Plant Finder

The Coastal Tea Tree is a small dense tree from the east coast of Australia. It can be utilised as a landscape screen and is very effective in small groves. It features small green leaves and conspicuous white flowers that are produced in spring. Used in subtropical areas as a revegetation tree however this plant can be invasive and is considered a weed in some areas. This plant is a food source and nesting site for birds.

Larger than most Callistemon, this small tree grows to 7m in height and produces small creamy-yellow bottlebrush flowers in late winter, followed by bright pink new growth in spring. It tolerates waterlogged and compacted soils and produces an excellent weeping form when mature. It also responds readily to pruning as needed. This plant is a nectar and seed source for birds.

Useful food plant with a spreading open form, this native of South America produces a rounded, evergreen shrub to 5m. Once established it is a useful drought-tolerant shrub producing edible green fruit.

This is a dense, flowering shrub growing to 3m in height. It has fragrant leaves and produces dark pink to red flowers over summer. Because it is not a delicate plant it makes an excellent hedge and screening plant, particularly in coastal areas. Light pruning after flowering will maintain its form and flowers.

A shrub of Mediterranean origin, this grows to 4 m and has fragrant small, white flowers and dark, shiny green leaves. Small black berries are produced over autumn. Can be a very useful hedging plant, but needs regular pruning. This plant is not drought tolerant.

An upright, clumping, sterile hybrid from Germany, this grass can grow up to 2m in height when in flower over summer. It produces a dramatic upright form and can also be used for screening when mass planted. Feather Reed Grass needs pruning back to the base in winter and it performs best in good quality soils and some summer rainfall.

A small, Australian shrub growing to 50cm in height. This produces small, delicate tubular red-orange flowers during late winter-spring. Useful as a low flowering hedge it needs careful establishment, then around 3 to 4 cuts per year. This plant is a nectar source for birds.

Couch is one of the easiest turf species to grow but like many spreading grasses it can be very invasive. Best in sunny locations, it produces vigorous runners over warmer months and has good tolerance to drought once established. In cooler climates Couch will often die back over winter but recover once the warmer weather begins.

Buffalo Grass is a warm season turf grass that produces vigorous, fleshy runners and dense, coarse foliage. It is best used in warm, sunny locations with good drainage and has reasonable tolerance to drought once established. There are good reports for the variety 'Sir Walter Buffalo'.

Not a true climber but a scrambling shrub growing to 5 or 6m in height, the Banksia Rose can be an excellent plant for the Cottage Garden with masses of flowers produced over spring. It is reasonably drought tolerant once established and white and double yellow flower varieties are available. This plant generally only needs pruning every few years after flowering or when its vigour needs controlling.

A vigorous, deciduous climber with compound leaves and pendulous, lilac flowers in spring. Drought tolerant once established, the Chinese Wisteria can be slow growing at first, but vigorous in maturity. It needs a strong structure or frame for support and looks best when pruned during the winter. This is an anti-clockwise climber, as opposed to Wisteria floribunda, which is clockwise. Both are excellent floral plants.

A pink flowering sub-shrub that grows to 1m in height and produces pink-lilac flowers during spring. Like its close relative the Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis fruticosa) this is easily cultivated in the Cottage Garden. A hard prune every few years will improve plant habit and form. It resents over-watering.

One of the easiest flowers to grow is the Leek. Normally grown as a vegetable for its swollen stem bases, it can also be grown for its beautiful round heads of mauve flowers. These form over late spring and early summer from clumps of blue-grey ‘onion-like’ leaves.

Erect evergreen shrub which becomes bushy with age. In spring, bright yellow flowerheads are produced. Leaves are reduced to flattened leaf-stalks called phyllodes which are mostly lance-shaped. Usually produced in winter or spring and found in tropical to warm-temperate regions such as; South America, Kenya, South Africa, Polynesia and Australia.

Tall, almost like a small tree. Usually open but can be bushy. The phyllodes are long and they are lance-shaped (also can be linear) with thin curved tips. 1-3 spikes of cylindrical, pale yellow flowerheads are produced from each phyllode in spring.

Average sized, dense shrub. Leaves are large, green and triangular shaped. Flowers are yellow in colour, ball-shaped and are borne in spring. This plant is good for sand stabilising. Acacia littorea grows to about 3m high and 3m wide.

This is an arid plant up to 10m tall and 6m wide. This bushy evergreen tree has drooping foliage and has a pleasant demeanour with eye catching foliage.It can tolerate heavy soils and waterlogged sites. Acacia pendula is also highly drought tolerant, and moderately frost and wind tolerant. Weeping Myall prefers slightly fertile, well-drained sandy soils in full sun, and with occasional watering.

Large shrub, open in habit with short branches. Evergreen phyllodes are triangular and grey-green in colour. Flowerheads are bright yellow, fragranced and spherical and are produced in late winter and spring. Roughly 3-8m high and 3-7m wide. Mainly found in New South Wales and Victoria. It can be used as a windbreak or for shelter. Pruning after flowering is necessary to keep a denser habit. It can tolerate long dry periods, withstands frosts and exposure to coastal conditions. Preferably planted in a full sun or part sun position, Ovens Wattle can also grow in dappled shade.

This slow growing mediterranean tree has a neat rounded form up to 10m high. Its features include leathery leaves and red flowers in autumn. Edible seeds are found in the fruit pods of the female tree fruit. Carob is a chocolate substitute and this neat tree also makes good stock fodder. It is regarded as an effective hedging tree.

An eye catching black-foliage plant of the Common Aeonium, grown as either a succulent bedding or a feature plant. The fleshy leaves are produced at the ends of basal shoots. Bright yellow, star-shaped flowers from spring to summer. The plant is roughly 2m tall and 2m wide.