Horticulturalist Narelle Happ from A Garden For Life says there are plants to suit every type of garden.
“There are native plants to suit every garden style from edible, formal, cottage to natural bushscape. Nurseries and plant breeders have been selecting native plants that are lower maintenance, better suited to gardens and better performing, so there really is something for every garden.”
“Natives are incredibly important for encouraging biodiversity, serving as wildlife corridors for birds, reptiles and mammals, and providing ora for insects and bees, which pollinate the plants. Native plants are also much better at coping in our challenging climate, in comparison to exotic species that often require a lot of water. Better yet, hardly any Australian native plants need to be sprayed for pests and disease.”
Native plants for colour
- Kangaroo paw
- Australian daisy
Edible natives
- Finger lime
- Waarigal greens
RELATED: 5 edible Australian natives you can grow at home
Top tips for planting natives in your garden
Embrace mass and void
Mass planting in clumps, grouped by colour or leaf shapes, creates a striking feature in the garden. Leaving a void in the design can lead the eye to another area of the garden, while giving larger plants some breathing space to show their true form.
Replicate the natural landscape
Borrow design features from the natural landscape and use it in your garden design. Trees in the background become a canopy layer, allowing for more contrasting shrubs to be used in layers.
Patterns in nature
Designers often talk in odd numbers and love plants in threes. In nature, smaller plants and grasses usually grow in a group, and groups are often repeated in the landscape. Repeated leaf structures, such as grasses clumped throughout the garden, allow the eye to rest as it views the garden, rather than too many shapes creating chaos.
