Tree of the Week: Beautiful But Difficult -- The Split-Personality Sweetshade

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Again we turned to our tree-loving friend Pieter Severynen to choose a Tree of the Week, and again Pieter -- arborist, landscape architect -- has chosen a tree that is showing its finest colors this week.

Sweetshade – Hymenosporum flavum. Seductively beautiful when all dressed up in yellow flowers with a pronounced orange-blossom honey fragrance, the sweetshade is like the split personality girlfriend or boyfriend you don’t know whether to hang on to.

Slow to grow, variable in shape but usually open, graceful, upright, 15-40’ high, 10-20’ wide with glossy evergreen leaves, this Australian native is gorgeous in its early summer bloom.

And now comes the other personality: Sweetshade’s wood is brittle, the branches tend to grow in whirls and sometimes split, leaves cluster at the end of the branches, the tree doesn’t like windy locations, it needs good humus rich soil and it doesn’t live all that long. Best to use it only in a protected spot, give it careful early pruning for well-spaced branching, frequently pinch new growth for a denser appearance and enjoy it while you can.