If you love birds, then a cottage garden is for you and, while you’re at it, go native! Our flora and fauna have developed a deep connection over millennia as they’ve assisted each other with their survival. The plants give shelter and food – nectar for birds and butterflies, foliage and fruit for animals – while animals spread seeds to produce more plants. So an Australian native cottage garden can create an inviting space for you and the wildlife!
Garden designers like Fiona Brockhoff have been pioneers in the industry when it comes to using native plants in the garden. Fiona has inspired others to use natives in their design, to achieve formal/informal arrangements, play with colour, textures and shape.
Watch our video of Charlie Albone visiting this Australian native cottage garden designed by Fiona Brockhoff, and see here how you can build an endemic sanctuary yourself.
When not in flower with brilliant red, plumey stamen bristles, a grevillea (G. banksii) can still make an impact by spilling over walls. But it’s not curtains for other plants – tufts of lomandra (L. confertifolia ‘Little Con’) at the bottom of a wall will always rise to the occasion.
Nothing is as bright as yellow buttons (Chrysocephalum apiculatum). This pretty groundcover will flower from spring through to autumn and easily fill a bare spot in your garden bed – or use it to replace parts of your lawn!
From moody and dark to a silvery tinge or limey touch, greens add variety to your colour palette. Mix the shades with a lilly pilly hedge, coastal rosemary, lomandra and a water gum (Tristaniopsis ‘Luscious’) for a vibrant and diverse Australian native cottage garden feel.
A lush lawn is always inviting, but making its shape irregular is a cottage garden trick that allows you to bring the plants in closer, blurring the boundaries so the whole garden feels as one. Such is love!
Enliven a shady side path by allowing dichondra (D. repens) to fill the spaces between your pavers. It’s as tough as old boots so your dainty footsteps won’t bother it a bit.
Once standing on the lawn you really get a sense of being in your own little world surrounded by beautiful planting and a discreet water bowl that continues this feeling of chill and Zen.
Plants used to create an Australian native cottage garden
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Woolly grevillea
Grevillea lanigera
With bushy, woolly-like leaves, this grevillea variety is aptly named. A beautiful blush pink that turns deeper as it gets closer to the branch, the flower on this grevillea will add a nice brightness to your cottage garden.
This plant is quite hardy, and very easy to care for if it’s placed in well-draining soil. This perfect pink flowers will appear from winter to spring, with the occasional spot flowering occurring.
02
Banksia ‘Stumpy Gold’
Banksia spinulosa
This banksia is stumpy indeed, and often only grows up to 50cm tall! A dense, compact shrub, ‘Stumpy Gold’ will give you a great low-to-the-ground plant that still brings a wealth of warm colouring. The golden flowers will attract birds and other native wildlife, but is also beautiful when picked and placed in a vase!
03
Coastal rosemary
Westringia fruticosa
Coastal rosemary can be shaped into a cute round sphere to add texture into your native garden. It loves full sun and very well-drained soil, but other than that, this shrub will thrive without much TLC.
If you’re planting for practicality, coastal rosemary is dense enough to act as a small windbreak as well!
04
Kangaroo paw
Anigozanthos
Who doesn’t love a couple of kangaroo paw plants bobbing their heads as a breeze goes by? This rusty, neutral colouring will complement the bright greens and flourishing flowers of the other natives within your cottage garden.
05
Wattle ‘Lime Magik’
Acacia cognata ‘Lime Magik’
Wattle is an Aussie icon, but this kind looks a tad bit different. With long flowing branches, it’s more similar to a weeping willow than the usual bright yellow bobbles of acacia. You’ll get creamy white flowers in winter, and these wistful boughs for the rest of the year.
Watch out though! If left unpruned, this variety can grow up to 10m high.
06
Grevillea ‘Molonglo’
Grevillea juniperina
Another gorgeous grevillea to bring in birds and wildlife. This peachy colour is the perfect tone to create calm in your otherwise bright and beautiful garden.
This one does well in cool and inland areas as it is hardy enough to withstand frost and cold temps!
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Seaside Daisy
Erigeron karvinskianus
Finally, the seaside daisy will add that bit of whimsy that’s so important in a cottage garden. With cute white and pink flowers peppering your pathway, you’ll feel like you’re in the English countryside (without all the rain of course!).
Why are endemic plants so important?
Australia is a huge and diverse continent, and what thrives in one climate will fail in another. Some of our prettiest plants come from Western Australia where the air is hot and dry, but these plants struggle in the heavy humidity of the east coast.
Likewise, plants in southern Australia and the deep north have developed survival characteristics that don’t kick in when they’re out of their comfort zone.
Choose plants that are indigenous – they occur naturally in a broad geographic area, or endemic – they are confined to a smaller, specific geographical area. Visit your local botanic garden to get an idea of what plants are local to your area.
Your local nursery can also help – it only stocks plants it knows won’t fail because it doesn’t want disappointed customers. Many local councils also have nurseries for street and park planting and are also invested in the continued survival of endemic plants.
