River Tarenna

River tarennas are a hardy free-flowering tree that is commonly seen in rewilding areas, nature parks, in roadside gardens, and biodiversity-attracting gardens. The flowers have a strong, vanilla-like fragrance, and the fruits are attractive birds and small mammals. This plant is also native to Singapore and is naturally found growing along primary and secondary forests.

A perennial tree, river tarennas are useful as biodiversity-attracting plants and perimeter plants to add a pop of colour to any garden. The fragrant flowers make it a potential feature plant for therapeutic gardens.

Sun and soil needs:

This plant thrives in 4-8 hours of direct or indirect sunlight. Plants do best in loamy soil in true ground. This plant can also be grown in waterlogged, clayey true ground.

Growing:

River tarennas are rapid growers and generally does not need fertilizing. The tree can rapidly grow up to 15m in height and will need to be pruned regularly. Regular pruning to promote airflow will keep the plant healthy and neat.

Propagation:

River tarennas can be grown from seed or woody cuttings with rooting hormone.

Common problems & solutions:

This plant is relatively resistant to pests and disease if kept healthy.

If your plant has few to no flowers, you can fertilise the plant with fertilisers high in phosphorus and potassium.

If the plant does not receive enough light, it will stop producing flowers. Prune surrounding plants or move the plant to a sunnier spot to promote flower growth.

Scale insects often infest the plant if it has underlying problems like repeated wilting from heat stress. Mechanical pest control methods like pruning the infested parts are the best methods for managing these pests in the short term, but resolving the underlying problem will prevent them in the long term.