Growing Esperance Plants: Information On Silver Tea Tree

The Esperance silver tea tree (Leptospermum sericeum) wins a gardener’s heart with its silvery leaves and delicate pink flowers. The little shrubs, native to Esperance, Australia, are sometimes called Australian tea trees or Esperance tea trees. They are easy to grow and require little maintenance when planted in appropriate locations. Read on for more Esperance tea tree information.

Australian Tree Trees

It’s easy to fall for the highly ornamental, silver tea tree, a member of the large Myrtaceae family. If you read Esperance tea tree information, you’ll find that the trees produce generous amounts of silky pink flowers annually. The blossoms generally open in spring, but they can flower at any point between May and October, depending on when your area gets rainfall. The silvery foliage is beautiful with and without the flowers.

Each flower can grow to 2 inches (5 cm.) across. Although the plant is only native to granite outcrops in Australia’s Cape Le Grand National Park and a few offshore islands, it is cultivated by gardeners around the world. Hybrids and cultivars of Leptospermum species are available commercially, including some with red flowers. L. scoparium is one of the more popular varieties grown.

The Australian tea trees can grow to 10 feet (3 m.) tall, but in exposed areas often stay much smaller. The bushy shrubs are the perfect size for hedges and grow in an upright habit. They are dense plants and spread out into full shrubs.

Esperance Tea Tree Care

If you decide to grow silver tea trees, you’ll find that Esperance tea tree care is not difficult. The plants grow happily in sun or partial shade in almost any soil as long as it is well drained. In Esperance, Australia, the plants often grow in shallow surface soil that covers granite rocks, so their roots are accustomed to penetrating deeply into cracks in rocks or in the ground.

Australian tea trees thrive by the coast since they do not mind the salt in the air. The leaves are covered with fine white hairs that give them a silver sheen and also protect them against the effects of salt water. These Esperance plants are even frost hardy to -7 degrees F. (-21 C.) in regions that get regular amounts of rainfall.