There’s nothing quite like the unique beauty of our local Perth Hills environment. One of the best ways to celebrate it is by bringing a little piece of the bush into our own backyards. Planting natives is not only sustainable and water-wise, but it also creates a vital habitat for local birds and insects.
If you’re looking to start your native garden, it can be hard to know where to begin. To help you out, we’ve put together a list of five hardy and beautiful native plants that thrive in our local conditions.
- Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos flavidus): It wouldn’t be a WA garden without our stunning floral emblem! These plants produce iconic, velvety flowers in a range of colours from red and green to yellow and pink. They love a sunny spot and well-drained soil.
- Grevillea ‘Robyn Gordon’: A favourite for a reason! This compact shrub produces beautiful red flowers for most of the year, attracting nectar-loving birds like honeyeaters to your garden. It’s tough, drought-tolerant once established, and requires very little maintenance.
- Dwarf Banksia (Banksia spinulosa): If you don’t have room for a full-sized Banksia tree, the dwarf varieties are perfect. They produce magnificent, candle-like golden flowers in autumn and winter, providing a critical food source for wildlife when other plants are dormant.
- Native Wisteria (Hardenbergia violacea): This versatile plant can be grown as a climbing vine or a scrambling groundcover. In late winter and early spring, it becomes covered in a spectacular display of purple pea-like flowers. It’s incredibly hardy and will brighten any corner of the garden.
- Correa ‘Dusky Bells’: A small, dense shrub that produces an abundance of pink, bell-shaped flowers from autumn through to spring. It’s an excellent choice for a low border or for planting in a pot, and it’s another fantastic favourite for attracting small birds.
Gardening with natives is a rewarding way to create a garden that is both beautiful and in harmony with our local environment.
We’d love to see how you incorporate natives into your garden! Share your photos and favourite plants with us at the next fortnightly meeting.
