My Top Native Plant Picks For The Year

As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, I have been getting into native australian plants as research for my creative practise. Although this started out as an environmental componenant for my practise, it has also become an unexpected passion. My garden is filled with free and bought native plants, flowers and a few veges to go into our regular salad lunches.

I thought I should state my favourite natives that I have been mostly able to memorise and recognise on my walks.

#1 Hardenbergia Violacea (Happy Wanderer)

This one grows as a vine. I was first introduced to it by my Father in law (and by one of the artists in my collective #WeArtCollective) and now I have it in my garden. It's a native but it is also a mystical forest looking type plant. It doesn't have the typical australiana type aesthetic and the flowers happen to be my favourite colour (swish). 

#2 Acacia Longifolia

I love wattles. It has a yellow pom pom type flower which automatically makes it fun. This one is a bit different to usual wattles though. It grows in a caterpillar type style. Wattle usually looks nice popped into braids and yellow is a bright and happy colour. I have one of these growing in my yard also. He is called Alan Wattle after Alan Watts the philosopher. (I have fun naming things in my garden)

#3 Grevillia (Spider Flower)

I've been told this one is a big bringer of bees which probably makes it the bees knees (hahaha). I needed to encourage more bee life to come into my garden so I got this nice plant as per recommended by one of the native nursery staff. I got a seedling that had a tiny flower on it as I thought it would look cute in my garden, starting out with one tiny flower.

#4 Dichondra Repens (Kidney Weed)

This was the first plant I memorised when I joined my local bushcare group this year. The lady who taught me about it is also a tafe teacher and she was very impressed with me when I remembered what it was. She was so impressed that she gave me a little bit to take home. It now grows in a hanging pot just above my Happy Wanderer, Warrigal Green and Mulberry Bush.

#5 Clematis vitalba (Old Mans Beard)

I like this one because it's a nice draping plant and it also put my new native plant knowledge to work at the gallery. I was able to give one of the local staff advice on how to fix their Old Mans Beard and they were really appreciative of the advice too. This new knowledge I have attained has helped me in more ways than I initially imagined. It just goes to show that expanding your knowledge and stepping outside your comfort zone can be such a valuable thing to do. It not only has been improving my practise but also my quality of life.