Plant Finder

Other Names:  Tawhiwhi

Description:

A compact evergreen shrub, featuring soft, airy, silvery-green foliage on contrasting, thin black stems; flowers inconspicuous, grown for foliage; perfect as a hedge, screen, or as a bright accent in the garden

Ornamental Features

Oliver Twist Kohuhu has attractive grayish green foliage with hints of silver on a plant with an upright spreading habit of growth. The small glossy oval leaves are highly ornamental and remain grayish green throughout the winter. It features subtle clusters of fragrant deep purple flowers at the ends of the branches from late spring to early summer. The black branches are extremely showy and add significant winter interest.

Landscape Attributes

Oliver Twist Kohuhu is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and can be pruned at anytime. It is a good choice for attracting bees and butterflies to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Oliver Twist Kohuhu is recommended for the following landscape applications;

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

Planting & Growing

Oliver Twist Kohuhu will grow to be about 10 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 7 feet. It has a low canopy, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 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. This plant should not require much in the way of fertilizing once established, although it may appreciate a shot of general-purpose fertilizer from time to time early in the growing season. It is not particular as to soil type or pH, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.