San Marcos says "Has proven a little problematic in hotter inland locations with summer heat."

There is one in our neighborhood that is very beautiful, and a few that are not beautiful. Much cooler here than the SFV, though we get horrendous Santa Ana winds.

What about say Agonis flexuosa 'After Dark' instead. More of a heat lover. Or Heteromeles arbutifolia, or Arbutus unedo, or Crape myrtle?

Great responses and suggestions.
I'm not going for the silver sheen tree, but instead a hedge.
Using this guy: http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/images/pitess24.jpg (would have posted a photo, but don't know how to do that).
I like that it is light and airy and has the silver/gray leaves with a lot of movement.
Thanks again for your feed back.

They do well here in south OC. They look especially good when back lit by the afternoon sun. Mine were hedges that became trees. Every year or 2 the gardeners will top them which makes then bushier.

Nice. What is it?

Live in Ventura, CA
Growing as trees but now dropping leaves. Trying to find cause & remedy.
Will appreciate any help.

Hoovb, I believe that is pittosporum tenuifolium Marjorie Channon. I killed one off a couple of years ago. Hard to do, I know.
As for Silver Sheen, I have two of them along a patio wall. I limbed them up into trees deliberately to hide the magnificently ugly and very tall yellow house next door, and a fine job they're doing of it, too. That said, they are messy. I'm grateful to hosenemesis for mentioning that they tend to drop their leaves at high temperature. I kept thinking there was something really wrong with them, when all it is is that they're allergic to August in Pasadena. Like the rest of us.
Kay

Here is a link that might be useful: Pitto tenuifolium Marjorie Channon

I also leave in San Fernando Valley and plan to have Silver Sheen for hedging. I was wondering if RunAround can share your Silver Sheen experiences a while back.
Thank you.

I wouldn't. It's hotter in the valley than it is here in Simi Valley, and mine loses its leaves when it gets hot. I think there are better varieties now.
Renee

Very susceptible to too much organic material in the soil and too much irrigation. They can die from this within a matter of days.

Reviving and old thread .. we are thinking of planting silver sheen as a hedge (Los Angeles; West Side). Temps do (rarely) go above 100. So, what happens - are the leaves dropped immediately? Do the things drop all leaves or some or majority? How quickly do the leaves grow back? (We love the look, but we are wondering whether we would just have to live without leaves for a couple of weeks, or whethere we'll have sticks to stare at for months).

Thank you very much!

shilver sheens are all over the westside and I've never seen one drop it's leaves due to heat.

If its the same plant,It does great in the bay area as a commercial landscape plant. A local bank has a few hedged close to each other. Other then piddly watering,its thriving.

I live in the redwood zone (high rainfall) and have many of the plain green leaved pittosporums which do just fine here. They are never irrigated, of course, but get plenty of water. Downside-- I have a seeder and there are seedlings everywhere in my neighborhood. I'd suggest getting a 1-gallon size as they grow like weeds and it would be an unnecessary expense to start w/the 5 gallon imho.

I live in Newport Beach and have three 15 feet tall Silver Sheen Piitosporum trees. I want to transplant them but my landscaper says they will not survive. Is that true?

Would appreciate any recommendations for fertilizer and/or mulch to use for Silver Sheen Pittosporum hedges. I read somewhere you can use the trimmings from clipping the plants as fertilizer (lay them around the plants on top of the soil around the plants) which I did about three weeks ago and that its also a good idea to add some gypsum around the root base to help with irrigation and control Phytophthora mold. I also purchased a few bags of “Kellogg Garden Gardeners Walk on Bark” which I plan to use to cover the soil around the plants and wanted to know if this would be harmful of beneficial to Silver Sheen Pittosporum? I planted about 30 of these as a privacy hedge in April in Altadena and on the whole they seem to be growing pretty well. However, I noticed a week or so ago one plant is starting to loose leaves at the bottom (although all still have plenty of new growth at the top and on the sides). Ref. picture attached. I water them with a drip system 3 times a week for 15 minutes and then every two or three over the summer I have given them a good soak with the hose which they seem to respond well too (I would say our soil is definitely on the sandy side and dries out quickly). Thanks you for your help!

I'm in North County San Diego, inland far enough that we hit 100 quite a few times over the summer and have weeklong heat waves of upper 90s. I have half a dozen Silver Sheens, 4 years old now, scattered around our lot. I've never had them drop their leaves during heatwaves, though they will let you know right away if they aren't getting enough water (one died when our drip irrigation went out two summers ago, and one barely made it). The happiest ones are in dappled shade for most of the day, full sun for a few hours before sundown, and very sparingly watered via drip. I like the way they look when they grow naturally so I haven't pruned them at all, and they are about 8-10 feet now, absolutely gorgeous. They really do do the "sparkle" thing :-) I'd say that if you have an intensely hot/dry climate, they might do better with whatever bit of shade you can give them. The wall might help. Also, definitely shop around; I've seen them go for $10/5 gal in some places, $30 in others for the same size.

I spoke with a nursery and they said Silver Sheens require the soil to be prepared before planting, otherwise you will have die out within a year. Also, they prefer sandy soils if that helps!

I am looking to buy 8 plants to add to two that are currently 12 feet tall or so to provide a privacy screen. My gardener recommended the 15 gallon, which are quite expensive. Do you think I'm better off just buying 5 gallons and waiting for them to grow tall?

I would hate to spend a bunch of money for them to die out as our summers in the South Bay are getting hotter and hotter! (Like everywhere else!)

Yes I would definitely get the smaller ones. With most plants in general, the smaller they are (to a point) the more quickly they adapt, quickly catching up to where your bigger transplant would be and then overtaking it.

That said, growing a uniform hesge of anything is hard enough, let alone adding plants later that may have been raised in different colors ditions,are being planted out in different conditions, etc. If you only have 2 right now, would you be open to more of a mixed hedge? It wouldn't look odd that 8 of your 10 silver sheen are smaller/different, and add more visual interest anyway. The gorgeous color is such a wonderful contrast to just about anything other plant. :-)

get more of the same and stick them in there since these two have done so well. I just know I don’t want to stare at my neighbors house anymore!! Lol

i like the look of Bay Laurel and they seem hardy but would that look strange to have that in between? I need something that won’t be too messy as the neighbor has a pool so I don’t want to upset him!

Yes, I would say just go with the smaller ones. Ours grew much faster than we thought and filled in pretty well after a year. Here are some before and after photos. We did loose one hedge at the end of last summer most likely due to extreme heat (It gets hot out here in Altadena!) but the shade definately helps (we have a large tree that thankfluy takes care of this for us). We were worried that they may not fill in enough to offer much privacy but they have worked out great. (especially given that the planting area is under 2ft wide and we have to keep them trimmed tight to keep them off the sidewalk).