Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Silver Sheen’

kohuhu
Delicate looking, fast growing, tough, versatile plant for screening and hedges. Dark night-fragrant flowers in spring.
synonyms Pittosporum nigricans
height 5–12ft
width 6–10ft
tolerates Coast, Cool Summers, Fog, Salt, Wind
water
needs		 Low – Moderate
water
info		 Pittosporums are drought tolerant enough to live in coastal California without additional water, once established, but they need regular deep water to look full and lush and will partially defoliate if allowed to go completely dry. Additionally, some reports suggest they will also defoliate if overwatered in heavy soil during winter. Luckily they usually bounce back fairly quickly once appropriate water is reestablished. Usually this means a weekly watering for a mature plant, but it could be less if the plant is in some shade, right on the coast, or in heavy soil.
hardy
to		 18F
exposure Part Sun – Full Sun
indoor
outdoor		 Outdoor
drainage In Ground: Planting Mix, In Pots: Potting Soil, Tolerates Heavy Soil, Tolerates Sandy Soil
fertilizing All Purpose
origin Hybrid, New Zealand
california
native		 No
sunset
zones		 9, 14–17, 19–24

Sunset Zones Map

Outdoor Exposure Guide

OUTDOOR EXPOSURE GUIDE

Full Sun
Six or more hours of sun beams directly landing on the plant's leaves.

Part Shade
Three to five hours of sun beams directly landing on the plant's leaves.

Part Sun
One to two hours of sun beams directly landing on the plants leaves.

Full Shade
The plant is never fully lit by sun beams, but is in a bright spot or has dappled sunbeams playing over the leaves throughout the day.

Deep Shade
The plant never has dappled light on the leaves, and is in a place that feels dim, even on a nice sunny day.

SUNSET ZONES MAP

Growing Notes

Typically larger pittosporums like this one grow into a small to medium sized tree. They have an amazing superpower: the ability to quickly grow into a screen that’s dense enough to disguise a wall or create some privacy, but still feels light and airy. Choose a variety that will get at least as big as the screen you wish to have. Use clippers to open up your plant for a light informal screen, or sheer it to create a dense hedge that completely blocks undesirable site lines. Never let a screen grow more than six inches beyond its desired size or when you prune it back the hedge will be patchy and take time to fill back in nicely. You’ll also be beyond the flexible new shoots that hedge pruners can easily and cleanly sheer, and likely need to do a first pass with some pruners. For a mixed treelike form with a dense canopy prune up lower branches to expose the trunk and primary branches, and then sheer the canopy of the tree to maintain density and shape.

Special Interest

The small purple black flowers are amusing, though not particularly noticeable. They smell lightly of honey during the evening, when they attract nocturnal pollinators.

The sap and leaves of pittosporum contain fragrant oils, which were used by the Maori peoples to freshen their homes. They also used the plant to treat various ailments and recent studies have found that pittospourms contain antimicrobial properties.

The previous species name of this plant - nigricans - describes the black stems of the new growth on this tree.