Griselinia


Botancial name: Griselinia littoralis
Common name: Kapuka, New Zealand broad leaf or pāpāuma
Family: Griseliniaceae (pronounced ‘Grise-linie-ace-e-ae)

Commonly planted for hedging because of its glossy green leaf however you might notice as you walk around your neighbourhood, quite a few are growing brown and dying, or you’ll see gaps or newly planted replacement trees.

As published by the Irish Times (https://www.irishtimes.com/news/garden-work-1.224098), Griselinia trees can suffer from a fungal infection called Sclerotinia fungus.

The affected dying plants should be dug up and destroyed. It would be of benefit to remove the soil from the spot as well as fungus obviously lives in the soil.
Fill gaps with other hedging plants like Lilly Pilly, Camellia, Holly or Totara or tie the branches of existing plants across the divide to help fill in the gap.

Griselinia are difficult to make perfect due to the glossy leaves reluctance to prune. Rather frustrating at times. 🙂
Pruning of the Griselinia trees should be done multiple times per year, and given a light trim rather than a heavy one as that can cause damage and infection.

Contact Nick and Amy at Stott & Co Tree Experts to find out about when the best time to prune your Griselinia hedge is.

2 Responses

  • Hi Nick, you may recall we have 10 or 15 griselinias. We are wanting to prune a few.
    Is now ok to do so?

    Thanks,
    Karen and Rose
    Sandringham

    • Hi Karen & Rose, apologies for the delay in responding – height of Summer and height of Winter to avoid fungus infections which can lead to death.

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