Submitted by Carol on

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Watching Beechgrove they mentioned that Mānuka was also called Leptospermum

I'd never really thought about growing Mānuka - didn't really know what it was - before but with the imminent arrival of the allotment bees and having grown some Leptospermum's before perhaps it would be fun if we could grow some?

Apparently it's Leptospermum scoparium, commonly called mānuka, manuka myrtle, New Zealand teatree, broom teatree, or just tea tree, is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae, native to New Zealand and southeast Australia.

says that it is typically a shrub growing to 2–5 m (7–16 ft) tall

RHS Plant Finder hs two with AGMs

Leptospermum are aromatic evergreen shrubs or small trees with small, often silky leaves and 5-petalled flowers in late spring and summer.

'Red Damask' is a dense medium-sized evergreen shrub with narrow, dark green leaves. Flowers deep red, fully double, about 12mm in width and very freely borne from late spring

Ultimate height  1.5-2.5 metres Ultimate spread  1.5-2.5 metres Time to ultimate height  5-10 years

'Nicholsii Nanum' is a dwarf evergreen shrub to 35cm, with small, narrow, dark purplish-green leaves and solitary, dark-eyed, crimson flowers from late spring
Ultimate height  0.1-0.5 metres Ultimate spread  0.1-0.5 metres Time to ultimate height  2-5 years