Tetradenia riparia is a sparse, aromatic, woody shrub with large, hairy leaves, the entire plant has a soft velvety texture. The flowers borne in winter in masses on branches are a pale mauve colour and seem to overwhelm the plant in flowering season. Flowering can continue in smaller quantities throughout the year. It must be planted in groups as the plants are some male which bears the masses of flowers and some plants are female which has sparse flowering displays. It has a rapid growth of about 800mm/year.
Tetradenia riparia is not ideal for hedges as it rarely makes a dense screen. It looks lovely planted next to a pond or water feature or inter-planted with other shrubs for a forest clump; it responds well to vigorous pruning and is very drought resistant but only moderately resistant to frost.
You may find stock of this plant at Random Harvest.
