Libertia Taupo Sunset
Notify MeColour is the point of this one. 'Taupo Sunset' is a New Zealand native selection with narrow upright leaves that start green and take on gold, copper and deep orange tones, strongest through winter and strongest again in full sun. Small white star-shaped flowers appear from October to January, followed by orange seed capsules. The plant holds its shape as a tight fan of blades year round.
Warm foliage colour that lasts twelve months is rare, and it makes this useful for the front of a border, mass planting on a bank, a coastal or contemporary garden, or a pot on a deck. It reads well beside grey and green natives such as coprosma, hebe and carex, and picks up the tones in bronze phormium.
Grow it in full sun for the best colour, in free-draining soil. Shade turns the leaves green and the plant loose. It comes from coastal dune country and handles salt wind and sandy soil well. Worth knowing before planting: the species spreads by thin underground stolons and sends up new fans at a distance, so it will slowly colonise ground it likes.
Reaches around 0.5 m tall and 0.5 m across, spreading further over time.
Trimming: No cutting back is needed and shearing spoils the fan of blades. Pull dead leaves out by hand once or twice a year, and remove spent flower stems at the base. Lift and replant stolons that have travelled too far.
Deadheading: Cut the flower stems off once the seed capsules colour and dry, or leave them, as the orange capsules are part of the appeal through late summer.
Fertilising: A light general fertiliser in spring is enough. Rich feeding produces greener, softer growth and washes out the copper tones the plant is grown for.
Watering: Water through the first summer while it establishes. After that it copes with dry sandy ground, though it looks better with occasional deep watering in a long dry spell.
Pest Control: Very few problems. Slugs and snails may graze new fans in a wet spring, and mealybugs can hide down in the leaf bases of container plants.
Disease Management: Root rot in heavy, poorly drained soil is the main risk. Plant on a mound in clay and keep mulch away from the crowns, which need air at the base.
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