Story Title: Aussie Natives
Episode: Summer Garden Special
Date: January 15th 2010
Presenter: Sue McDougall

When we think of Kings Park, we usually think of the gorgeous spring flowering displays of local west Aussie plants. It’s a great place to bring international visitors to see our unique flora without having to travel 100’s of kilometres.

Sue’s Tips and Facts

• What many of us don’t realise is a lot of our local Australian plants also flower in summer.
• If you are a spring gardener and only come here for the wild flower festival you are missing out on viewing some striking plants that not only flower brilliantly at this time of the year, but are suited to planting in your own garden.

• If your garden is in desperate need of some shade, the Summer Red flowering gum trees has huge brightly coloured flowers in summer and early autumn.
• One of its parents, the red flowering gum can vary in flower colour from white to red and every shade in between.
• Buying a grafted variety will guarantee brilliant flowers when the tree is young.
• Grevilleas, are so easy to grow and are available in a huge range of colours, growth habits and foliage forms.
• There are varieties suited to growing in alkaline soil or heavy clay and one thing you can be guaranteed of is attracting the birds to your garden when there are Grevilleas in flower.

• Even if you don’t love Grevilleas, only having one plant in full flower is enough to support a family of honey-eaters.
• One of the keys to creating a microclimate in your garden that allows you to plant a diverse range of species is choosing plants of varying heights. The larger trees or shrubs will shade the lower plantings. The ground covers act as living mulch and keep the soil cool, which is important for a summer garden and saves you water.