Olearia traversii - Daisy Bush

Olearia traversii is one of the best evergreen bushes for creating effective screens by the sea. Its beautiful dense foliage, with a shiny dark green colour, reveals a silvery underside that shines in the sun when the wind blows. Despite its numerous small summer flowers, which are a slightly greyish-white, it is its foliage and fast growth that make it attractive. Hardy down to -8° C (17.6° F), it tolerates drought and poor soils, but requires a sunny exposure.

Olearia traversii is a beautiful fast-growing bushy shrub with a conical and upright habit, reaching 5 m (16.4 ft) in height and 3 m (9.8 ft) in width. It belongs to the Asteraceae family and is found in the wild in the Chatham Islands, east of New Zealand. It can be found in various habitats in nature: thickets, swamps, coastal areas or riverbanks, and forests. Its angular and hairy branches bear entire undulate leaves, 4 cm to 6 cm (1.6 in to 2.4 in) long and 3 cm to 5 cm (1.2 in to 2 in) wide. They are dark green and glossy on the top, distinctly covered with a white-silver felting on the underside. The abundant flowering takes place in June-July, in the form of pleasantly scented panicles grouping many small capitula resembling small daisies, with a dirty white to greyish-white colour.

Hardy down to about -10° C (14° F), Olearia traversii will naturally find its place in a seaside garden, where it will form a protective screen in the front line for more delicate plants in the garden. In a medium-sized hedge, it can be used alone or with other evergreen bushes such as bushy ceanothus ('Italian Skies', 'Concha', 'Puget Blue', 'Skylark'), Atriplex halimus, Anthyllis barba-jovis, Hippophae rhamnoides, Elaeagnus angustifolia 'Caspica', or Artemisia arborescens.