Family Tamaricaceae
Originating from Southeast Europe
Received the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.
- Scale-like green leaves sway on slender branches, forming airy thickets.
- Pink tassel flowers bloom profusely in late spring.
- Salt-tolerant and drought-resistant shrub thriving in sun and poor soil.
Tamarisk in Your Garden
Feathery tamarisk pink blooms dance like clouds, making a unique and dramatic display. Their highly mobile branches form a tree-like shrub, supporting a haze of dreamy soft-textured foliage and flowers. Its supple branches are perfect for the challenges of maritime climates found in North Norfolk and Suffolk’s seaside gardens.
A hardy shrub, suitable for all UK gardens, it reaches 4m high and wide in 10–20 years. Forming a loose, deciduous canopy, it is often multi-stemmed, growing wider than it is tall. It is perfect for Mediterranean as well as traditional English-style gardens.
Tamarix tetrandra’s cascading pink tassels sway on near-black, whip-like branches, offering an irresistible late spring feast for pollinators. Easily trimmed to accentuate its wide canopy form, it casts light shade and makes an architectural centrepiece, ideal for underplanting.
Growing Tips for Your Tamarisk Shrub, Tamarix tetrandra
- Soil and Sun: Plant in well-drained, poor soil; full sun suits.
- Planting: Set in spring, plunging the root ball before planting to thoroughly drench.
- Watering: Water regularly in its first summer to establish roots, minimally thereafter; once established, it tolerates drought.
- Pruning: Trim after flowering to shape; hard prune in spring.
Easy to grow in well-drained, poor soil in full sun, it’s ideal for loose hedging in UK seaside gardens. It makes an important addition to wildlife and dry gardens, a boon for water-wise gardeners. A low-maintenance, yet rewarding plant, it makes perfect low windbreaks and screens, blending an elegant, breezy charm with practicality.
Planting Ideas for Tamarisk
Create a coastal composition of cool swaying and airy plants. Miscanthus giganteus, ‘Strictus’, and ‘Malepartus’ and Arundo donax’s towering forms enclose an oasis of calm. Highly mobile and rustling in the slightest breeze, they add sound and complement the billowing tamarisk crown. Add lower-growing Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’, ‘Red Chief’, and ‘Little Zebra’ to complete the filamentous fiesta of foliage.
Celebrate Tamarix tetrandra’s profusion of pink. Plant perennials Achillea ‘Pretty Belinda’, Erigeron ‘Sea Breeze’, Osteospermum jucundum Compactum, and Salvia ‘Wendy’s Wish’ to create a rosy riot. Add a splash of purple to spice things up with Osteospermum ‘Nairobi Purple’, Verbena bonariensis, and Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’.
