I absolutely love growing native plants in pots or containers, it enables me to grow species which would just up and die if I planted them in the ground. It also means I am increasing the amount of flowers in my garden and providing extra food for pollinating insects. One species I have had several attempts at growing both in a pot and in the ground is Eparis, I love Eparis and have finally succeeded in creating a perfect microclimate for Epacris longiflora in a pot and it is happily flowering its head off.

This time I did things a little differently, I used a large terracotta pot and filled the bottom 1/4 with river gravel, I then filled it with my own quite clayey garden soil. Epacris love moisture, but they hate wet feet and the clay seems to be remaining moist but draining well. I also included a layer of crushed sandstone on the top as a mulch. I’m pretty pleased with myself.

Another very satisfying native to grow in a pot which is super hardy is Scleranthus biflorus, I have two of these in pots in my garden and they are just so tactile and inviting to pat.

I took a quick spin around the Botanical gardens in Canberra last week which is always a wonderful place to visit but they have an excellent range of native plants growing in large concrete planters.

In the image above you can see Correa ‘Canberra Bells’ flowering in Winter and Grevillea leptobotry, which hails from WA so it very happy in a pot.

There are these planters scattered all throughout the gardens and one of the best things about them is they are often planted with more then one species. In the image above you can see Pimelea physodes ‘Qualup Bell’ and Actinotus helianthi happily intermingling, I think there is also a Patersonia in there too.

And last but not least look how stunning this Eucalyptus ceasia ‘Silver Princess’ is in a planter, it is full of bud too. So don’t be afraid to experiment with your container natives, you can even be ambitious and try a small tree!