Expert Tips

Winter Winners

Every season sees new favourites to enjoy in the garden – either for their changing foliage or new flowers. Bring your winter garden to life with these picks of Australian natives that add cheer with their bright blooms, heady scents or bird attracting qualities in the colder, greyer months.

Grevillea Winter Delight
garden native heroacacia drummondii ssp drummondii4

Golden statement on a small scale

Make a statement in a small garden or rockery with a dwarf ornamental wattle that brings the renowned bright yellow flowers of wattle starting as early as June right through to October. Acacia drummondii ssp drummondii blue/green ferny leaves add to the appeal year round. Happily drought and frost resistant too, ensure its planted in well drained soil and full sun to part shade. Also look out for the intriguing Acacia aphylla ‘Leafless Rock Wattle’ – a shrubby wattle that’s particularly beautiful for its complex, spiny leafless branch structure. It produces yellow flowers from late winter to mid spring and is drought and frost tolerant. Another favourite, Acacia acinacea is a fast growing shrub with fluffy, golden ball flowers appearing from late winter and early Spring – giving the cheery appearance of ‘Gold Dust’.

Gorgeous Grevillea…

Grevillea ‘Winter Delight’ does exactly that – it brightens up your Winter garden with its red and cream coloured flowers, attracting nectar eating birds and butterflies. Its low compact form looks great as a mounding groundcover or pop them in pots to add native charm and colour to courtyards, patios and balconies in the cooler months. Place it in a sunny spot with well-drained soil.

Swathes of colour…

Planting Epacris impressa ‘Bega’ – Native Heath will reward you with masses of bell shaped red flowers from Autumn and Winter and into Spring.   Be sure to find a sunny to part shade position with well drained soil and mulching will help keep the roots cool. Try this variety in pots too or consider mass planting for a swathe of colour to brighten a grey day.

1 Yellow Boronia flowers
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It makes scents…

The unmistakable scent is reason enough to find room for Boronia megastigma lutea in your winter garden.  But this small evergreen shrub with its aromatic leaves and masses of sweetly perfumed lemon bell shaped flowers will make a great addition to garden beds, borders and pots for its colour and shape – as well as its unmistakable scent. This boronia thrives in a partly shaded position with moist, well-drained soil. It’s also great as a cut flower to enjoy your native blooms inside. Also look out for Boronia ‘Plum Bells‘, which as its name suggests bursts with vagrant purply-pink blooms. Try planting it in pots so you can place the blooming scents close to your door!



correa dusky bells 3

Pretty in Pink

Correa ‘Dusky Bells’ will bring colour to your Winter garden thanks to its profuse flowering nature. Pretty pink blooms start in Autumn and continue well into Spring. Ensure it’s planted in moist, well drained soil and give it a prune and fertilise after flowering to help keep a dense growth habit. It’s another great native for attracting small birds to your garden too.

NPP.