Images may show mature specimens and are provided as a guide only. As plants are living products, the size, shape and appearance of the stock supplied may vary from the images shown.
Nursery Direct
Variegated New Zealand Christmas Tree
Metrosideros excelsa ‘Variegata’
Everything is included in this price: the plant, free delivery and professional installation
The price you see is the whole job: the plant supplied, delivered free and professionally installed. Done for you.
Supplied in 45Ltypically 1.5 to 2.5m tall on delivery
Want to see the actual plant?
The photo shows this species, not the individual plant reserved for you. Send us an enquiry and we usually reply within 1 business day with photos of the actual stock available in the size you want.
Request photosGetting it in: this size needs about 900mm of clear access. Measure the narrowest point on the route and tell us on the booking call. Standard access is included in the price, and anything unusual is quoted and agreed with you before work begins. What happens on installation day
Looking for a larger size?
Sizes shown are the sizes we currently source in this species. If you need larger specimens, project quantities or a size not listed, our sourcing team can look for it through our national supplier network. We confirm your exact stock with you on the booking call before anything ships.
Send An EnquiryYou order. We do the rest.
After checkout, our team contacts you to confirm site access and book a day that suits. Most orders are delivered and planted within 2 to 4 weeks of your booking call. Nothing else for you to organise.
Registered Australian business, ABN 33 683 675 603. Public liability certificates available on request.
Product Details
Overview & Specifications
Price includes everything: the plant, free delivery and professional installation by our planting team. One price, whole job done.
Variegated New Zealand Christmas Tree - Metrosideros excelsa ‘Variegata’
This cream-margined form of the New Zealand pohutukawa, Metrosideros excelsa, carries a broad creamy-yellow edge around the grey-green centre of every leathery leaf, which keeps the canopy light and bright out of flower. Crimson brush flowers arrive in early summer.
Why the Variegated New Zealand Christmas Tree
Colour in every season: Cream-edged leaves keep the tree bright all year and lift the darker greens planted around it.
Summer flowering: Crimson stamens against the pale leaf margins give a sharper contrast than the green species manages.
House-block proportions: A more modest mature size keeps it in scale with a suburban garden where the full-sized pohutukawa would outgrow its space.
Sea-air resilience: Like the green species, it stands up to sea spray and constant onshore wind on exposed frontages.
Takes clipping: Regular trimming holds it as a dense, coloured screen, or it can be lifted onto a clean single trunk.
Ideal Applications
Beachside front garden: Set in a front lawn or gravel garden, a single specimen becomes the signature tree of a coastal home.
Variegated boundary screen: A clipped line of these gives privacy on a windy side boundary with a lighter look than a plain green hedge.
Dark-backdrop feature: The cream leaf edge shows up sharply in front of charcoal cladding, rendered walls and dark-leaved shrubs.
Salt-tolerant mixed beds: Combines with lomandra, coastal rosemary and cushion bush in beds that face the sea.
Specimen & Installation
Spacing (screening/hedge): 2.5 to 3.5m
Spacing (feature/avenue): 4 to 6m
Best Planting Season: Spring or early autumn, in a frost-free position
Soil & Drainage: Loam or coastal sand suits it, and clay will do if it drains; avoid any site where puddles sit for a day after rain
Establishment Care: For the first summer, water deeply every three or four days, easing off once autumn rain arrives, and in humid weather check new shoots for the yellow powdery spots of myrtle rust. Prune out any branch that reverts to all-green leaves, and keep the tree well away from the house, drains and pool coping, as its strong surface roots can lift paving. Pohutukawa has escaped onto coastal cliffs near Sydney and elsewhere in the south-east, so plant it on the garden side of the house rather than on a boundary with a reserve or dune.
Plant Details
Height: 4 to 6m
Width: 4 to 6m
Growth Rate: Moderate
Foliage: Evergreen; grey-green leaves with broad cream margins
Light: Full sun
Native to: New Zealand (parent species)
Flower Colour: Crimson red
Delivery & Installation
Delivery and installation are included in your price
No freight calculators and no separate installation quote for a standard installation. Your price covers specialist plant transport, positioning and professional planting by our installation team. The whole job, handled.
- Wrapped, secured and transported by specialist plant freight.
- Professionally planted, staked and finished by our install team.
- Our team confirms site access and schedules a time that suits you.
Installation
Professional installation included, never extra
Every plant we sell is planted by our professional installation team, and it's already in the price. We coordinate the delivery, the machinery and the planting for standard site access, so your only job is choosing the tree. Unusual access or engineering requirements? We'll confirm everything with you after checkout before any work begins.
Questions? Send An EnquiryWhy Nursery Direct
Every price includes supply, delivery and installation
Buying a mature tree often means three separate jobs: the plant, the freight and finding someone to plant it. We price the whole job as one: the tree, the delivery and the professional install.
- One price: supplied, delivered and installed
- Mature trees and specimen palms at every scale
- National sourcing for hard-to-find stock
- Residential, estate and commercial projects
How It Works
Place your order. We do the rest.
We Supply
Premium advanced stock, selected from a national network of wholesale growers.
We Deliver
Specialist plant freight brings your order to your door. Free, anywhere in Australia.
We Install
Our professional team plants, stakes, mulches and finishes the job on site.







