Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ with a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly.

We all need some sunshine, especially on a dull and damp December day.

Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ provides cheer during the winter with its mass of evergreen, greyish, ovate leaves backed with white felt. It then provides an extra treat in June and July with its yellow daisy flowers (hence the name ‘Daisy Bush’). It is a popular garden shrub and was one of my Dad’s favourites, so I have fond memories of it from early childhood.

My Dad knew Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ as Senecio greyi, which has now been reclassified as Brachyglottis greyi. This is a native of New Zealand’s North Island, where it grows on rocky outcrops on the coast in hot sunny places with poor soils, eventually forming mounds up to 2 metres (6.5 feet) tall and 1.8 metres (6 feet) wide. It is a member of the Asteraceae, the daisy family (note 1).

However, Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ is not pure Brachyglottis greyi, but one of the Dunedin Hybrids, the result of crosses originating in horticulture early in the twentieth century between three New Zealand species of Brachyglottis. The parent species are described on the NZ Flora website: Brachyglottis greyi, Brachyglottis laxifolia, and Brachyglottis compacta. B. laxifolia and B. compacta are shorter than B. greyi – both only grow to 1 metre (3.3 feet) tall.

Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ is a very adaptable garden plant. It is given a hardiness rating of H4 on the RHS website (hardy through most of the UK, -10 to -5 degrees Celsius) and likes sun or semi-shade on a variety of soils. It does is especially well where the soil is well drained. In our north-facing back garden it is doing well on sandy loam, where it is in the sun during the afternoon. When I was growing up, it also thrived in our gardens in North-east Scotland (slightly acidic loam) and the West Midlands (clay).

The shrub is also very tolerant of exposed seaside places and can be grown as a windbreak. My grandmother grew large and luxuriant specimens in her seaside garden on Anglesey in North Wales (note 2). From my own experience it is drought tolerant and doesn’t get damaged by slugs and snails. It is also resistant to deer and usually free of any pests or diseases. Low branches sometimes root and can be used to propagate new plants; it’s easy to take cuttings too.

It will spread out sideways to form a wide, low bush but it can be kept in check (or in a neater shape, perhaps as a hedge) by a regular prune during the growing season. The RHS website gives pruning instructions (pruning Group 8). If you just want the foliage, it is possible to remove the flowers, though for me they are a major part of the plant’s attraction.

Although it isn’t a native British species, Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ has been become naturalised in parts of the British Isles in the last thirty years, particularly in grassy places, on rough ground and in sand dunes. The plant is not edible and has no known medicinal uses, according to the Plants for a Future website.

For a non-native, it is a surprisingly good plant for wildlife. Butterflies (such as the Small Tortoiseshell pictured above) and hoverflies will visit the flowers and because the plant is a dense evergreen it is a favoured overwintering place for other insects. On warm days in spring in our back garden, Gorse Shieldbugs (Piezodorus lituratus) bask and sometimes mate on the leaves. Our Dunnocks (Prunella modularis) take advantage of this insect life by hunting on the ground beneath the branches.

Gorse Shieldbugs on the leaves of Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’.

Notes

Note 1 – I have already written about other members of the Asteraceae, including Oxeye Daisy, Pineapple Weed, Gallant Soldier, Dandelion, Mexican Fleabane, Nodding Bur-Marigold and Bristly Oxtongue. I give more information on the family and the structure of their flowers in my post on Nodding Bur-Marigold.

Note 2 – My grandmother’s Brachyglottis bushes seemed to tower high above me, but I was only a child so they were probably no more than 1.8 metres (six feet) tall.