Westringia brevifolia Lilac and Lace

Position. Full sun by the SA Plant Selector+; full sun to light shade by Gardening with Angus.

Soil and water. The Plant Selector+ lists clay, loam and sand of any pH, and lime, with minimal supplementary watering, and ticks drought; Gardening with Angus says most soils suit it, from dry to moist.

Coast, wind and frost. The Plant Selector+ says it tolerates moderate coastal exposure, salt spray, soil salinity and moderate frost; Gardening with Angus calls it a good plant for coastal gardens that takes wind and light frosts. Neither gives a frost figure in degrees.

Pruning. It responds to heavy pruning, by the Plant Selector+; Gardening with Angus says pruning keeps it smaller and makes it denser.

Flowering. Gardening with Angus gives a long season: late winter to late summer in its text, and summer, autumn and winter in its plant table. The Plant Selector+ ticks summer and winter.

Gardening with Angus lists Lilac and Lace for low hedging and topiary and for coastal gardens, and its plant table adds screens and windbreaks. The SA Plant Selector+ suggests it for screens, barriers and informal hedges where traffic and maintenance are low, as a feature in native plantings or behind larger mixed beds, and notes that birds, native butterflies and insects come to it. No reference read gives a planting distance for a hedge.

It is listed under its cultivar name, written Lilac & Lace by the SA Plant Selector+; it is a form of Westringia brevifolia, of which the Australian Plant Census treats Westringia raleighii and Westringia brevifolia var. raleighii as synonyms. Gardening with Angus calls it coastal rosemary, so read the botanical name on each line before comparing growers. The table above shows the sizes growers list. What to look for in the roots, the stem and canopy and for pests before stock leaves the grower is set out in the guide to nursery plant quality. Stock moving between states travels under the state and territory biosecurity rules like any other plant.