A Guide to Australian Native Plants

Australia is home to many unique and hardy plants that complement our rugged landscape. With the expanse of urban areas, incorporating Australian native plants into your garden is a great way to connect with nature and bring a bit of the bush into your home.

In this guide, we’ll teach you how to start a native garden, how to plant Australian natives, and explain why Australian native plants are great for your garden.

Benefits of Growing Australian Natives

Low Water Requirement

Once established, native gardens are exceptionally drought tolerant. This is useful particularly if your home is on tank water or you experience water restrictions.

Low Nutrient Requirement

Many native species are slow-growing and as a result, don’t need large amounts of fertiliser. They thrive in poorer soils that many other plants find challenging, too.

Tolerant to Weather Extremes

Australian natives have adapted over time to withstand periods of drought, heatwave, and even for some species bushfires.

Encourages Native Fauna

Growing a variety of native flowers provides a food source for an array of creatures in your garden, and larger bushes and trees are a helpful habitat for birds and small mammals.

Improves the Environment

Growing native trees is useful in reducing the effects of urban heat islands and can be an important measure in managing soil salinity and erosion.

A Great Conversation Starter

A native garden provides a great opportunity to speak about the importance of our environment and culture to inspire and educate your friends and family. They may even be motivated to start their own Australian natives garden!

Unique Flavours

Banksia cordial, Kurrajong seeds, mountain currants, and wild tomatoes are just some of the bush tucker treats you can enjoy from natives grown in your garden.

Growing Australian natives from seed is easy if you follow a few basic rules, here's our top tips to get the best success out of germinating and caring for your Australian native wildflower seeds.

How to Start a Native Garden

Autumn and spring are ideal seasons to sow many Australian natives, as the weather is neither too hot nor cold. Australian plants are adapted to our harsh climate so special sowing requirements are sometimes needed.

Native species in the Fabaceae family (also known as legumes) generally require hot water treatment to soften the harder seed coats. Some of the species we recommend this for include sturt peas, coral creeper, wattles, painted lady, large-leaf bush peas, and more!

The Role of Smoke Treatment

Indigenous Australians have engaged in a practice known as firestick farming for thousands of years. This use of controlled cultural burning helped maintain the landscape, including the reproduction of many understory plants. We know that certain chemicals in smoke trigger the germination process for some species of plants, too, but always check the detailed growing instructions on the packet to see if the variety you purchase requires this.

When sowing Australian native seeds and wildflowers at home, apply a seed-smoking product such as Mr Fothergill’s Wildflower Seed Starter Granules onto the soil to initiate germination. If your seeds require hot water treatment, add the granules directly into the soaking water instead.

Care and Maintenance

Many Australian native plants are adapted to poorer soils with less fertility, but it’s still important to amend your soil where necessary.

When growing wildflowers, heavy clay soils should have garden compost added to improve the soil structure and help with drainage. Many species (Kangaroo Paw in particular) grow best when the soil is free-draining as when they are in damp boggy soils, they are prone to rot. Consider growing some species in pots where soils are not suitable, too.

There are many fertilisers available on the market that are suited to Australian Native plants and are formulated with lower levels of phosphorous. Some species of native plants may also respond fine to mainstream fertilisers, but it’s generally best to use a targeted native fertiliser in case the species is phosphorous sensitive.