Two have gone onto a raised mound, and the third at ground level but with a dose of gypsum in case there is clay below the root ball. Mounds need only be 120 mm above ground level to achieve the drainage required.

This is the hardiest of the kangaroo paws and is used in breeding the new hybrids that are in many nurseries these days. I must say that I like the species plants even though I admire the new colours.

The strappy leaves on this plant can grow up to a metre tall and the clump to a metre across. However the flower spikes can grow to two metres . The seed I was given came from plants that had these very tall spikes and many flowers on the stalk.

It grows best in moist, light to medium soils, in partial to full sun, but will tolerate dappled shade. It can be damaged by frost.

Black ink disease is a problem in misty areas or locations where there is not enough air movement. Slugs and snails will cause a lot of damage.

Do what you can to improve the drainage of the clay. Liberal sprinkling with gypsum, at least a Kg per sq metre is required. The rain will wash it in or you can water it in.

Here are some shade loving plants that tolerate full sun, and vice versa! Most of these will require some water in Summer once established, to keep them at their best. A mulch in summer will assist with evening out the soil temperature.

Plants for Full Sun amd Full Shade

Dianella revoluta and Dianella tasmanica are good ones.
Bauera rubioides (will need summer water)
Banksia robur
Boronia denticulata
Brachysema lanceolatum
Callistemon citrinus and forms of this- Anzac, Burgundy, Endeavour, Mauve Mist, Western Glory,
Calytrix tetragona
Senna artemisioides
Chorizema cordatum
Correa decumbens
Correa ‘Dusky Bells’
Correa pulchella forms
Crowea exalata
Crowea saligna
Dampiera diversifolia
Epacris impressa
Eriostemon verrucosus
Grevillea buxifolia
Grevillea lanigera
Hardenbergia violacea any colour
Hibbertia scandens
Kennedia nigricans
Prostanthera ovalifolia (summer water)
Viola hederacea

This is the very useful comment made by ‘Roughbarked’.

Milk cartons as pots and tree guards.

I use a knife and stab the cartoon on each of the four faces once, in or near each corner. If you use a knife long enough you can stab right through two sides at once, flip the carton stab it again the same way and the job is done. I also cut the folded top part off so that all cartons have a neat and equal size. The stabbing leaves only slits so the water can drain but not drain too rapidly. Yes, the bottom of the carton will deteriorate and I have often just slipped the old carton off and slid the lot into a new one.

The benefits of milk cartons as a pot for natives are the long straight sides and the corners. The roots will hit the corners and follow the water down to the slits I cut. This creates a healthy root system that cannot become pot bound.

When planting out from milk cartons, I will point out that it is the only useable pot for natives, that does not have to be upended. I just tear or cut the bottom off, grasp the carton by the top and drop it downwards. The plant roots and mix all stay together and slide out into the hole you have dug. The milk carton slides upwards. Stop it just before it slides all the way off. Water and backfill the hole leaving the milk carton as a tree guard. Done with skill, this does not require stakes to hold the carton erect. The carton will remain for up to two years as a tree guard that is biodegradable and will not cause the trees stress by becoming a tourniquet, as some plastic tree guards do.

There are some things to consider.

• There is a need to ensure that watering is deep.
• Choose plants from areas which have the same rainfall situation ie same amount of rain, at the same time of year. This is to ensure that plants will get minimum exposure to the high salinity.
• If possible place highly desirable plants near an alternative water source, eg rain water, to get them well established without the saline water.

List of Australian Native Plants with salt tolerance.

1^st Line Coast

Ground Covers, Climbers and Low Spreading Plants

Correa decumbens

Dianella revoluta

Eremophila glabra prostrate cerise form

Eremopohila glabra prostrate red form

Grevillea ‘Seaspray’

Isolepis nodosa

Kunzea pomifera

Leuocophyta brownii

Orthrosanthos laxus

Rhagodia spinescens

Scaevola crassifolia

Templetonia retusa prostrate form

Shrubs 1-2m

Atriplex cinerea

Callistemon rugulosus

Eremophila calorhabdos

Eremophila glabra (Rottnest Island)

Hakea cycloptera

Olearia axillaries

Templetonia retusa

Westringia fruticosa

Shrubs over 2m.

Atriplex nummularia

Callistemon teretifolius

Hakea drupacea

Melaleuca nesophila

More lists will be available soon.

Swainsona formosa (Sturt's Desert Pea) Photo M Tranent

Swainsona formosa (Sturt's Desert Pea) Photo M Tranent

Swaisona formosa (Sturt's Desert Pea) Photo M Tranent

I was sent some lovely photos of Sturt’s Desert Pea by a reader of this blog. As you can see, the plant is dense and lush, as you would want to have it in the garden, not in a state of survival.

Sturt Peas need to be watered. They respond with excellent growth and numerous flowers. Water well pots are very good.

The only exception to this might be if you had a self sown plant. These are remarkably hardy as self sown plants seem to send the roots very deep.

They also respond to being fed. Use a fertiliser designed for native plants.

In the photos the plant is growing in a raised bed. It has been shown that so long as the planting mound is at least 10cm(4 inches) above the surrounding soil, that will give the required good drainage.

Olearia passerinoides (Daisy Bush)

Olearia passerinoides is a mallee daisy and is quite a large bush with bright  green leaves, different to many mallee daisies which often have grey green leaves. Although this is a shrub, to me it behaves as a perennial shrub, in that new growth appears along the older wood.

The bush has a tendency to become scruffy, with the leaves higher up the stems and the flowers also high. If it was cut back to the lower growths, it would have dense foliage and be a more compact plant, and I suspect the flowering would also be quite spectacular.

As usual, I promise myself that I will do this, and yet another season goes buy. Mine have just finished flowering, so out with the secateurs tomorrow, while I think of it.

Olearia passerinoides is drought, lime and frost tolerant. It has clusters of small white daisies and grows to 2-3m tall by about 1.5-2m wide if left to its own devices. Pruning will keep it to a more compact size.

The hot house has allowed me to keep the survival rate very high as the humidity keeps a blanket of moisture around the soft leaves. The next step is gradual hardening off.

I have a number of plants I am looking forward to planting out next month, taking advantage of the warm ground to get them growing well before the frosts slow things down. Unfortunately it means bucketing extra drinks to the plants until the rains in late autumn, but it will be worth it to have them well established before next summer.

I want to do a survey around town to see what has survived this summer and under what conditions, drippers, hand watering or none at all.

Dampiera rosmarinifolia

I found another good photo of this suckering plant which spreads by underground shoots form the root stock. It is a good hardy plant to have in a perennial border. It is easily kept confined.

It is drought tolerant and frost hardy and grows in lime soils.

More on Eremophilas can be seen here. Also see the category Eremophilas.

Australian native plants are being used to develop new antibacterial agents for coating biomedical implants (Source: Hans Griesser)

An extract from a flowering desert plant, used as traditional medicine by Indigenous Australians, could one day be used to coat hip transplants and other biomedical devices, say researchers.

Professor Hans Griesser and colleagues are presenting their work this week at a biomaterials conference at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

“We can learn so much from nature and traditional knowledge,” says Griesser, a materials scientist from the University of South Australia.

He says Aboriginal people use leaves of Eremophila plants, which grow in Australia’s desert areas, to make ointments for skin abrasions and gargles for throat infections.

More of the article can be read here.

Xanthorrhoea glauca ssp. angustifolia

I found this plant in Canberra Botanic gardens in the bush garden with other grasses and daisies. I assume that it is native to the area around Canberra. I could not find ant direct information about the plant. Most of the time I scrabbled around the base of plants in the garden looking for the aluminium tag attached to the plant to read what the species was. Unfortunately, I forgot to check other plants in the area in case there was further information.

Judging by the type of soil and location, I suggest that this plant needs good drainage. It is obviously frost hardy as it was in an exposed situation. There was a saying amongst the Australian Plant Society members that  if a plant grew in Canberra, it would survive any frost that formed in South Australia.