Acmena is a genus of shrubs and small trees in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. I wouldn’t normally bore you with such a tedious piece of information, but the fact that acmenas go by many names and have many close rellies
drives gardeners mad. So when is an acmena not an acmena? When it’s a lilly pilly, a eugenia, a monkey apple or a syzgium.
Or not. Confused? Me too. Anyway, I have discovered a very clever thing to do with an acmena if you need a border, but don’t want a formal hedge. Acmena is the king of hedge plants, and while it’ll grow thick and bushy if you let it, it’ll also submit gracefully to trimming. I’m not a big fan of hedges, but The Partner loves them, and it could have been a bone of contention were it not for neighbours who have come up with the ultimate compromise. Within a thick, natural border on their boundary, they’ve planted random acmena and trimmed them like hedge plants.
If you don’t like hedges, but need to separate a property, plant and trim a number of acmenas around your fence line.
They provide a really interesting contrast to the rounded shapes of the other plants, and give the border a unique look. So The Partner can have his hedge plants, and I can have my natural plants, and we’ll end up with something that would be unique if our neighbours hadn’t thought of it first. But thank goodness they did. Marriage saved.
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