Add a touch of Disney to your garden
Lindsay Gray on behalf of Hillcrest Conservancy will produce weekly articles regarding the various indigenous small trees that you can plant in your garden.
THIS week I would like to recommend a shrub that has just come into flower – Ochna serrulata – or the ‘Mickey Mouse’ shrub.
The Afrikaans name is fynblaarrooihout (slender-leafed redwood), Umbomvane (Zulu) and iliTye (Xhosa).
Ochna serrulata is a slender shrub that can grow in full sun or semi-shade.
Mine is growing in the shade of my neighbour’s tree and so it has etiolated (stretched) to find the light and is now quite tall.
Planted out in the open, however, this pretty shrub will grow to about 2,5 metres in height.
The foliage is fairly compact, making it an ideal hedging or screening specimen.
My personal preference would be to keep it unclipped so that you don’t miss out on the flowers.
The leaves of the Ochna serrulata are glossy and dark green with toothed margins, and vary from oval to narrow, up to 5cm in length.
The new growth is a gorgeous copper colour so, at the start of the growing season you can look forward to a delightful two-tone effect in the foliage with the added bonus of a profusion of pretty yellow flowers.
These are followed later in the season with black seeds suspended below red sepals that look, if you exercise your imagination, a bit like the face of Mickey Mouse.
PHOTOS: Submitted
Ochna serrulata occurs on the east coast of Southern Africa where it can be found at sea level right up to altitudes of 1800m.
It is as comfortable in forests as it is in bushveld, on rocky slopes and in our grasslands. So you aren’t likely to get this one wrong.
Bees and butterflies are attracted to the scented yellow flowers, while the ripe seeds are enjoyed by a variety of birds.
This shrub is a real winner. It can be planted in a variety of situations in your garden and also does well in a container.
It makes a perfect windbreak too.
The shrub does grow fairly slowly until it is established, so my recommendation would be to plant it in a sunny spot or in semi-shade where it receives sun in the morning.
Contact the Hillcrest Conservancy chairman, George Victor, on 073 901 3902, e-mail georgevic@telkomsa.net, visit www.hillcrestconservancy.co.za or contact Lindsay Gray at info@schoolofgardendesign.com
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