small native trees
Looking to add beauty and biodiversity to your garden with small native trees? In New Zealand gardens, small native trees offer the perfect solution for compact spaces, urban backyards, and areas where shelter, privacy, and birdlife are all priorities. These resilient species have adapted to our unique environment, bringing year-round interest, low maintenance requirements, and ecological benefits right to your doorstep. Whether you’re landscaping a modern courtyard, refreshing an established garden, or starting a nature-friendly planting project, there are small native trees to suit every situation.
Prumnopitys taxifolia (Matai)
Prumnopitys taxifolia, commonly known as Matai or Black Pine, is a stately, NZ native tree with quite different juvenile and adult forms. The juvenile form has orange branches held with a tangled appearance and silver-coloured foliage. The tree eventually develops dense, yellow-green foliage and distinctive hammer mark patterns on the trunk. It typically grows to 10 m tall and 6 m wide in 10 years, but will eventually reach 25-30 m tall after several more decades. The different forms make Prumnopitys taxifolia both an unusual and attractive plant that is ideal for including in a mixed planting in a large garden or for using in a native revegetation project.
From $329.63
Magnolia Amethyst Flame (Amethyst Flame Magnolia Tree)
Magnolia Amethyst Flame is a smaller tree that bears masses of large and showy, bright red-purple flowers in late winter and early spring on the naked stems, before the foliage emerges. It typically grows to 2.5 m tall and 1.5 m wide and can be trimmed as necessary. Magnolia Amethyst Flame is commonly grown as a specimen, added to a mixed planting, included in cottage gardens, planted around outdoor living areas, or used line or border an entrance.
