Other Names:  Austraflora Seaspray

Description:

A low mounding shrub with fragrant, pale green leaves, featuring green and orange-red flowers that darken with age, appearing in winter to spring; a durable plant that tolerates a wide range of conditions; great as a specimen, or cascading over walls

Ornamental Features

Seaspray Lemon-scented Myrtle is bathed in stunning clusters of orange spider-like flowers with red overtones and bluish-green bracts at the ends of the branches from mid winter to late spring. It has attractive light green foliage with hints of silver. The small fragrant oval leaves are highly ornamental and remain light green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Seaspray Lemon-scented Myrtle is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a mounded form. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other landscape plants with less refined foliage.

This shrub will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Seaspray Lemon-scented Myrtle is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Seaspray Lemon-scented Myrtle will grow to be about 18 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. You may want to keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. This plant does not require much in the way of fertilizing once established. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Seaspray Lemon-scented Myrtle makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers and foliage against which the thriller plants stand out. 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.