Dodonaea is a very useful shrub, it grows in heavy to dappled shade and also in full sun, it is a fast growing species that prunes and clips well and it is thick and therefore provides excellent privacy.

Dodonaea viscosa purpurea is seen above with its striking red foliage, the leaves turn this colour when the shrub gets lots of sun. This species is planted here in an extremely exposed position and you can see the shade cloth that has been erected on the fence to try and provide the hedge with some relief from the coastal winds.

It is coping beautifully and provides wonderful contrasting back drop to the Angophora forest behind it. This hedge has been in for about 18 months.

And now for Dodonaea ‘Mr Green Screen’, seen here not he other side of the property growing in a very narrow garden bed along a driveway. This planting gets fairly heavy shade at some points however I have noticed it hasn’t affected the growth of the hedge.

The lower parts of the driveway hedge get a few hours more sun than up closer to the house however the rate of growth seems to be the same! now thats what I want a hedge to do.

These Dodonaea ‘Mr Green Screen’ were put in a little under 18moths ago and they were tiny little grow tubes, some of them only had 4 or 5 leaves, look at them now. This is one of my favourite hedging plants, I love its simplicity and its upright stems, it looks quite soft from a distance but has fairly glossy leaves when you get up close, it is a VERY under-rated native plant, give it a go.