Celebrating Australian Native Plants

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

• 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 slower growing and do not require heavy amounts of fertiliser. They thrive in poorer soils that many other plants find challenging.
• 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 to 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.
• Is 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 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 Wildlower seeds.

Starting your own 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 Pea and more!

Always check the detailed growing instructions to see if the variety you purchase requires this.

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 to maintain the landscape, including the reproduction of many understory plants. We know that certain chemicals in smoke triggers the germination process for some species of plants. 

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, you can add the granules directly into the soaking water instead.

Care and Maintenance

Generally speaking, many Australian native plants are adapted to poorer soils with less fertility. It is 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) will 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.

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 is it generally best to use a targeted native fertiliser in case the species is phosphorous sensitive.

Australia’s native wildflowers are like no other. With a vibrant spectrum of colours available in unique and beautiful shapes, they are also able to thrive and bloom in the harshest conditions. Growing Australian wildflower seeds will fill your garden with eye-catching colours all year-round, even with the most modest attention.

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