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A Favourite Coastal Heathland Plant: Leucopogon parviflorus
This is a tough medium sized shrub which grows all along the NSW coastline and interstate to Victoria and South Australia. I love this plant for its dense habit, tasty fruit and grey green leaves. I occasionally use it in Designs where the soil is very sandy and the wind howling and have just spent…
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Health Benefits of Gardening
Stress Relief, Connection to Nature, Connection to Community, Physical Health, Personal Growth ….just to name a few! I am no stranger to “stress weeding” or “stress pruning” for that matter. There is something indescribably satisfying about pulling unwanted weeds out of a garden bed or giving a straggly plant a much needed “hack back” 🙂…
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The small tree Emu Bush: Eremophila longifolia
This is another Emu Bush to add to my database, Eremophila longifolia is classically not so bushy in habit but more upright and weeping. I think it makes a lovely small feature tree with its long, droopy leaves and clusters of pink bell flowers. It can be pruned into other shapes if needed but the…
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Silver in the Shade: Plectranthus argentatus
If you are looking for a native understory plant to grow where no plant has succeeded before give Plectranthus argentatus a try. It will grow in the dry soil under large trees and ramble about filling in bare patches and creating a dense silver layer to a dark forgotten corner. Plectranthus argentatus has a lightly…
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Low and Large: Grevillea ‘Cooroora Cascade’
This Grevillea ground cover always looks optimistic to me, with its large sunny gold flowers and luscious green fine leaves, it scrambles around the garden filling gaps with its happy go lucky stems. Grevillea ‘Cooroora Cascade’ is a prostrate form of ‘Golden Lyre’ with the same large flower spikes yet scrambles along the ground forming a…
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Drought Hardy Emu Bush
In this post I am adding to my Eremophila database and also trying to increase awareness of native plants which I believe have proven to be reasonably drought hardy. As a genus Eremophilas are very tough native shrubs, they will grow in a well drained soil in full sun to part shade and although they mainly come…
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Are native plants really drought tolerant? Casuarina ‘Cousin It’
When someone tells you they want a drought tolerant garden, what comes to mind? or you may be told a certain plant is ‘water wise’ what does this really mean? As the current drought wears on and wears thin and watering your garden becomes something you can only do under strict regulations many people are looking…
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Level 2 Water Restriction friendly plants: Calothamnus quadrifidus
Yesterday NSW moved into level 2 water restrictions, it has been a long time coming, with bushfires still burning up and down the east coast and dam levels at an all time low. The hardest hit are out west where they have been buying in drinking water for most of the year, smoke and dust…
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‘Snow in Summer’ in the streets of Sydney: Melaleuca linariifolia
This is ‘Snow in Summer’! and even though it is not Summer yet the Melaleucas have been out for the last couple of months, I found this fabulous street of Melaleuca linariifolia in the inner west earlier this week. This avenue of Melaleuca would have been planted back in the days when Councils weren’t afraid of…
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A spikey, perfumed tangle of Grevillea flexuosa
This is a wonderfully messy Grevillea that likes to sprawl all over the place. Its stems literally get tangled in themselves and the leaves are stiff and spikey so they can almost grab onto other plants to hoist themselves towards the sunlight and as its name implies it is so very flexible 😉 Grevillea flexuosa…
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Last Wattle for the Season: Acacia argyrophylla
OK I promise this is the last Acacia profile for the year, usually I try and mix it up a lot more on my blog. I am well aware the page is now aglow with lovely yellow ball flowers which may look all the same to some people. But I just can’t help it, the Acacias…
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A multi-purpose favourite : Acacia baileyana Prostrate
What can this wattle not do?! it can be a dense ground cover, a spillover for a retaining wall or garden edge, a low mounding feature shrub and a lovely soft border plant. On top of all that it flowers like nobody’s business in the middle of Winter! Acacia baileyana Prostrate is a low growing…
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Yum Yum: Acacia cardiophylla
This is a wattle close to my heart, it is one of the most strongly perfumed Australian native flowers I have come across, but not in a over-powering sweet, honey-nectar way, it is more of a Boronia type scent…yum, yum… This is also a very useful Acacia for its capacity to withstand strong winds, I…
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Wonderful Winter Wattles: Acacia iteaphylla
I love wattles, they are so useful for quick screens, winter flowers and perfume, they grow quickly and can act as a coloniser for a new garden giving it almost immediate structure. The older I get the longer lived Acacia species seem to me too, they can last 8 to 10 years sometimes 15 if…
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The flexible Pennisetum alopecuroides
Pennisetum alopecuroides is a striking native grass that makes a bold statement planted independently, as a border, backdrop or en masse. This is commonly know as Foxtail grass not to be confused with the South African Pennesetum which has become a weed in some parts of Australia. However, in some parts of Australia this native grass…
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Pretty in Pink: Callistemon ‘Pink Champagne’
There are so many varying coloured Callistemons available now, there isn’t really any reason to only associate them with the traditional red anymore. I am a big fan of the softer coloured bottlebrushes, the greens pale yellows and pinks, the soft pinks in particular are some of my favourites. This is Callistemon ‘Pink Champagne’ a…
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Winter brightener: Hakea ‘Burrendong Beauty’
I have already written about this striking low growing Hakea here however I think this is one of the many very special native plants that deserves a second (and possibly third) plug 😉 This is Hakea myrtoides-x-petiolaris ‘Burrendong Beauty’ a wonderful hybrid low spreading shrub that loves to tangle itself up and create a dense prickly mess…
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Prune me! I am Eucalyptus pulverulenta!
This is without a doubt one of my favourite small Mallee Eucalypts, it is a very malleable mallee 😉 it responds so well to pruning that if you don’t prune it you are almost doing the plant a disservice. These photos were taken at the Arboretum in Canberra where there is a stand of Eucalyptus pulverulenta…
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Pink and Grey: Guichenotia ledifolia
As a colour combination pink and grey is one of my favourites, especially on a plant, grey leaves and a soft pink flower win me over every time! Luckily for me it is a fairly common combination in native Australian plants, look at this Guichenotia ledifolia I photographed in Canberra Botanic Gardens last weekend. Guichenotia’s are…
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Portfolio: Woolooware Garden Design
This residential garden was designed at the beginning of 2017 and built later that year, to complete the property’s brand new modern extension. The owners had acquired some beautiful, large sandstone boulders from offsite to be used in the new landscape and these and the existing Eucalyptus in the rear neighbours garden informed the the…
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Native Plants in Fiona Brockhoff Gardens
I went to the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria in January this year to see three gardens designed by one of my favourite Landscape Designers and of course they did not disappoint. In fact I realise now that I took so many photos and was so inspired that I have been a bit overwhelmed by how…
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A must have in your habitat garden: Bursaria spinosa
All hail sweet Bursaria! this native plant is a superstar performer in a native habitat garden fulfilling so many critters requirements and needs. I have been collecting images of Bursaria spinosa for about 10 years now, always looking for a flattering angle and light, it is not a particularly showy plant if not in flower,…
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Correas and Croweas: Special Shady Friends
I spent last weekend in Mount Victoria, staying in a log cabin surrounded by a wonderful bush garden. There were plenty of Banskias, Eucalypts and Acacias but what really filled the garden out were the swathed of Correas and Croweas planted densely under the gum trees. Both Crowea and Correa species like to grow in…
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Happy National Eucalypt Day! Eucalyptus leucoxylon ‘Euky Dwarf’
Happy National Eucalypt Day everyone! I really hope you were able to appreciate a Eucalpytus tree today at the very least, or possibly able to plant one? “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now” ― Traditional Chinese proverbs, one of my favourite quotes. If you weren’t…
Category: Drought hardy