Emerald Flame Japanese Yew. On my first visit to Japan and visiting the garden of Dr. Masato Yakoi, the co-author of Variegated Plants in Color, he was showing me this podocarpus and exclaimed that it had pink new growth. He gave me ONE cutting then, and since that time I have been yearly trying to build up numbers. When the cutting flushed the following spring, was I surprised! The new growth is a bright pink which slowly hardens off to green. Each flush of growth during the growing season retains this characteristic. I have had it flush as late as October and it is still pink. To see a full shrub covered in this bright pink new growth is nothing short of stunning. This should become a real staple in the landscapes of the Deep South once it becomes more available. Dr. Yokoi also gave me a cutting of 'Golden Crown' which flushes with yellow new growth. 'Golden Crown' is more upright with its growth habit; whereas, 'Royal Flush' is more spreading. Podocarpus macrophylla is also salt tolerant which makes it a very popular plant along the coast.
Zones 7-10
