Among these my favourites are the lancewood hybrids, some of which tend to be close to the wild species, with its unusual spiky juvenile foliage, while others tend more to a shrub-like habit.
The most common lancewood is P. crassifolius, found wild in many parts of New Zealand. It starts out looking very lance-like, with an upright stalk with long serrated leaves that drop down almost parallel to the stalk. When it is about 2m high the dense leaves start to shorten and grow horizontally until they form a round-topped tree. The effect is marvellous - a deeply coloured shrub sitting atop a slender stem, dramatic and eye-catching.
It makes a great accent plant. It can be used in tubs and containers but looks even more exciting when used in clumps, closely planted.
Their informal growth pattern looks great when planted in a formal manner -- a tidy forest of spiky stems which will turn into a forest sitting on slender stems.
There is a species with even scarier leaves than lancewood - the savage lancewood, P. ferox. It is similar to the more common lancewood but it has broader, more coarsely serrated leaves which have an unusual brown mottled colouring. Again, it looks great in silhouette, or as a feature plant among more formal species. It has tended to be used in exclusively native gardens but looks even more impressive in a big block of golden marigolds, or surrounded by clipped box hedging.
Among the other species commonly grown is P. lessonii, a very variable species that seems to delight in crossing with any other Pseudopanax species in sight.
The best form of this is the lush green hybrid Cyril Watson. This slow-growing shrub eventually forms a rounded form about 3m high and a similar amount around.
The colour is slightly odd - there is almost touch of olive green in its colouring - so it looks great among other shrubs. The leaves are unusually shaped, having three lobes, an indication it may have crossed with one of the many forms of five-finger. We have some hybrids of this in the garden, self-seeded plants from the neighbours.
Some of these I pull out but some I let grow as they are so good in the garden.
They do need a trim every now and then to keep them down to the size I want, but apart from that they need little care. When young, some of these plants can be a bit frost tender, but they soon recover.
If you like coloured foliage in the garden these plants can also provide some features for you, with purple and variegated forms about.
Goldsplash is a valuable multi-branched shrub with richly coloured variegated foliage. The strong leaves of bright green are irregularly splashed with lime and yellow, making an impressive impact in the garden.
This is best in full sun as the contrast is lost a little when the plant is grown in the shade. It makes a great container specimen when young - once it has grown up a bit you can pop it into the garden.
Purpurea is another form of P. lessonii, with lobed leaves that are glossy and coloured an attractive bronze purple. It looks great in a container.
