Australian Native Plants in our gardens

[Paul T]

Mike,

Kangaroo Paws range from over 2 metres tall in some varieties, down to 30cm tall in other varieties.  They're coming into full bloom at work at the ANBG at the moment, so I've phtoographed a few different ones in the last few days.  As I get to them I'll be posting them in the ANBG topic.  They range through red, yellow, green, pink etc in both tall and short varieties (the shorter varieties are what is being bred and released in nurseries now-a-days predominantly, even a dwarf white form now) and assorted bicolor types.  The Western Australian floral emblem is Anigozanthus manglesii which is a red/green bicolor to about 60cm tall (from memory).  It is a bit touchier to grow than most of the new ones, which I think are based from the original A. flavidus (which is likely to be the taller type that you have seen in a Bot Garden) which has been available for many years in nurseries.  Many of the newer varieties are resistant to "ink spot", a fungal disease that leaves ugly black spots on the leaves and affects the health of the plant.  The older varieties so often were plagued by this.

As you like them in particular, I'll make more of an effort to track down other varieties to photograph and post in the ANBG topic.

[Maggi Young]

In the UK we see "kangeroo paw" in cut flower bouquets from the "better" florists.... i.e. more expensive!
I have no idea where these are grown or the UK market....... perhaps Luit can tell us if these are a glasshouse crop in the Netherlands?

[Michael]

Thank you very much Paul!
Yes i really like these, as they are new to me. I used to see them on nature series on TV, with birds pollinating them. But to see them in real life is even more interesting. I like the velvety appearance of the flowers and their arrangement on the spike. The one i have seen was deep red (no idea of the species). I guess it was in flower in August (here in Madeira).

Maggie i am surprised that you can find such a different plant, from so far away, on flowershops there. HEre i had never seen them. Only the same boring things year after year... I hope that this will change soon

[mark smyth]

Paul it's good to read you are working.

[Paul T]

Mike,

I was at a local market this morning and picked up a very dwarf variety of kangaroo paw.... only grows to maybe 35cm tall or so at the maximum, and it is only 3/4 of that in the pot at the moment.  I haven't come across one that small before, so I just HAD to buy it! 

Mark,

I worked at the ANBG from April to June and then got another contract from the beginning of September until the end of next June.  After that I can but hope to get another contract, but at least I'll have been working there for more than 12 months by that time, which will help for the future, wherever I may be working.  So nice to be well enough to be working again, particularly as it is most definitely quite heavy work at times and I seem to be surviving it just fine.

[Lvandelft]

In the UK we see "kangeroo paw" in cut flower bouquets from the "better" florists.... i.e. more expensive!
I have no idea where these are grown or the UK market....... perhaps Luit can tell us if these are a glasshouse crop in the Netherlands?

I believe they come mostly from other countries like S. America or Africa, because marketed from November to April.
Would cost to much of energy here to make it profitable, I think.
Last years lots of "kangeroo paw" are offered as pot plants, (from a special breeding programme) and they are grown here.

[Michael]

I haven't come across one that small before, so I just HAD to buy it! 

Oh yes Paul, i understand you perfectly and know how that feeels like. I also tell my mum, that the main reason for wich i trade and buy plants to get new different ones, is not because i like them, but because i NEED them!! 

[Paul T]

This is an addendum to the Grevilleas in the ANBG topic.  It is Grevillea 'New Blood, which is a relatively new release ground sover.  I am growing it in a pot in my own garden.  The picture doesn't do it justice as it is a good blood red colouration.  Will be stunning as it increases in size.  Lots of buds are coming on it now, but I thought I would post a quick pic of it here now as I have been posting pics from teh same genus over in the ANBG thread.

Enjoy.

[Diane Whitehead]

I like grevilleas, too.  I'm not going out in the rain to photograph my two
winter flowering ones (G. victoriae and Canterbury Gold), so I will post
some pictures taken in southern Western Australia.  I have hopes that
they will prove hardy here - I'm sure they get icy winds from Antarctica
sometimes, and we are due for cold to come tumbling south from Alaska
this weekend.

I would prefer to grow tall ones - nice to look a flower in the eye, and
I wouldn't want our hummingbirds feeding at ground level in the way of
the neighbourhood cats.

However, mindful that this is a rock garden site, I will show only prostrate
ones, G.nivea, G. lanigera, G. Bronze Rambler, G. Gaudichaudi and G.
Boongala Spinebill.

[Paul T]

Diane,

In that case I shouldn't have posted a fraction of what I have posted in the Australian Natives at the ANBG topic, as very few of them would be useful in a rock garden situation.  I don't think we're that limited here are we?

Thanks for posting the pictures.  Nice to see more Aussies getting around the world. 

[Diane Whitehead]

No, we're a very inclusive group.

I do find it interesting how many Australian woody plants
creep.

[Paul T]

So... re you calling Australian creepy then? 

We do have groundcover versions of a lot of our plants.  I think it is just that given our harsh conditions here plants evolve clones to fill different niches.  We have many shrubs that have low versions of them, the only difference being their growth habit and nothing else.

[Diane Whitehead]

It might also have something to do with how much space they get to spread.

[Paul T]

I have wondered whether groundcover plants have evolved that way to give themselves some wind protection, and also to provide a cooler root zone.  That way they create their own shade for their roots, and trap moisture below it?  I have no idea of the accepted reasons, just my own musings.

[Diane Whitehead]

Paul,

You mentioned you are happy to see your native plants being
grown elsewhere.

One odd thing to me, is that it is only your woody plants we
grow along the Pacific coast of North America.  Eucalyptus,
Correa, Grevillea, and a couple of Banksias (I think - I haven't
tried them yet) grow here on the coast of Canada.

Why don't we grow any of the non-woody ones? Are they more
difficult?  Have people tried and given up?  Recently, Scaevola
has been sold as "basket stuffers" for hanging baskets and other
containers.  I don't know whether anyone has tried them as
permanent garden plants.