Golden Tree Daisy as a Native Hedge

If you are looking for a tough New Zealand native hedge that can cope with wind, exposure and coastal conditions, Golden Tree Daisy – Shawia solandri is well worth considering. Also widely known by its former botanical name Olearia solandri, this distinctive native shrub has fine green-gold foliage, twiggy branching and a naturally hardy character that makes it particularly useful for boundaries and screening in places where more conventional hedge plants can struggle.

Golden Tree Daisy is naturally a much larger shrub than the hedge we are describing here. Left unrestricted, it can develop into a substantial shrub, so using it as a hedge around 1–1.5 m high means deliberately restricting its natural growth through clipping and shaping.

That distinction is important. In this guide we are specifically looking at Golden Tree Daisy as a hedge: a compact, managed planting primarily for residential and urban gardens. If Golden Tree Daisy is allowed to grow much larger and more naturally for wind protection on a farm or lifestyle property, we consider that shelter or shelterbelt planting rather than hedging.

For more information on Golden Tree Daisy as a shelterbelt see our complete guide - Golden Tree Daisy for Shelter and Shelter Belts

Why use Golden Tree Daisy as a native hedge?

There are plenty of plants that can be turned into a hedge, but Golden Tree Daisy has some characteristics that make it particularly useful in New Zealand conditions.

Golden Tree Daisy (Shawia solandri) has naturally fine foliage and a mass of twiggy branching. With clipping, neighbouring plants can be encouraged to grow together into a continuous boundary while still retaining more texture and character than many conventional hedge plants.

Its real strength, however, is toughness.

Golden Tree Daisy is particularly at home in sunny, windy and exposed situations and is well suited to coastal environments. This makes it worth considering for exposed residential properties where choosing a reliable hedge can otherwise be difficult.

Golden Tree Daisy also produces masses of tiny flowers, adding seasonal interest to a hedge that might otherwise simply function as a green boundary. It means the plant can still retain some of its natural character even when being maintained in a deliberately restricted form.

What does a Golden Tree Daisy hedge look like?

The natural form of Golden Tree Daisy is quite different from a tightly clipped conventional hedge.

Left alone, it develops a loose, somewhat irregular structure with fine foliage carried on layered, twiggy branches. Turning it into a hedge brings those branches together and increases the density of the planting, but you can decide how much of the original character you want to retain.

A regularly clipped Golden Tree Daisy hedge can form a strong, defined boundary. It can be maintained with relatively straight sides and an even top where a more conventional hedge appearance is wanted.

However, it doesn't have to be clipped into a perfect rectangular box.

One of the most attractive ways to use Golden Tree Daisy is as a lightly clipped native hedge. The overall height and width are controlled, but small shoots, slight variations in the outline and some of the plant's natural layered branching are retained.

The result sits somewhere between a formal hedge and an unrestricted native shrub – clearly maintained, but not manicured.

How tall should a Golden Tree Daisy hedge be?

For many residential applications, a useful maintained height is around 1–1.5 m.

At this height, a Golden Tree Daisy hedge can create a substantial boundary without becoming an overwhelming wall of vegetation. It works particularly well beside driveways, along fences, between different parts of a garden or where some privacy is wanted without completely enclosing the property.

The important thing to remember is that 1–1.5 m is a maintained hedge height, not the natural mature height of Golden Tree Daisy.

The plant naturally wants to become considerably larger. Keeping it at hedge height therefore requires ongoing clipping.

This is quite normal for hedging plants. A hedge is essentially a group of shrubs deliberately maintained at a fraction of the size they would reach if left to grow naturally.

Where can you use a Golden Tree Daisy hedge?

Golden Tree Daisy is particularly useful where the hedge has a practical job to do as well as looking good.

It can be used:

• along an urban property boundary or fence

• beside a driveway

• to divide different areas of a garden

• around an outdoor living area

• to soften walls, fences and other built structures

• to provide privacy between neighbouring properties

• as a low-to-medium screen

• on windy or exposed residential sites

• in coastal gardens where exposure can make plant selection more difficult

Because the foliage is relatively fine, Golden Tree Daisy creates quite a different effect from broad-leaved hedges. It has a softer, more textured appearance that fits particularly well into native and naturalistic gardens.

A native hedge for windy and exposed sites

This is one of the main reasons to consider Golden Tree Daisy – Shawia solandri rather than simply choosing one of the usual suburban hedge plants.

Golden Tree Daisy is naturally associated with exposed environments, making it particularly useful on properties where a hedge is going to receive plenty of wind and weather.

That can include coastal properties, elevated sections, open subdivisions and gardens where there is little protection from prevailing winds.

Exposure still matters when establishing any young hedge. Newly planted shrubs have small root systems and need time to become established. Weed control, appropriate watering and sensible planting are important during this period even when the mature plant itself is extremely hardy.

Once established, however, the inherent toughness of Golden Tree Daisy becomes one of its major advantages.

How far apart should Golden Tree Daisy be planted for a hedge?

Plant spacing has a major influence on how quickly individual Golden Tree Daisy plants join together to form a continuous hedge.

Hedge plants are deliberately planted closer together than Golden Tree Daisy shrubs being grown as individual specimens. The aim is not to develop a collection of separate mature bushes. Instead, neighbouring plants are encouraged to branch into one another and eventually behave visually as a single hedge.

Closer spacing generally gives you a continuous hedge sooner but requires more plants. Wider spacing reduces the number of plants required initially but means waiting longer for the gaps to close.

For most homeowners, there is a sensible middle ground between planting unnecessarily close and spacing the plants so widely that it takes years to create the intended boundary.

Golden Tree Daisy hedge spacing guide

Greenmachine recommendation: Match your spacing to the finished height of the hedge. A low Golden Tree Daisy (Shawia solandri) hedge needs plants relatively close together because each plant is being heavily restricted in size. As the intended hedge gets taller, plants can be spaced progressively further apart because each Golden Tree Daisy is allowed to develop a larger branching framework.

Desired hedge height	Recommended plant spacing	Approx. plants per metre	Best suited to
50 cm	30–40 cm	2.5–3.3	Very low, tightly controlled boundary or driveway-edge hedge
75 cm	40–50 cm	2–2.5	Low, dense hedge where relatively quick closure is wanted
1 m	50–60 cm	1.7–2	Compact residential boundary, garden division or low screening
1.25 m	60–70 cm	1.4–1.7	Medium residential hedge with good density and screening
1.5 m	70–80 cm	1.25–1.4	Typical Golden Tree Daisy screening/boundary hedge
1.75 m	80–90 cm	1.1–1.25	Taller privacy hedge with more room for each plant to develop
2 m	90 cm–1 m	1–1.1	Tall residential boundary or privacy screen

These spacings are intended for a continuous clipped or lightly clipped hedge. If plants are being allowed to grow substantially larger and looser for wind protection, the planting is moving into shelter or shelterbelt territory, where different spacing should be used.

How many Golden Tree Daisy plants do I need?

Once you have chosen your spacing, calculating plant numbers is straightforward.

Measure the total length of the proposed hedge and divide that distance by the recommended spacing between plants.

For longer boundaries, even a relatively small change in spacing can make a significant difference to the number of plants required.

Greenmachine supplies Golden Tree Daisy in quantities suitable for larger planting projects, making it possible to match the number of plants reasonably closely to the length of hedge being planted.

Golden Tree Daisy Hedge Plant Calculator

Choose your desired finished hedge height and find the approximate number of Golden Tree Daisy (Shawia solandri) plants required for the length of your hedge.

How to use the table: Decide how tall you intend to maintain your Golden Tree Daisy hedge, then use the corresponding row to estimate the number of plants required. The figures are rounded up to the next whole plant so there are enough plants to complete the hedge.

For hedge lengths not shown, use:

Hedge length in metres ÷ plant spacing in metres = number of plants required

For example, a 12 m hedge maintained at around 1.5 m tall, using our suggested 75 cm spacing, requires approximately 16 Golden Tree Daisy plants.

These figures are intended for continuous clipped or lightly clipped hedges. Larger, looser plantings intended primarily for wind protection should use our separate Golden Tree Daisy shelter and shelterbelt spacing guide.

Planting a Golden Tree Daisy hedge

Good establishment is much more important than complicated planting techniques.

Start by marking out the line of the hedge and removing competing grass and weeds. This is particularly important with young plants because established grass can compete strongly for both moisture and nutrients.

Set the plants out along the line at the chosen spacing before you start digging. This lets you make small adjustments and ensures the plants are distributed evenly across the full length of the hedge.

Plant each Golden Tree Daisy at approximately the same soil level it was growing at in its pot. Firm the soil around the root ball and water thoroughly after planting.

A layer of mulch can help suppress weeds and retain soil moisture, although mulch should not be piled directly around the stems.

Good drainage is important, and sunny open conditions generally suit Golden Tree Daisy well.

The first stage is simply about getting every plant growing strongly. A hedge will only ever be as good as the individual plants from which it is built.

Start shaping your Golden Tree Daisy hedge while it is young

A common mistake with hedges is to let the plants race upwards until they reach the desired final height and only then start clipping them.

If you want a dense hedge, it is better to encourage branching while the plants are developing.

Light formative trimming encourages the plant to produce more side growth. Those branches eventually meet the branches of neighbouring plants and begin creating the continuous structure of the hedge.

The objective during the early stages isn't to create a perfectly finished hedge. It is to progressively build the dense framework that will eventually become the mature hedge.

This is particularly important near the bottom. A hedge that is dense at 1.5 m but open and bare near ground level isn't providing the boundary or screening most people wanted in the first place.

How to clip a Golden Tree Daisy hedge

Once established, the amount of clipping depends partly on the look you want.

For a more conventional hedge, clip the sides and top regularly enough to maintain the chosen dimensions and encourage dense branching.

For a softer native appearance, clip less aggressively. Control the overall height and width but allow small shoots and minor variations in the outline to remain.

This works particularly well with Golden Tree Daisy (Shawia solandri) because its natural growth isn't perfectly uniform. Allowing a little of that character to show can produce a hedge that looks deliberately maintained without looking artificially perfect.

Lightly clipped or tightly clipped?

There isn't one correct way for a Golden Tree Daisy hedge to look.

A more tightly clipped hedge creates a stronger architectural line. This can work well along a driveway, beside a path or where the hedge is intended to function almost like a living fence.

A lightly clipped hedge has a softer appearance. The overall height and width are still controlled, but the outline is allowed to become slightly irregular between trims. Small shoots extend beyond the main body of the hedge and more of Golden Tree Daisy's natural branching remains visible.

For native gardens in particular, this can be a very attractive compromise. You still have the practical benefits of a hedge without forcing a naturally loose native shrub into an excessively formal shape.

Keeping a Golden Tree Daisy hedge dense

Density is something you build over time.

Early formative clipping helps encourage branching rather than simply height. As the hedge develops, regular light trimming can then maintain that branching structure.

Try to avoid creating a hedge that becomes excessively broad across the top while remaining narrow underneath. Keeping light reaching the lower portions of the plants helps maintain foliage closer to ground level.

Good growing conditions also matter. Keep weeds and grass away from young plants, make sure they have adequate moisture while establishing and provide appropriate nutrition where required.

If a young plant fails completely, replacing it relatively early is usually better than allowing the neighbouring plants to compensate for a permanent hole.

Golden Tree Daisy as a screening hedge

Screening is one of the most useful functions of a Golden Tree Daisy hedge.

At around 1–1.5 m, it can obscure a fence, create separation between neighbouring properties, soften the edge of a driveway or provide some privacy around an outdoor area without necessarily creating a very tall wall.

The fine branching becomes increasingly effective as neighbouring plants grow together and the hedge develops density.

How much screening you want can also influence how you clip it. A tightly managed hedge creates a more defined visual barrier, while a lightly clipped hedge creates a softer screen that blends more naturally into the surrounding garden.

Hedge or shelterbelt – what's the difference?

Golden Tree Daisy can be managed in quite different ways depending on the space available and the job you want it to do.

A hedge is the most controlled form. Plants are regularly clipped and deliberately restricted in both height and width, often to around 1–1.5 m. This works particularly well in urban gardens where Golden Tree Daisy is being used as a boundary, driveway edge, garden division or privacy screen.

There is also a useful in-between option.

Golden Tree Daisy can be lightly clipped or semi-clipped, keeping the planting reasonably contained while allowing more of its natural loose, layered branching and irregular outline to develop. This creates a softer, more natural-looking boundary than a conventional hedge and suits people who want structure and screening without a heavily manicured appearance.

A shelter or shelterbelt sits at the other end of the scale. Plants are left unclipped or only occasionally managed and are allowed to grow much larger and closer to their natural size and form. This is generally more appropriate on farms and lifestyle properties where the objective is substantial wind protection, boundary shelter and screening rather than a compact, shaped hedge.

The same Golden Tree Daisy can therefore range from a tightly managed urban hedge, through a lightly clipped naturalistic boundary, to a large loose shelter planting. The important differences are the amount of space provided and how heavily the plant's natural growth is restricted.

For larger rural plantings, see our Golden Tree Daisy for Shelter and Shelterbelts guide.

Golden Tree Daisy compared with conventional hedge plants

One of the attractions of Golden Tree Daisy is that it doesn't look exactly like every other hedge.

Its fine foliage and twiggy branching create texture rather than a broad, glossy wall of leaves. Its green-gold colouring gives it a softer appearance, while its small flowers add seasonal interest.

It is also a genuine New Zealand native with a natural ability to cope with exposed conditions.

That makes it particularly interesting where the objective isn't simply to create the neatest possible green rectangle. Golden Tree Daisy can still provide the practical functions of a hedge – boundary definition, screening and separation – while retaining considerably more native character.

For gardeners who prefer a very formal, perfectly manicured hedge, there are other species that naturally lend themselves to that appearance. But where toughness, texture and a slightly more natural aesthetic are priorities, Golden Tree Daisy offers something quite different.

Is Golden Tree Daisy the right native hedge for your garden?

Golden Tree Daisy is particularly worth considering if you want a native hedge for a windy, exposed or coastal property, or simply want something with more natural character than a conventional suburban hedge.

It can be maintained as a relatively neat, defined boundary or clipped more lightly to retain its characteristic layered growth. It can provide privacy and screening, define a property boundary or soften fences and driveways while remaining at a practical residential scale.

The trade-off is that Golden Tree Daisy naturally wants to become considerably larger than a 1–1.5 m hedge. Choosing it for this purpose means accepting that clipping and shaping are part of its ongoing management.

For many properties, that is a worthwhile exchange. You get the toughness and character of a larger New Zealand native shrub while keeping it within dimensions that work in an urban garden.

Buying Golden Tree Daisy for a hedge

Greenmachine supplies Golden Tree Daisy – Shawia solandri as young plants suitable for establishing in quantity. Using smaller plants can make longer hedge projects considerably more economical, particularly where dozens of plants are required to complete a boundary.

Before ordering, measure the total length of your proposed hedge and use the recommended spacing to calculate approximately how many plants you need.

You can then choose the Greenmachine quantity or hedge pack that most closely matches your project.

Shop Golden Tree Daisy - Shawia solandri

For more information about the plant itself, including its natural growth, flowers and wider landscape uses, see our Complete Guide to Golden Tree Daisy – Shawia solandri.

For larger, less restricted planting on farms and lifestyle properties, see Golden Tree Daisy for Shelter and Shelterbelts.

Shawia solandri or Olearia solandri – why are there two names?

Golden Tree Daisy has traditionally been known as Olearia solandri, and this name remains widely used in nurseries, gardening information and older botanical references.

The botanical classification of the plant has changed, with Golden Tree Daisy now placed in the genus Shawia and known as Shawia solandri. Greenmachine therefore predominantly uses Shawia solandri in our current plant information while retaining references to Olearia solandri so that people familiar with the older name can still easily identify and find the plant.

So if you encounter Shawia solandri or Olearia solandri, both names refer to the plant commonly known as Golden Tree Daisy.