The native Australian Syzygium and Acmena – commonly called lilly pilly – is a superb hedging and screening plant in all situations, and very popular with gardeners.
- Syzygiums are easy-going regarding climate, rainfall and soil type.
- They have beautiful coloured new growth, in shades of cream and peach, orange, bronze and copper, even bright candy pink.
- Their roots are non-invasive, which means you can plant close to buildings without fear of disturbance.
- It’s a native plant, so it copes with everything our harsh climate can throw at it.
- The dense shiny foliage looks beautiful throughout the year, and is evergreen.
- You can clip your plants to shape – they respond very well to even quite harsh pruning - or you can leave them to grow naturally.
- For an added bonus, lilly pillys have fluffy cream, white, or pink flowers and similarly-coloured bright berries which are loved by our native birds - and some make delicious bushtucker snacks too.
Click the variety name to jump to the product page and find out more. Like all our categories of plants, you can filter the lilly pilly category to find one that grows to the height you want - from knee high to tree high!
Pink Flowered Lilly Pillys
If you want your lilly pilly to be less of a green hedge and more of a feature plant, then these will fill your garden with big fluffy pink blooms.- Cascade - a hybrid of wilsonii and luemannii (riberry)
- moorei (coolamon) - the flowers are followed by fat white berries
- wilsonii (powderpuff) - gorgeous purple-pink new leaves too
Bright Foliage Lilly Pillys
Almost all Syzygiums and Acmenas put on a show of bright foliage; especially in spring when the fresh young growth emerges, and after clipping when hedges resprout. If you love a lilly pilly that really glows with colour when those new leaves appear, you'll love these varieties.- Allyn Magic - vibrant copper new growth with shades of rose-pink
- Cherry Surprise - deep cherry-maroon new growth
- hemilampra - rich copper, bronze, oxblood and candy pink new growth
- Moonlight Flame - glossy cream and bronze foliage all year
- Cascade - pale peach and pink new growth and very large leaves
- Elite - copper-rust-tan new growth, especially in sunshine
- Hinterland Gold - vibrant copper, bronze and gold foliage all year
- luehmannii (riberry) - bright pink, shell pink, purple, and peach new leaves
- Sunset - shades of glowing orange new growth
- Toffee Apple - wine red and copper-orange new growth
- Winter Lights - shades of red, copper, and maroon new growth
Psyllid Resistant Lilly Pillys
Psyllid Bugs
Some areas of Australia are home to psyllid bugs, a kind of sapsucker or aphid. These are not harmful to you or your plants, but can produce unsightly blemishes on certain lilly pilly varieties.You can see what they look like here. At the end of the post you'll see ways to tackle psyllid bugs, if you already have them on your existing lilly pilly plants. We have treatments that can help restore your hedge's good looks.These varieties below are completely resistant to psyllids, so you can grow them as feature shrubs with complete peace of mind. No bumps!
- Acmena smithii Minor - Acmena smithii cultivars are the most resistant to psyllid. Grows to 3m unclipped.
- Allyn Magic - one of the best available lilly pillys, excellent neatly clipped, will grow to only 90cm unclipped.
- Firescreen - versatile screening and hedging from 1m to 4m and bushy all the way from tip to toe. Rusty red colouring makes a good native alternative to Photinia.
- Forest Flame - compact, slender, deep red new leaf colour - a good native alternative to Nandina.
- Moonlight Flame - upright and elegant, with bright variegated leaf colour.
- Cascade - pretty lilly pilly with an elegant weeping habit.
- luehmannii (riberry) - great bushtucker tree, as well as very ornamental and wildlife-friendly, with abundant pink berries.
- Hinterland Gold - unclipped this will grow to 4m – with a nice compact natural shape which doesn’t need pruning if you have the space.
- Resilience - the clue to its resistance is in the name! Bushy, to 5m tall and 2m wide. Lots of white flowers and white berries.
- Superior - fast growing, glossy green-bronze, conical and slender. Bright pink berries. Popular alternative to Resilience.
- Straight & Narrow - tall and slender, this one lives up to its name. Can reach 8m tall and only 1.5m wide, perfect for privacy hedging.
Psyllid Hardy Lilly Pillys
You may get a little psyllid damage with these varieties, but they are largely resistant - and in a long acreage hedge that's regularly clipped, you may not notice:
- Aussie Compact - grows to 3m unclipped. Excellent for topiary - compact and dense as its name suggests. White flowers, dark red berries, glossy leaves.
- Aussie Southern - very fast growing columnar lilly pilly excellent for narrow spaces. Grows to 8m unclipped, excellent for topiary. White flowers, dark red berries, glossy leaves.
- Elite - very similar to Aussie Compact. One of the best hedging lilly pillys. Naturally dense, good for topiary. Unclipped this will grow to 3-5m depending on location. White flowers, dark red berries, glossy leaves.
- Glasshouse Select - compact, dense growth, glossy and greeny-bronze all year. Tall for privacy screens; tough and reliable.
- Tiny Trev - compact and low to 1.2m, with very small neat leaves. Excellent for topiary and bonsai, fancy clipping, dwarf hedges.
Popular Varieties
If you don’t have to worry about psyllids where you live, you can plant these lilly pilly varieties, which are still beautiful and full of good garden benefits.- Bush Christmas - popular fine-leaf lilly pilly. New growth is bright orangey-red especially in brighter sun. Not so frost tolerant as other varieties. Small hedge around 2-4m unclipped but can be clipped as low as 1m - and excellent for topiary as you can see in the image.
- Syzygium hemilampra (blush satinash) - tall lilly pilly tree that grows to 4m unclipped and a full bushy 2.5m wide. White flowers and berries.
- Syzygium cryptophlebium (purple satinash)- big rounded tree that grows on clay or sand. The dark green foliage is unobtrusive, until the bright purple bushtucker berries appear.
- Waterhousea - fast growing tree to 10m, depending on available water or rain. Elegant weeping foliage and larger leaves than most other lilly pillys. Excellent for tall screens and as a feature tree.
Dealing With Psyllids
If you have non-resistant varieties in your garden already, you can contain any potential psyllid bugs by these methods:- prune your hedges regularly
- burn the clippings rather than composting them
- prevent psyllid attacks with Eco-Oil to combat chewing insects,
- feed regularly with a seaweed solution such as Eco-Seaweed to boost plant health.
