conifer with a columnar habit of growth. The glossy narrow leaves are highly ornamental and remain dark green throughout the winter. It features subtle clusters of creamy white catkins at the ends of the branches in mid spring. It produces powder blue berries in mid summer.

Landscape Attributes

Sunshine Spire Podocarpus is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a narrowly upright and columnar growth habit. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other landscape plants with less refined foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and can be pruned at anytime. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Sunshine Spire Podocarpus is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Sunshine Spire Podocarpus will grow to be about 16 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 4 feet. It has a low canopy, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Sunshine Spire Podocarpus makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Its large size and upright habit of growth lend it for use as a solitary accent, or in a composition surrounded by smaller plants around the base and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden. Be aware that in our climate, most plants cannot be expected to survive the winter if left in containers outdoors, and this plant is no exception. Contact our experts for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.

This plant is not reliably hardy in our region, and certain restrictions may apply; contact the store for more information.