A Gardening Journal

Dwarf Osmanthus



I was so nervous that dwarf osmanthus wouldn't be hardy for me that I planted it behind a hedge of dwarf box for extra shelter in the Winter.  Either the osmanthus is tough already, or the box did the trick: My "dwarf" osmanthus is topping two feet—a giant! 


True, true, the dwarf box is certainly not an inspired partner in texture or color.  I was so grateful for the chance to grow 'Nana' osmanthus at all that aesthetics seemed secondary.  At least I thought to put 'Color Guard' yucca in front.  Its huge variegated foliage is a good look; see how it picks up the gold rims of the osmanthus leaves?




Gold rims?  Look closer:  Each leaf has a "hairline" perimeter of gold.  Elegant, eh?




Eight years ago, the 'Nana' osmanthus cowered at the back of the foot-tall box hedge—and now it rests its elbows on it.




If only I had planted a hedge of dwarf variegated box, instead.  For another garden, in another life.



Here's how to grow this quirky broadleaf evergreen:

Latin Name

Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Nana'

Common Name

Dwarf Osmanthus


Oleaceae, the Olive family.

What kind of plant is it?

Evergreen shrub.


Zones 6 (with some forethought and protection) - 9.


Dense, mounding, and full to the ground.

Rate of Growth


Size in ten years

To three feet tall and 18 inches wide.  Ultimate dimensions are likely to be four feet tall and three feet wide.



Grown for



'Nana' foliage is typical of a hardy osmanthus, in that it's much smaller (and, therefore, somehow, hardier) than the leaves of the more tender varieties, which can be as big as beech leaves.  It's prickly but not painful.  The edge of the leaf is yellow—truly, the narrowest perimeter line possible—but the effect is not of another color per se, but of unusual visual definition, one leaf from the other.  The leaf veins are lighter green than the body of the leaf, and give additional, if subtle, presence.  "Heterophyllus" means, in this case, that the leaves can vary a whole lot in how spiny and notched they are.  Younger plants tend to be pricklier.  Now you know.




Flowering season


Color combinations

The dark green foliage and white flowers let 'Nana' associate comfortably with all colors.

Partner plants

The rigid and dense habit of 'Nana' can be a strong partner to looser and flexible growth, such as that of ornamental grasses and ferns, provided they're not so close that they could shade out the growth of 'Nana' on the side that faces them. 


The yellow leaf-edge is a slender but, therefore, sophisticated opportunity for coloristic play with other plants with showy foliage.  Partners with leaves that are variegated or solid yellow are both possible.  Solid-yellow foliage choices include sun-tolerant yellow hostas, 'All Gold' hakonechloa, 'Pee Dee Ingot' liriope, 'White Gold' spirea, and the compact bald cypress, Taxodium distichum 'Peve Yellow'.  Trim the latter to keep it dwarf enough.  For more choices, look on the Plants page for cultivars whose common names start either with "gold," "yellow," or "variegated."  Over fifty choices and counting.


Color from yellow flowers is more ephemeral, and therefore more flexible.  There are daylilies to match that yellow leaf-edge—and also the leaves' green veins.  The sword foliage is a good textural contrast, too.  



Where to use it in your garden

'Nana' is a natural front-of-the-bed shrub, because its foliage is full to the ground.  This is a shrub with no bad angle.



How to handle it: The Basics



In Zone 6, it's worth it to spray osmanthus with anti-dessicant the first few Falls, so the shrub looks all the better in May despite the trials of January through March.  On the other hand, by the time the flowers happen in Fall, the shrub will have (here's hoping) long-since recovered from the previous Winter's tip die-back and burned foliage. 

How to handle it: Another option—or two?

The growth of 'Nana' is so dense and regular to begin with, if you added just a snip here and a clip there, the shrub would be a perfect low hedge.  This would have to be all hand-pruning; pruning with power trimmers would multilate the comparatively large leaves more than it would cut them.  A hedge of 'Nana', then, would need to be modest in length, not just in height—perhaps as one of the lesser strands of a knot garden.  


You could take even more advantage of the naturally dense growth and modest height of 'Nana' by planting solos of it just at "important" corners or intersections in the knot garden, and training one vertical branch of each bush above the rest to clip it into a diminutive standard.  My knot garden is sheltered by high hedges; I'll try to practice what I preach. 


If only 'Nana' were a bit hardier.


Ah, the osmanthus.  So many to yearn for, not least because so many species aren't hardy at all below Zone 7.  South of the Potomac River, osmanthus are increasingly popular, i.e., not "Uncommon & Astonishing" at all.  But east of the Hudson River?  Notable, indeed.   






Cuttings and grafting.

Native habitat

Eastern Asia and Southern Japan

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