Lacebark flowers massively with clouds of blossom, as floriferous as flowering cherries, in a shimmering, soft white. The blossoms are fragrant, with a honey scent that wafts around the garden on a warm, summer day. Hoheria gets its name from houhere, the Maori name for these trees, all species being native to New Zealand.

The common names of lacebark and ribbonwood are references to the fibrous pattern under the bark. This has been woven traditionally in its native land to make hats and other items.

Hoheria is part of the mallow family, along with hollyhock, mallow, hibiscus and abutilon. Although sometimes sold as shrubs, these are small to medium garden trees.

The most widely grown hoheria is Hoheria sexstylosa. This is a magnificent, small tree, making about six metres or a bit more in 20 years.

All kinds of hoheria form bushy trees, often with several stems from the base, rarely seen with a single stem. It can be trained on a single stem and makes a shapely tree, but it does not matter greatly whether there is a single stem or several stems.

The leaves of this kind are toothed, shiny and quite narrow. It is an evergreen species, but tends to lose leaves in a windy position or in cold winter, especially at the top of the tree, when it is lashed by strong winds. And damage was done by cold east wind in spring this year. Very often new growth recurs quite quickly, but on occasion the tree dies back and might need pruning.

While the tree is upright, the outside twigs often droop, giving the tree an attractive appearance, especially when there is a wall of flowers. The starry flowers are fertile and the tree can set a lot of seeds, flowering from a young age.

Quite often seedlings can spring up around the base of a tree and these have to be taken out before they develop. They can be found usually within a couple of metres of the tree and do not constitute a great nuisance. They have a remarkable ability to grow in shade, under hedges and so on. In its wild habitat, hoheria is a quick coloniser of ground that has been made bare by a landslide or other force of nature.

Close to Hoheria sexstylosa is Hoheria populnea. The name means poplar-like and the leaves are similar to those of a small poplar leaf.

The flowers are plentiful and also starry in shape. Some kinds have a purple flush on the backs of the leaves and some exhibit blue colouring of the stamens. There is a named form, called Osbornei, which has the blue stamens – but this would be a rare plant.

Two other species, Hoheria glabrata and Hoheria lyallii are very similar, both are deciduous with broad leaves. The former carries hairless leaves, while the latter has softly hairy leaves. Both are very beautiful, fast-growing trees and carry scented flowers in large clusters on the drooping twigs. There is a hybrid called Glory of Almwch which is semi-evergreen, and carries a large show of flowers. These deciduous kinds are reputed to be more hardy than the evergreen ones, and that usually makes sense. Hoheria lyallii is considered to be more hardy. All kinds of hoheria are not fully hardy, but they only suffer in a very severe frost, and while the evergreen ones might lose leaves in a cold winter, they are generally not affected by frost damage. They need full sunshine to flower well and tend to be poor if too shaded. They like well-drained soil that does not go dry in summer. The soil should not be too rich as that tends to favour leafy growth in place of flowers. The lower branches can be pruned off as the tree makes some height. Well worth a try as they are superb where space is available. CL

Rabbit destruction

Rabbit numbers have been rising steadily for years and rabbits are now increasingly more destructive in vegetable gardens. Because of drought they were even more keen to feed on juicy vegetables as their supply of grass dwindled. Some vegetables are particularly vulnerable, such as carrots, beetroot, peas, lettuce, asparagus and salad leaves.

But some they do not touch, such as potatoes, courgettes, pumpkins and white turnips, all of which have coarse or bitter-tasting leaves. There is nothing much that can be done except to cover crops with netting or fleece, pinned down at the edges – that should be effective.

>>This week

Trees, shrubs and roses

Rambler roses should be pruned as the flowers fade, removing the shoots that have just flowered. Young trees and shrubs are doing well, although some are still suffering from the effects of the early summer drought. Despite the rain these should get a good heavy soaking. It is time to clip hedges.

Flowers

Continue watering* and feeding containers of all kind. Do not allow weeds in flower borders to develop now. Even if these borders were well weeded out earlier, there are always a few weeds that survive, often in the middle of a clump of some plant or other. Pull these before they shed seed.

Fruit, vegetables and herbs

Spray for potato blight when warnings are given. The early varieties will generally be used up before the disease harms the tubers. Remove vegetables that have gone over. Make some late sowings of lettuce and radish. If the soil is dry, especially on raised beds, most vegetables should be watered*.

Lawns

Lawns were very dry earlier but have picked up after a few weeks of broken weather. A shake of high nitrogen or lawn fertiliser could be used to set up a lawn for the rest of the summer. Keep the grass cut and the edges neat – nothing sets off summer flowers and shrubs as well as a neat lawn.

Greenhouse and houseplants

Watch for greenfly build-up – the dull weather suits them. Continue watering and feeding greenhouse plants. Be especially careful to water* plants in pots or grow-bags regularly. These can easily dry out. Train and side-shoot tomatoes and cucumbers to divert growth into the crop.