Dodonaea viscosaHop Bush

Few shrubs cover as much ground as Dodonaea viscosa, which occurs naturally across Australia, Africa, Asia and the Americas and behaves the same way in all of them: fast, tough, and indifferent to poor soil. Narrow lance-shaped leaves are coated in a sticky resin that reduces water loss, and the papery winged seed capsules that follow the insignificant flowers flush pink to red and carry the ornamental interest.

It clips into a hedge, holds as an informal screen at three to four metres, or grows on into a small multi-stemmed tree. On exposed, saline, low-water sites there are few more reliable choices.

Specifications

• Height2 to 4 metres as a shrub, or 5 to 6 metres as a small multi-stemmed tree
• Width1.5 to 3 metres
• Native toWidely distributed across Australia, Africa, Asia and the Americas
• FoliageNarrow lance-shaped leaves with a sticky resinous coating, mid-green to bronze; evergreen
• Growth rateFast

Conditions

• SoilTolerates poor, sandy, rocky, alkaline and saline soils; free drainage is the only real requirement
• LightFull sun
• WaterLow; highly drought-tolerant once established
• ClimateThrives in arid, semi-arid, coastal, subtropical and Mediterranean regions

Additional Features

• FruitPapery three-winged capsules flushing pink to red, the main ornamental feature
• UsesWindbreaks, coastal screening, hedging, roadside and median massing, and slope stabilisation
• SpacingPlant 1.0 to 1.5 metres apart for a hedge, 2 metres for informal screening
• Low MaintenanceClips readily and reshoots from old wood; one or two cuts a year is sufficient
• Pest ResistanceRobust and largely untroubled
• Drought ToleranceOne of the most reliable low-water screening shrubs available
• Salt ToleranceHolds condition in direct coastal exposure and on saline soils
• Wind ToleranceFlexible stems and small leaves make it an effective windbreak component; the fibrous root system also binds sand and slope material

The Hop Bush is the default hard-site screening shrub where wind, salt, heat and low water all apply at once.