Gardening Australia - Native Beauty

Australia has a variety of climates and soil conditions, and gardeners need to be familiar with their own local area in order to pick the plants they will be most successful in growing. While some gardeners might prefer to face the challenges of planting and maintaining introduced species from Europe, many Australian gardeners, like gardeners worldwide, are turning to native plants. The Australian National Botanic Gardens, part of the Department of Environment and Heritage, is a valuable source of many kinds of information for gardening Australia.

Planting seeds, whether in containers for later transplant or directly into the garden, means that the gardener needs to know when to plant, how deeply to plant, how far apart to plant, and so on. Native plant gardening may require the gardener to re-think some of his or her basic assumptions about the garden maintenance.

In dry climates, native plants will be more drought-tolerant than European or tropical imports. Native plants will also be more resistant to native pests than imports. Consequently, pest control and watering may be less than a gardener is used to, but other kinds of maintenance will still be needed.

Edible Plants or Non-edible Plants?

Deciding whether to plant for beauty, for food, or for some other function may be difficult for a person who wants to grow native plants but is not familiar with what they look like or what they do. Many Australian plants that were use by the Aboriginal peoples contain toxins which need to be removed through special preparation. Plants can also be chosen for their medicinal qualities, but again one needs to do some research on the plants.

If you decide that you don’t want to plant native plants but still want a garden that works well with the climate and land of your part of Australia, you may want to look into planting for Mediterranean gardens. A northern hemisphere plant that thrives on rainfall will not do well without a struggle in a dry part of the southern hemisphere, but a plant from a country around the Mediterranean which has a dry season and a rainy season could flourish.

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