To mark Australia Day, we asked some of our team here at Australian Plants Online to share some of their favourite native plants. It's hard to choose when there are so many! It's like picking your favourite child...
After much debate and discussion we managed to narrow it down to a selection, which we share with you here.
Are any of our favourites, your favourites too?
Our Nursery Manager Rose had a little trouble narrowing her choice, and picked four favourite natives:
Leptospermums - tea trees are always popular, and Burgundy Queen not only has bigger-than-usual intensely magenta flowers to recommend it, it also has deep dark burgundy foliage. Quite the stunner. We also have pink and white flowered tea trees if you prefer a more classic look."The big double ruffled flowers of Burgundy Queen set it apart from other Leptospermums.
Buckinghamias are flowering now and looking awesome. Hibbertia Little Rocker looks lovely when it's growing. And I really like low lumpy-bumpy plants that your toes sink into when you step on them, like Pratia"
General Manager James, used to making decisions all day, didn't take long to decide on his vote :
We like to dress our Cousin It plants up when we take them to garden shows..."My favourite native tree is the red flowering gum - you don't see those everywhere. I've got one in my front yard.
Our native ferns are beautiful groundcovers in shady gardens. And of course I love Cousin It!"
You could leave yours to cascade elegantly over retaining walls, pathways, and rockery borders, softening the edges. They're drought tolerant, but grow them with plenty of water and you'll see how lush they can look.
Kimmy, who manages our plant stock and quality control, came straight out of the blocks with her favourite native:
Banksias are one of the most iconic and distinctive Australian plants and easily recognised. Many of us grew up with May Gibbs' Big Bad Banksia men stories. The bold flowers have such a long season of enjoyment, from slender green candles to tufty gold cylinders, turning to gnarly brown seedpods in which birds love to forage. They make great cut flowers for the home too!"Banksias. I really like banksias, they remind me of the outback. Aussie Aussie Aussie!"
Our Marketing Manager Andrea chose a few of her favourites :
Gymeas are astonishing plants : very tropical looking, huge in scale, native to the east coast, and thriving in areas of regular rainfall. It takes a lot of water to grow something that tall!"Fast-growing climbers are my favourites, and pandorea is one of the best - huge flower clusters and really easy to look after.
You can't miss flame trees and kurrajong blooming on bare branches. And the amazing giant fairytale size of gymea lilies - if I see them on my travels I have to pull over and take a photo"
Ross, who develops new business areas, picked an ever-popular classic :
"I like all grevilleas, especially yellow ones. If the breeders could make one in my favourite colour, blue, that would be even better!"
We don't think any of us will live long enough to see a blue grevillea flower, if it ever happens... but there are other blue-flowered natives to enjoy meanwhile - and heaps of beautiful grevilleas flowering in shades of white, pink, purple, orange, red and yellow.
So - did we choose one of your favourite natives, or do you have another preference? Maybe dainty blue dianella, or fluffy golden wattle; red bottlebrush, or orange kangaroo paw?
There's over 24,000 native species of plants in Australia, so that's plenty of choice for all of us!
