Turnera ulmifoliaYellow Alder

Turnera ulmifolia opens a fresh set of bright yellow flowers every morning and closes them by early afternoon, and it does that almost every day of the year in a warm climate. Nothing else at this size gives colour on that schedule.

It makes a soft, rounded bush of about a metre with serrated elm-like leaves, and it is used as a mass bedding shrub on hot, exposed sites where irrigation is limited.

Specifications

• Height0.6 to 1.2 metres, occasionally to 1.5 metres
• Width0.6 to 1 metre
• Native toMexico, Central America and the West Indies
• FoliageSerrated, elm-like bright green leaves on soft-wooded stems; evergreen
• Growth rateFast

Conditions

• SoilPrefers well-drained soils; tolerates poor, sandy and stony ground
• LightFull sun
• WaterLow; drought-tolerant once established
• ClimateThrives in tropical, subtropical and warm arid regions and holds flowering through summer heat

Additional Features

• FlowersBright yellow five-petalled flowers opening each morning and closing by early afternoon, almost year round
• UsesMass bedding, median and roundabout planting, bed edging, car park islands and mixed borders
• SpacingPlant 0.5 to 0.7 metres apart for a continuous mass
• Low MaintenanceShear over two or three times a year to keep plants dense; self-seeds and should be edged
• Pest ResistanceGenerally trouble free in hot, exposed positions
• Drought ToleranceHolds flowering on low irrigation once established
• Wildlife AttractionFlowers are worked heavily by bees and butterflies

Yellow Alder gives a daily flower cycle at low height on very little water, which makes it a workhorse of hot-climate mass bedding.