Pittosporum: The Low Maintenance Evergreen Plants for Your Home

When you have a garden, you invest your creativity and efforts in maintaining it in the perfect order you can so you marvel at it time and time again, but seasons change and not all plants thrive continuously. This is when we can say thank God for the evergreens. When evergreen plants are present in a garden, they make it look lively all year round and the great thing is most of them don’t require that much maintenance, more than other plants do. If you’re wondering how to liven up your garden and add a dash of vibrancy, give pittosporum plants a chance.

As a genus of about 200 flowering trees and shrubs spreading over some regions of Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania, pittosporum plants are low maintenance and since they grow easily, they are perfect for many landscaping uses, creating hedges and borders. There are several names, apart from this main one, the plant is known by, Australian laurel, Karo, Kaikaro, Kōhūhū, Kīhihi, Japanese cheesewood and Tawhiwhi among others.

The growth of these plants depends on the pruning, since some of them are known to grow even up to ten metres, so you can get the height you prefer by doing a bit of pruning yourself. Yes, this means you’d have to include pruning in your chores, but this is only in the beginning of the plants’ life. The tolerance of difficult growing conditions, such as dry soil and shady spots, is enough to convince you to make these plants part of your garden.

Same as any other plant, the pittosporum requires certain conditions for proper growth – acidic, well-drained soil can ensure full growth. Their thick foliage means they can serve as the perfect shield when you want to add some privacy to your outdoor area, and can stand as an alone tree considering it’s multi-stemmed or paired up with more pittosporum specimens in a neat hedge. The oval, alternate bright leaves and fragrant glossy green or variegated white flowers will surely liven up your outdoor space.

Though they are known as outdoor plants, pittosporum can thrive at home as well in spots with partial sun. Now that modern furniture and indoor style make room for plants, just imagine the harmony an indoor tree would bring. As mentioned previously, this type of tree can be grown to the height you prefer so you don’t have to worry it won’t fit your ceiling.