The New England region is rich in Australian plants. Some are widespread and are found in other regions while others are confined to our part of the world.
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National parks, other protected areas, travelling stock reserves, private land are all home to a wide and interesting range of native plants. The plants described will all take kindly to cultivation in local gardens.
Grevillea scortechinii is known as the backwater grevillea because it is found in this area near Guyra. The backwater grevillea is basically a groundcover but this species has what could be called adventurous stems.
When growing near other plants the long stems will clamber into them and become a semi-climber. The stems may be many metres long. In the garden plants, if required, may be pruned to form dense ground covers.
The toothbrush-shaped flowers and are black or deep maroon. They appear in spring and summer and are an unusual feature.
The backwater grevillea would be an ideal plant for slopes and embankments.
Callistemon pungens occurs in many places in our area. Populations are found west of Uralla, near Hillgrove and many points in between. This bottlebrush will grow into a tall shrub but with judicious pruning may be kept to a dense 3m height.
The flower spikes are six centimetres long, three centimetres wide, purple and cover plants in late spring.
Callistemon pungens is becoming widely cultivated and makes an ideal hedge plant. There is a form that grows in New England National Park that has red-violet brushes. This is likely to be a new species.
Prostanthera scutellarioides, a native mint bush, is a small shrub that reaches a height of about 1m in our garden. This species does not have aromatic foliage.
Flowers are prominent, deep mauve and about one centimetre long. Blooms are present from September to December with sporadic flowers at other times.
Prostanthera scutellarioides is a handsome small shrub that could be grown as a bordering plant along paths.
Acacia dawsonii, the mitta mitta wattle, is a small species reaching a maximum height of 1.5 metres. Foliage is long and narrow and flowers are bright yellow and carried in globular clusters. This wattle has colonised the roadside 20 kilometres east of Armidale along the Waterfall Way.
The mitta mitta wattle is small enough to grow as a colourful foreground plant in garden beds.
These are just a few of the local native plants that are worth cultivating. We will return to this topic in the future.
