Pittosporum tobira Nanum (Dwarf Tobira)

A much more compact and smaller-leafed version of Pittosporum tobira, and it grows rather more slowly, too. Like it’s big evergreen brother (or sister) this very pretty plant manages to look Japanese and Mediterranean at the same time. In a Japanese inspired planting scheme, it looks perfectly at home being so neat and rounded as it is. In a sunny border accompanying Olives and Myrtles and the like it manages to appear right at home here, too. Naturally forming tight mound shapes of dense and glossy leaves, individual specimens hug the ground and create tight little humpy-hummocks. There's a smashing group of them romping along a sunny wall of the Royal Festival Hall where several  Silver Birch trees appear to wade through a rolling wave of well-established nanums. They’ve been clipped into a thick undulating wodge of deep and polished green, and the combo of this and the skeletal white Birch trunks is very appealing in its simplicity and impact. While the foliage and form are its main charms, some lovely fragrant creamy-white flowers will pop out in early-to-mid summer as a bonus. 

‘Nanum’ likes a sheltered position best, in any well drained soil, and will be happy in sun or partial shade. Against a sunny wall is ideal, and it looks super in terracotta pots on a terrace or balcony. Highly recommend.

N.B. When clipping several plants with the same tool, have a bucket containing a 5% bleach solution and swish your blades around for 30 seconds between plants to sterilise them. This will help avoid the chance of cross contamination of disease.

As with all woody plants, plant high, exposing as much of the taper at the base of the trunk as possible. Allowing soil to accumulate round the base of a tree can be fatal. Keep very well watered when first planted.