Atractocarpus fitzalanii

Native gardenia carries deep glossy leaves in neat tiers and, through the warm months, white star-shaped flowers with the true gardenia perfume, heavy in the evening, carrying well across a courtyard. Yellow-orange fruit follows and holds on the tree, and the whole plant stays dense to the ground without much intervention.

In the landscape

Its manners are the point: dense, slow and clean, which makes it one of the better native alternatives to clipped exotics. It works as a formal hedge or screen at 1.5–2 m centres, as a courtyard specimen where the scent can be appreciated at close range, as a matched pair flanking an entry, or as an understorey layer beneath larger rainforest canopy. It takes clipping well and pairs comfortably with philodendron, ferns and other broad-leaved shade planting.

Growing notes

Evergreen. A tropical and subtropical rainforest species, best suited to Queensland and coastal New South Wales as far south as sheltered Sydney gardens; it is not frost hardy and should not be planted where frost settles. Give it moist, humus-rich, well-drained soil in part shade to full sun, with supplementary water through dry spells. Growth is slow to moderate. In the ground expect roughly 4–8 m tall by 3–4 m wide.

This tree

• Currently standing: 96 trees

Field-grown ex-ground at Donkin Farm, Utchee Creek, root-pruned and basket-lifted, delivered and craned Australia-wide. Price on application through the Shortlist.