Favourite Plants

It’s never hard with our gorgeous array of New Zealand native plants but I’ve just fallen head over heals in love with two particular natives that now have pride of place in my Asian inspired Water courtyard and Merlot garden.

The first – Sporadanthus ferrugineus (giant wire rush) – is a restiad species from the domed bogs that were once found throughout the North Island (now restricted to a few in Waikato).  It grows to 2m in height and 2m width and its rust coloured seed heads and pendulous form are what first attracted me.    Not only will its graceful form look fantastic in front of the rust coloured fence backing the courtyard but I imagine its arching form gently stirring in the breeze, providing dappled shade over the low sun lounger on the deck overhanging the reflection pond.  An added bonus is that I will be assisting in the rescue of an at risk native plant and showing off its beauty in an unexpected situation.

The second is Psuedowintera colorata ‘Red devil’  (Mountain horopito) – whose mix of cream coloured leaves stained with red – almost as if the leaves have been sprinkled with droplets of a good claret -  are an absolute delight.  The genus is only found in New Zealand and its primitive flower structure hint at its ancient lineage.

As with many NZ natives the plant was also used by Maori for its medicinal qualities – which is just another great reason to include it in the garden!  The leaves have a hot peppery taste due to the main active component of polygodial (The NZ Association of Medical Herbalists note that this is one of the components of the ‘hot taste’ in peppery spcies common in traditional Japanese cuisine and it has been shown to exhibit significant fungicidal and antibacterial activity).  The leaves can be used as a seasoning on food and when my plants have had a chance to settle in I look forward to respectfully and very gently taking a few leaves to dry and crush into a horopito pepper – apparently very good with lamb and kumara dishes.

Some recent research shows that the greater the red staining the more polygodial is present and that this is thought to be a warning to herbivores to prevent predation of the leaves as they have increased chemical defences (in this case the peppery polygodial & anthocyanin compounds).

The horopito are planted as a low hedge around the edge of what will be a japanese hot tub location sitting within the middle of the merlot (red & burgundy) garden.