Plants

Hakea (Hakea spp.): Australia’s Overlooked Proteaceae Giant Hakea is a genuinely large Australian native genus that lives somewhat in the shadow of its more famous Proteaceae relatives, banksia and grevillea, despite containing well over 150 species and displaying some of the most visually striking flowers and fruit found anywhere in the family. From delicate, spidery … Read more

Dwarf Bottlebrush (Callistemon cultivar): The Compact Version of an Australian Garden Icon Dwarf bottlebrush describes a group of compact, selectively bred cultivars developed from the much larger wild Callistemon species native to Australia, offering the same dramatic, brush-like flower spikes in a size that actually fits a small garden, a border, or even a large … Read more

Woolly Bush (Adenanthos sericeus): The Soft-Foliaged Shrub From Australia’s Wild South Coast Woolly bush is a genuinely distinctive Australian native shrub, instantly recognizable by foliage so finely divided and velvet-soft that running a hand across it feels closer to touching fur than leaves. That remarkable texture, paired with a naturally conical growth habit, has made … Read more

Pigface (Carpobrotus spp.): The Coastal Succulent With an Identity Problem Pigface is a tough, sprawling succulent groundcover found on sand dunes and coastal cliffs across several continents, instantly recognizable when in bloom for its vivid pink flowers scattered across thick, triangular, fleshy leaves. Its genuinely edible fruit and remarkable tolerance for salt spray, wind, and … Read more

Correa Plant: The Australian Native Fuchsia That Isn’t a Fuchsia Correa is a small genus of Australian native shrubs best known by its common name, native fuchsia or Australian fuchsia, a name earned entirely through the shape of its dangling, tubular flowers rather than any actual botanical relationship to true fuchsias. Its considerable value as … Read more

Australia is home to more than 25,000 native plant species, and the vast majority occur nowhere else on the planet, a direct result of millions of years spent evolving in isolation to cope with nutrient-poor soil, unpredictable rainfall, and genuinely fierce sun and heat. That evolutionary history is exactly why so many Australian natives make … Read more

Hop bush is a tough, adaptable evergreen shrub with one of the most genuinely remarkable distribution stories of any plant in cultivation, a species that spread across 6 continents entirely on its own, without any help from human cultivation, over roughly the last 2 million years. Its colorful, papery seed capsules and willingness to thrive … Read more

Photinia × fraseri became one of the most widely planted hedge shrubs across the American South almost entirely because of a single, specific visual trait: brilliant red new growth that flushes across the entire plant several times a year before fading to a deep, glossy green. For decades, that dramatic seasonal color made it the … Read more

Westringia fruticosa is one of the toughest, most reliably low-maintenance shrubs an Australian or Mediterranean-climate gardener can plant, a dense, silvery-green evergreen that shrugs off salt spray, relentless coastal wind, and drought with equal indifference. Its common name, coast rosemary, points directly at the reason for its popularity: a passing resemblance to true rosemary that’s … Read more

Tea Tree (Leptospermum spp.): The Plant Behind Manuka Honey Tea tree is the common name for roughly 90 species in the genus Leptospermum, a group of small-leaved, spiky, evergreen shrubs and small trees almost entirely native to Australia, with a handful of species also found in New Zealand and parts of Southeast Asia. The name … Read more