Four-Stamen Tamarisk Hedge Plants

Tamarix Tetrandra Hedging

Delivered by Mail Order Direct from our Nursery with a Year Guarantee

The Tamarisk tree, Tamarix tetrandra, is a great coastal hedging plant or large ornamental shrub.
Tamarisk will reach 8 metres if it grows freely as a tree.

Tamarisk hedge plants are only delivered bareroot, during winter (Nov-March).
All our hedge plants are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).

View our selection of coastal hedging plants or see our full range of hedging.

Spacing a Tamarisk hedge:

Plant Tamarisk hedging at 3 plants per metre, 33cm apart.

General description of Tamarisk plants:

Tamarisk, Tamarix tetrandra, is a large shrub or small tree. It produces masses of little pink flowers in May and June that are often likened to coral. It is a good hedge plant for seaside areas but we think it is at its best when it is allowed to grow freely as a specimen shrub, when it can be pruned hard immediately after flowering to encourage lots of beautiful plumes of new growth the following year.

History & uses of Tamarix tetrandra:

Tamarisk is a Mediterranean and Arabian plant that was brought to Britain in 1821. In 2002, it won the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Growing Tamarisk plants:
An excellent wind resister, it grows well in exposed or coastal areas and grow on the beach with it roots in salt water. It is also fine inland, as long as it has full sun and the soil drainage is good, although it won't grow on chalk.

Prepare your site before planting:
It is good to dig over the area where you plant a hedge several months in advance, especially if the soil is poor. Destroy the weeds first: nettles, brambles and ground elder are tough and a glyphosate based weed-killer is the best way to remove them. Then dig the soil over; remove rocks, roots and other rubbish. Mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades. If your soil is rich, you don't have to dig it over, but killing all the weeds is still necessary.

Watch our video on how to plant a garden hedge for full details. The plants in this video are delivered pot-grown, but planting out bareroot stock is essentially the same.
Remember to water establishing plants during dry weather for at least a year after planting.

Hedge Planting Accessories:
Prepare your site for planting by killing the weeds and grass with Neudorff WeedFree Plus.
You can buy a hedge planting pack with sheets of mulch fabric and pegs to hold it down.
If you are planting in an area with rabbit and/or deer, you will need to use a plastic spiral guard for each plant, supported by a bamboo cane.
If your soil quality is poor, we recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of new trees and shrubs.
You can also improve your soil with bonemeal organic fertiliser and Growmore.

After Care

After you have planted your Tamarisk hedge, the most important thing to do is water it in dry weather. You will also need to weed around the plants. Watering should be thorough, so the ground is soaked. Let the soil almost dry out before watering again. Watering & weeding will be necessary for at least a year after planting.

Trimming Tamarisk hedge plants:
Tamarisk is naturally bushy, so it doesn't need any clipping at all in its first year. In the winter of the year after planting, your young hedge should be trimmed lightly and every winter after that until it is mature. When it is fully grown, you can clip it at anytime.

Special notes on caring for Tamarisk hedges:
Tamarisk is a very tough hedge plant that shouldn't need special attention once it has established. If you didn't use a mulch fabric, it is beneficial to mulch around the base of the hedge each year.

Hygiene & Diseases:
Dead, damaged or diseased wood can be pruned off as soon as it appears.
Disinfect your pruning tools between every cut if there is any sign of disease.
Burn or dispose of any diseased material, do not compost it.