Copious Coprosma

I ’ve been a closet fan of the mirror bush all my life, and still harbour in my garden the old shiny, green Coprosma repens with its polished leaves.

- Anna Celliers

It keeps on outgrowing its allocated space, casting deep shade over other plants because it does not really want to be the small tree that I keep trying to train it into.

But such is the main characteristic of this large shrub from the coastal areas of New Zealand, which is part of the coffee plant family: it will just keep on growing and re-shaping itself, despite very sandy and dry soil and strong and salty sea winds, to screen other plants. In countries like Australia this coprosma is a declared weed and it should probably have the same status in South Africa, as I have seen specimens of it growing in the most unexpected places, like in a milkwood forest.

This coprosma species has been hybridised with other ground-hugging species, giving birth to many bulky garden varieties with different kinds of variegated foliage with cream, yellow, and later pink tinges. These have become very popular foliage plants over the years and are not invasive.