Thinking about creating a native meadow at home? The Botanic Gardens of Sydney have put together a practical and inspiring guide covering everything from balcony-friendly grass species to wildflowers that attract native bees and butterflies. Whether you have a big backyard or just a balcony, this guide will help you get started.

Micromyrtus minutiflora is a slender, graceful shrub of western Sydney with one of the most restricted natural distributions of any plant in NSW, confined to a small patch of endangered ecological communities between Richmond, Penrith and Riverstone. Listed as Endangered in NSW and Vulnerable at the Commonwealth level, it is a plant of genuine conservation significance, yet one that responds well to disturbance and would likely grow readily if plants could be sourced. This profile covers its identification, ecology, cultivation potential and the story behind its name.

Bossiaea neoanglica is a little-known but quietly beautiful pea shrub of the NSW bush, producing striking red and yellow flowers in the classic papilionate form of the Fabaceae family. Found in dry sclerophyll woodland on sandy soils across two disjunct regions of NSW, the Southern Highlands and the northern tablelands around Armidale and Glen Innes, it is a plant that rewards both the field botanist and the native garden enthusiast. Despite being straightforward to grow in a sunny, well-drained position, it remains rarely cultivated and seldom written about. This profile explores its distribution, identification, cultivation requirements and the colourful history behind its name.

Bursaria spinosa (Blackthorn) is a hardy, bird-friendly native shrub valued for both ecological significance and garden utility. Though thorny, it thrives in a wide range of soils, offers important habitat for small birds and insects, and plays a key role in supporting species such as the Bathurst Copper Butterfly. Well suited to low-maintenance gardens, barrier plantings, and wildlife-focused landscapes.

This collection of four stories follows South East APS NSW members as they reflect on what they’ve learned while growing native plants in their own backyards. Their experiences—practical, honest, and often unexpected—offer inspiration for gardeners at any stage.

The common name is Pink rock orchid and is an outstanding reliable plant for any garden with a few rocks to establish them on. They only grow to about 15 cm tall and the flower spikes are about 10 cm tall. They are many flower colour variations from white to purple.

This is a popular, fast growing plant that has been in cultivation for well of 70 years. The
common name is Blueberry Ash, because it produces many small bright blue berries about
one centimetre in diameter after flowering.

A tip to help stop Callistemons (bottle brush) and Melaleuca plants becoming straggly after repeat
flowering,

This plant is a compact form of Grevillea lanigera which has been widely grown and
available in plant nurserys for many years. Interestingly, this plant does not originate
from Mt Tamboritha (a 1840 metres high mountain located on the western edge of
the Victorian Alpine National Park) however while there is a form originating from Mt
Tamboritha it is not readily available.

I have had this plant growing in my garden for years with no maintenance except a prune
after flowering. It is inconspicuous in my garden and I really only notice them after decent
winter rain, as they typically grow around Sydney along creek lines and banks in moist-dry
and wet sclerophyll forests. It is a medium shrub to 3 metres tall, usually with a narrow
spread.

A recommended hardy and reliable plant —-. I have been growing this plant in my garden for
many years with success. It grows best in semi shade and in raised beds over my clayish
soils. The plant in this photo is growing at the base of a large eucalyptus and receives ample
watering from water flowing down the trunk during rain.

Waratahs, being Australia’s plant emblem, have always attracted me. Early in my gardening career, I purchased two Telopea speciosissima plants consecutively. Both died very quickly and I gave up trying just as quickly. I realise that my garden soil, being clay-based, did not provide a promising planting medium. I have enjoyed seeing waratahs in bloom in Leura domestic gardens and also in the rocky heights above the sea entrance of the Hawkesbury River.

This article explores how to create a cottage garden using Australian native plants. It outlines the charm and history of cottage gardens, describes key design elements like mass planting and seasonal colour, and explains how to use colour effectively. With Australia’s rich variety of native species, gardeners can create vibrant, sustainable, and wildlife-friendly gardens that also help prevent weed spread into natural bushland.

Pip Gibian recounts the transformation of a former cattle property in the Gloucester district into a thriving native garden. Over the years, she and her husband created three mound gardens using fill from construction projects, allowing them to grow grevilleas and other native plants in the full sun—something they couldn’t achieve in their shaded Sydney garden.

A few months ago, I visited the back of our bush block to check on a stand of Woody Pears growing in a sheltered position between sandstone boulders and a cliff above the creek. Approaching the trees, I noticed fruit along with new flower buds.

Discover the art of Australian native bonsai with highlights from the 40th Annual Bonsai Show at Ray Nesci’s Nursery. From striking Banksias to vibrant Bottlebrushes, this unique showcase celebrates the beauty and adaptability of native plants in miniature form, inspiring plant enthusiasts to explore bonsai with a local twist.

There have been many articles written on mulch, and the following are my views together with the results of some research that you may find of benefit.

Boronias have the reputation for being difficult to maintain in the garden. In this article, Jeff explains how he successfully grew a Boronias Showoff in his backyard after years of careful preparation!

A bushland or habitat garden mimics nature. Such gardens are designed to create as much habitat as possible for local wildlife.

Over the past 6 months, I’ve been having a go at growing a Sturt Desert Pea (Swainsona formsa) plant from seed, with some minor success. I thought I’d put together a little report on what I did and what the results were.

Dan explains the utility of recycling clay pipes in modern gardening.

At the quarterly gathering in March 2024, Heather Miles gave an interactive talk on designing your native garden.

At the Harbour George River Group’s meeting October 2023, James Middleton, who is a
member of the Group and a professional landscape gardener, described his practice in
landscape design. His talk was illustrated with reference to a community garden project he is
working on with the Clemton Park Uniting Church. Members of the church group also talked
about their vision for the garden. This was followed by a discussion on how to implement the
garden vision with a limited budget and lots of muscle power.

Global warming, biodiversity loss and the deteriorating urban environment are reducing the quality of urban life. Akira Miyawaki, a Japanese botanist, began practising creative ecology in the 1970s and devised the “tiny forest” to counter these undesirable trends. Tiny forests have been taken up in Australia recently and may be useful as a strategy in improving some environmental and social aspects of our urban environments.

A mulch is any covering put over the top of the soil, such as bark, woodchips, leaves, gravel and groundcovers – even a layer of leaf litter counts as a mulch.

About 40 years ago, in the early 1980s I took the family to stay in some cabins near Racecourse Beach just north of Batemans Bay for the summer holidays, shaded by iconic spotted gums with a burrawang understory.

Seeing isolated dead trees that show signs of past, heavy mistletoe growth in our semi-cleared landscapes might suggest that mistletoes are the culprit. On the contrary, they are keystone ecological species, attractive components of our flora and can be part of our own gardens.

I feel confident anyone reading this would agree that gardeners have a better insight than most into changing weather patterns. Whatever the reason, the hot days seem to be getting hotter and the cold days colder but it’s usually the former that presents the greater challenges in selecting the right plant for the hot spot. Enter stage right our wonderful grey-foliaged native plants.

I have had for some years now a large pot of Christmas Bells (Blandfordia grandiflora). It has been reliably flowering just on Christmas every year, and in the process getting more congested. Because the pot it is in has curved sides, I have been putting off dividing it for a few years.

At the Sutherlands group May meeting, Samantha Newton, an enthusiastic garden designer who has had a life of botany, landscape design, and researching ecological-sustainability issues shared her knowledge about Bush-Tucker.

At the May 2023 APS NSW gathering in Kariong, hosted by the Central Coast APS group, Olga Blacha gave us a fascinating talk titled: ‘Achieving a new civic Australian style garden’

Throughout hiscareer Lawie Smith has been fortunate to be able to convey his ‘Design with Nature’ philosophy through all of his projects, and specifically the public parks and botanic gardens for which he have been responsible.

In this article we discuss the advantages of an alturnitive method over more traditional methods of grafting onto rooted stock plants.

Here are some images from Peter Olde, of Aceratium ferrugineum, a beautiful rainforest plant growing in his and Margaret’s Oakdale garden. 

Australian native plants are known to have many values of advantage to humans.  I’ve delved through history to identify how native plants have been appreciated in the past, and if they may have informed the garden design of the present, and then ‘best guessed’ what might be expected of them in the future.       Come along it is an intriguing story . . . .

Love a beautiful banksia, but no room for the iconic Banksia integrifolia, or Coast Banksia, which can grow to 15 metres? Well, never fear. New cultivars of dwarf banksias…

The easiest terrestrial orchids to grow and propagate are those in the genus Pterostylis. These orchids produce abundant underground tubers (white and about the size of a pea) and after a couple of years in a pot they need division…

Enjoy photos from Brian Roach’s garden at Westleigh

Glenda Browne summarises recent queries about trees: natural or human modified shapes, trees in trees and the long stem planting method for natives.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve been richly rewarded speaking with over 100 gardening groups and clubs about our wonderful and unique Australian flora.

Water in the garden has a long history, as long as gardens themselves. Any history of gardens and gardening will show that the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese…

Gordon Rowland was a very active advocate for Australian plants in garden design for many years, writing numerous articles and giving many talks promoting indigenous plants.

John Elton shares some of the plants flowering in his garden in autumn. I always think that autumn is the best time in the garden. One of the great things about having a native garden is that we have colour 12 months of the year.

There are a range of different ways to propagate native plants. Here’s a run down on each system.

The following plants generally tolerate (or in some cases prefer) clay soils that are poorly drained but not boggy in winter, and that tend to dry out in summer. Of course, other factors can play a part in a plant’s success, so this list is a guideline only.

Much of western and north western Sydney is based on clay soils. Quite often these soils are wet in winter and much dryer in summer. While clay has the advantages of holding water well especially at deeper levels and can be rich in nutrients, there are some problems

Seed of acacias which occurs in pods, has a tough outer shell that does not allow water to enter the seed easily. Other plants with a similar type of seed include the many pea flowers such as Chorizema, Clianthus, Daviesia, Hardenbergia, Hovea, Indigofera, Kennedia, Oxylobium, Pultenaea and Sphaerolobium to name just some of them

The idea of a cosy cottage garden, with herbaceous borders of annuals and perennials against a backdrop of shrubs and (maybe) a small tree or two, is becoming popular again. This is especially so with the reduction in size of modern gardens.

We regularly receive emails with queries about Australian native plants. Glenda Browne summarises recent responses on propagation from our experts group.

Imagine a roof top covered with stunning native plants from around Australia, blowing in the breeze! A few of us visited the first indigenous rooftop farm and other cultural gardens at the newly developed South Eveleigh precinct. (https://southeveleigh.mirvac.com/)

Many people who grow Australian plants also want to select those that are indigenous – that is, those that naturally grow in their local area. Here are answers to two recent questions on indigenous plants.

We received a request for detailed instructions on propagating kurrajong trees from someone who had just harvested almost 50,000 seeds. Glenda Browne summarises responses from our experts group.

Daisies provide a delicate, multi-coloured and spectacular impression on the seemingly harsh and dry looking bush areas of Western Australia (WA). Growing everlastings and other colourful daisies for your own spring show is guaranteed to bring great pleasure and satisfaction.

Daisies provide a delicate, multi-coloured and spectacular impression on the seemingly harsh and dry looking bush areas of Western Australia (WA). Growing everlastings and other colourful daisies for your own spring show is guaranteed to bring great pleasure and satisfaction.

A great way to learn about plants in the garden

Brian shares the best plants to grow in your garden. 

Plant discussions by Zoom at Sutherland meeting, June 2020

Eremophilas can be marvellous plants in the garden, but their reliability in a variety of soils and climates is still being established by their many devoted growers.

Swapping jobs in the nation’s capital for a tree change to the high country and a shed with a view on a rural property, Fiona and Alex moved to Fitzgerald’s Mount near Bathurst in 2008. There they built a house and created a garden that flourishes despite the harsh conditions of the high country of the central tablelands of NSW.

One of our Newcastle members, Kevin Stokes, is a stunning macro photographer. Check out these beauties!

When it comes to thinking about a favourite plant, I think those interested in Australian plants are very spoiled for choice. Have you ever thought about a favourite? Where would you start?

Here are the suggestions for prickly shrubs and hedging plants from our panel of experts: Grevillea rosmarinifolia cultivars such as’Scarlet Sprite’…

reader recently asked for plants to discourage cats from entering the garden. The reader’s plants needed to thrive in tough conditions being southerly facing and sandy soil. Here are the plants suggested

For many years, I have been growing native plants and have picked up tips and tricks along the way. Here is a summary of some of my learning.
1. Planting under gum trees
To maximise your success in getting your plants to grow, plant them as close to the trunk as possible. The reasons you do this are:

What is a mulch? A mulch is any covering put over the top of the soil, such as bark, woodchips, leaves, gravel and groundcovers – even a layer of leaf litter counts as a mulch.
There are a number of different types of materials that are widely used as mulches.

I feel confident anyone reading this would agree that gardeners have a better insight than most into changing weather patterns. Whatever the reason, the hot days seem to be getting hotter and the cold days colder but it’s usually the former that presents the greater challenges in selecting the right plant for the hot spot. Enter stage right our wonderful grey-foliaged native plants.

Less time being out and about and more time at home to protect community health from COVID-19 is a chance to do some activities you might not usually have time for. Here are some ideas, both for individual members and for APS Groups to consider if you don’t want to clean the cupboards or the garage.

One of the valuable benefits I found when I joined the Parramatta/Hills Group was that I could mingle with experienced members. From them I could often pick up gems of wisdom.
Here are some examples. Be ruthless. Probably the most valuable piece of advice I learnt was from Ross Doig. It was just two words: “be ruthless”. This was in relation to native gardens of course!

After the damage from our bushfire season to many properties throughout NSW, homeowners are thinking about replanting their gardens, often while waiting for longer-term building works. The APS NSW office received an inquiry about advice on fire-resistant plants for people buying plants to restore gardens which had burnt.

With our increasingly hotter and drier conditions and water restrictions in many locations, new approaches are needed even for gardeners used to native plants. Here are some tips to consider for hotter and drier conditions in general and for more very hot days.

The 2019/20 summer of bushfires has had devastating impacts, with lives and homes lost, communities disrupted and millions of hectares of native vegetation burnt. Fire is a natural part of the Australian environment, and plants can recover from fire, but fire behaviour and impacts are changing.

The Rudder garden at Maroubra recently won the Native Garden Section of the Randwick Council Garden Competition for the 16th year in a row. Kim wrote to share his own Wollemi pine, after missing our November 2019 quarterly gathering on the Wollemi pine.

I’ve been growing a Hoya carnosa in a concrete trough for several years, and each year in the warmer months it puts on a nice display of pink flowers over a long period.

Olive Pink was born in Hobart in 1884 and learned to love the Australian bush and its unique flora on rambles with her father on Mt Wellington. Her life was influenced by the Quaker philosophy of social justice she encountered at the private Girls High School in Hobart, run by a Quaker family. This influence can be seen in her later activism on behalf of Aboriginal people, which made her an unpopular figure in government circles.

Dan Clarke presented on his new roadside verge garden at the APS Sutherland Group September 2019 meeting and wrote this article which appeared in the APS Sutherland October 2019 newsletter. Look out for updates as the plants grow.

I was introduced to this attractive plant, Prostanthera scutellarioides, accidentally. In fact, it introduced itself. I was at the John Benyon Park at Kenthurst and here it was, in this unlikely place one spring, covered in flowers and looking brilliant! Of course, I took home some cuttings.

This story is based on an article by Lindy Monson, Bushcare volunteer, in the newsletter North Sydney Bushcare, Summer 2015, issue 28, and updated for 2019. Harry Loots has won awards for his native garden in 2015, 2016 and 2019.

From the start the author David Watson outlines that mistletoes are part of the natural environment, are not toxic, are not a weed, and are part of the Australian flora. Many books have the title of a genus or a group of plants, but only mention part of that group. This book contains comprehensive information on all 47 species of mistletoe that occur in Southern Australia…

Virginia McIntosh from APS Central Coast Group reports on creating a garden at Phillip House, Kariong. Virginia was the coordinator of the working bee.

This is a remarkable publication, given that it provides detailed and authoritative botanical monographs of 54 trees and shrubs that are endemic to the Hunter region, each one of which is accompanied by a full-page scientific illustration.

I’ve been growing eremophilas for close on 25 years and have been delighted with the results. In well-drained sunny positions eremophilas usually reward me for my efforts.

Here’s a selection of spring photos from Lloyd Hedges of the garden maintained by Menai Group at the Illawong Fire Station garden in southern Sydney.

Alan Fairley explains why Wattle Day is 1 September. This article first appeared in Doryanthes, the newsletter of the Oatley Flora and Fauna Society, and is reproduced with Alan’s permission.

The following notes are based on Maria Hitchcock’s book A Celebration of Wattle: Australia’s National Emblem (2012). The book is a revised and updated edition of Maria’s earlier book Wattle (AGPS 1991), which grew from a small booklet sent out to schools in 1988.

What do Acacia ‘Winter Gold’, Acacia ‘Winter Flame’, the Correa ‘Winter Bells’ collection, Eremophila ‘Winter Gold’, Grevillea ‘Winter Delight’, Philotheca ‘Winter Rouge’ and Syzygium ‘Winter Lights’ have in common? Yes, they are all named for a winter feature – either their flowers or foliage.

The use of appliances to modify temperature, such as an air-conditioner or heater, impacts on expenses and on the environment. However, their use can be minimised or even made unnecessary, by planting deciduous native trees, Melia azedarach along the north of the house.

While attending the APS NSW gathering in November 2018 hosted by Sutherland Group I had the pleasure of visiting Joan Zande’s garden and was very impressed at the application of so many design principles in this relatively small residential garden reconstructed after 40 years as a collaborative effort between Joan and an obviously very talented landscape contractor, Greg Hopcroft.

Interested in bioluminescent fungi? It is about this time of the year these fascinating fungi appear in the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens especially after the rain of recent times. The fruiting bodies should be appearing soon and there are several people keeping a lookout. If any appear, walks will be organised.

One of our members, Kevin Stokes from Newcastle, has brought to our attention a new book called Native Terrestrial Orchids of the Hunter Region Botanic Gardens, by Lynda McPherson.

This time we purchased a Greenlife Mini Drop Over Greenhouse from a well known supermarket. It is designed to either fit over a raised garden bed or stand alone. We have tied ours down to a metal bench. The pots and punnets sit in plastic basins that are half full of sand. The sand is kept moist and the pots and punnets sprayed once a day.

In February 2018, I was bemoaning the loss of some long-established plants in my predominantly native garden in the Hunter Valley. We’d had far less than average rainfall and there was no end in sight to the drought. Along with vicious 45-degree days, the resilience of the garden, and me, was being tested!

Here is a selection of wattles blooming at Hunter Regional Botanic Gardens. Images by Barbara Melville.

Several people have asked me recently to write down the methods I use to grow flannel flowers.
 I have had some success with them so here is my story.

My predominantly native Hunter Valley garden is feeling the pressure of no rain. While it looks quite beautiful in the misty morning, the mist hasn’t translated into rain.

I have always been fascinated with Grass Trees and they are such an iconic emblem of our bush. Those of you who have travelled to and from Inverell and Guyra via the Ensmore and Tingha Roads will have seen some great specimens (see left) along the northern section of this route which winds among the hills and crosses Paradise Creek and the Macintre River in its upper reaches.

We recently received this picture from Bruce Duncan, who runs an olive farm in Mokine, Western Australia (Clackline Valley Olives).

While rhododendrons are very popular plants in Australian gardens, there are only two species that we can truly call our own. They are both Vireya Rhododendrons – rainforest species found in mountainous tropical areas of SE Asia, New Guinea and North Queensland. These

During a recent trip to Europe, I noticed a lot of quite large, home-made bee ‘hotels’. On my return, I undertook a bit of research and I found some excellent information on different home-made ‘hotels’ in the EU and UK.

The Northern Tablelands of NSW is a challenging area to establish gardens. Winters are usually characterised by a series heavy frosts throughout the season. This presents problems particularly if you wish to cultivate native plants as many come from milder, coastal and more temperate areas.

For many years, I have been growing native plants, reading gardening books, listening to garden gurus, advising people on what native plants to grow in their gardens and listening to other people’s gardening problems. During this time, I have concluded that there is only one important garden principle that one must try to follow

As I always wanted a small pond/water feature, I created a dry creek bed leading from the rock to a small stainless steel 47 litre laundry tub. To make it all appear ‘natural’ I did the following:

A few years ago I had quite a few native snails in one part of my northern Sydney garden and now they are gone. A pity as the species I had was carnivorous and fed on the introduced garden snails (Cantareus asperses, which are from Europe). I have no idea where they came from or where they have gone. Maybe it is because I now have no introduced snails in my garden and as a result no food for the native snails anymore.

One of most frequent question I receive is how I manage to grow Thelychiton kingianum and Thelychiton speciosum orchids on my rocks and ‘apparently’ in the ground. These orchids are really very hardy and many are killed by too much kindness and water.

The idea of a cosy cottage garden, with herbaceous borders of annuals and perennials against a backdrop of shrubs and (maybe) a small tree or two, is becoming popular again especially as gardens become smaller. Remember, plants that self-seed in a garden can easily become weeds in nearby bushland. By introducing native plants, especially local (i.e. indigenous) species, you will reduce your garden’s weed potential and make it more attractive to flora and fauna.

We find that the internet is a treasure trove of botanical and horticultural information. A recent search brought to light a biography of Leo Hodge, christened Leomin, the originator of many Grevillea hybrids, all prefixed ‘Poorinda’ after his property in the Gippsland area of Victoria. The name is taken from an aboriginal word meaning ‘light’.

We have a passionate interest in the environment in general and native plants in particular.