Tamarisk

Tamarisk: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Airy shrub of 2–5 m with long, pliable, often arching branches.

Leaf

Tiny (1–4 mm), scale-like, grey-green leaves that overlap around the thin twigs, as in a cypress; the finest twigs fall in autumn together with the leaves.

Shoots

Long, slender, purplish-brown to reddish-brown shoots.

Flower

Dense spikes of small pink flowers, gathered into plumes: in May on last year’s wood (such as Tamarix tetrandra) or from July to September on new shoots (such as Tamarix ramosissima).

Fruit

Small capsules with fluffy seeds.

Difference from heather

Heather is a low, evergreen dwarf shrub of heathland with equally tiny scale leaves and lilac bells.

Flowering: May–August · Pruning: March and June

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Heather Calluna vulgaris: a low, evergreen dwarf shrub of heathland with equally tiny scale leaves and lilac bells. Difference from heather

Why grow it?

• Tolerates sea wind, salt and drought: one of the best shrubs for coastal gardens.
• Clouds of pink plumes, in May or in summer, depending on the species.
• Bees and butterflies visit the flowers.
• Airy in shape: it breaks the wind without becoming a dark wall.

Tamarisk: where does it grow best?

• Full sun; in shade it hardly flowers and grows floppy.
• Dry to average, free-draining soil, such as sand; salty soil too.
• Allow 3 m width.
• Ideal as a windbreak, informal hedge or specimen in a coastal garden; inland too, in a sunny, sandy spot.

Light

Full sun

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Dry

Size

4 m tall, 3 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Sea buckthorn: Silver-grey leaves and orange berries, just as resistant to sea wind and salt.
• Burnet rose: A low, native coastal rose with white flowers, for the foot of the shrub.
• Oleaster: Evergreen and wind-hardy: together a windbreak that also gives shelter in winter.
• English lavender: A sunny, dry spot in purple and pink, full of bees.

Good and bad companions

Best kept away from

• Do not plant under the dense crown of these trees: norway spruce, european silver fir, nordmann fir, douglas fir, yew, horse chestnut, norway maple, sycamore

Tamarisk: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from a pot in spring or early autumn.
2. For an informal hedge or windbreak: 1–2 plants per metre.
3. Plant at the same depth as in the pot, firm the soil well and water in dry spells during the first year.
4. By the sea, a stake helps a young plant stay upright for the first few years.

Care

Watering

In dry spells during the first year; after that it copes even in dry summers.

Feeding

Not needed; on rich soil it grows too floppy.

Shape

Regular pruning keeps it dense and compact; otherwise it falls apart.

Salt and wind

It copes well with sea wind and salt; cut off any scorched shoot tips after a storm at the next pruning.

Tip: By the sea, a mixed hedge of tamarisk, sea buckthorn and oleaster is stronger than a hedge of one species: the tamarisk flowers, the sea buckthorn bears berries and the oleaster keeps its leaves in winter.

Tamarisk: when to prune it?

Pruning months: March and June.

When: Summer-flowering species (such as Tamarix ramosissima) in March; spring-flowering species (such as T. tetrandra) straight after flowering, in June.

How:

• Summer-flowering species flower on new wood: in March, cut last year’s shoots back hard, close to the older wood.
• On spring-flowering species, cut the flowered shoots back hard to a young shoot after flowering.
• An old, bare shrub can be cut back hard; it will regrow.

Caution: Not sure which tamarisk you have? Look at when it flowers: flowers in May mean pruning in June, flowers in summer mean pruning in March.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Hardwood cuttings

In winter, push 20–30 cm lengths of one-year-old shoots into sandy soil; they root easily.

Semi-ripe cuttings

In summer, take semi-ripe cuttings and root them under plastic.

Tamarisk: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Hardy; the finest twigs fall in autumn together with the leaves.
• In winter it stands bare, with long, reddish-brown shoots; prune summer-flowering species only in March.

Diseases and pests

• Bare, floppy shrub: Without pruning it becomes long and bare and falls apart. Prune every year, and now and then cut an old shrub back hard.
• Wind-blown: A tall, sparse shrub gets blown askew by the sea wind. Keep it compact by pruning, and stake young plants.
• Few flowers: Too much shade, or pruned at the wrong time. Plant it in full sun and prune according to its flowering time.

Through the year

• March: Prune summer-flowering species; planting.
• May: Spring-flowering species in flower.
• June: After flowering: prune spring-flowering species.
• July: Summer-flowering species start to flower.
• August: Summer-flowering species in flower, full of bees and butterflies.
• September: Last plumes; planting.
• December: Take hardwood cuttings.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Airy windbreak or hedge for sunny, sandy coastal gardens; tolerates sea wind and salt.

For wildlife

Bees and butterflies visit the flower plumes.

Did you know?

• Tamarisks tolerate salt so well that they excrete the excess through glands in their leaves: sometimes you can see salt crystals on the twigs.
• In the south-western United States, tamarisks are a notorious invasive pest along rivers; here they do not spread into the wild.
• There are dozens of species; in gardens you mainly see Tamarix tetrandra and Tamarix ramosissima.