Prickly-leaved Paperbark
The Prickly-leaved Paperbark is a grand, slow-growing native timber tree that easily surpasses 3 meters, frequently reaching 10 to 15 meters in open landscapes. It features a spectacular trunk wrapped in thick, spongy, cream-and-tan peeling papery bark, topped with a weeping canopy of small, twisted, prickly-pointed green leaves. It yields white bottle-brush flowers in summer, serving as an exceptional acreage shade or durable rural windbreak. Where will it live: Sunny garden Watering: Some Best for: Privacy / Wildlife Height: Very Large (>3m)
Prostrate Woollybush
This lower-growing relative of the Albany Woollybush forms a soft, sprawling mound or groundcover around 50cm to 1 meter high. It shares the same velvety, fine, touchable green foliage with a distinct purple-red tint on new growth, complemented by small pinkish-red flowers. It is excellent for cascading over retaining walls, trailing out of large outdoor pots, or softening the edges of sunny garden paths. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Pot outside Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Medium (30cm-1m)
Prostrate Wyalong Wattle
This ground-hugging variation of the Wyalong Wattle retains the beautiful, soft, heart-shaped green foliage of the parent plant but forms a dense mat less than a meter tall, spreading widely across the ground. It acts as a fantastic living weed-suppressing mulch for sunny garden beds and rockeries, bursting into a vibrant carpet of golden flowers during spring. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Pot outside Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Medium (30cm-1m)
Queensland Box
The Queensland Box is a stately, fast-growing native timber tree that easily surpasses 3 meters, frequently reaching 10 to 15 meters in cultivated landscapes. It features a straight trunk with smooth, pinkish-brown shedding bark and a highly uniform, densely rounded dome canopy of large, glossy deep-green leaves. It yields clusters of feathery white flowers in summer, serving as an elite, high-impact shade tree or heavy-duty acreage windbreak. Where will it live: Sunny garden Watering: Some Best for: Privacy / Wildlife Height: Very Large (>3m)
Rapier Featherflower
The Rapier Featherflower is a stunning, intricately branched native shrub growing between 1 to 2 meters high and wide. It features narrow, cylindrical grey-green leaves along sprawling branches, and sets the spring-and-summer garden alight by producing a profusion of highly unique, brilliant pendulous red flowers highlighted by long, feathery styles that look like delicate fringed lanterns. It loves open sun-baked positions. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Pot outside Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Privacy / Wildlife Height: Large (1-3m)
Red Kangaroo Paw
This vibrant variation forms a dense clump of strap-like foliage from which striking, fuzzy, deep-crimson flower stems arise, reaching heights up to 1 meter. The curved, paw-shaped red flowers provide a brilliant splash of color and serve as an important nectar source for small native birds. It performs best in a sunny open spot with good air circulation, adapting easily to garden beds or large containers. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Pot outside Watering: Some Best for: Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Medium (30cm-1m)
Red Mountain Grevillea
This vibrant color form of the Mountain Grevillea shares the same soft, compact mounding growth habit of 50cm to 1 meter high, but distinguishes itself by producing dense clusters of bright, fiery red tubular flowers. The intense red blooms popping out against the woolly green foliage create an extraordinary visual contrast in winter. It handles extended dry spells with ease once established in sunny native borders or pots[cite: 23]. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Pot outside Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Medium (30cm-1m)
Red Pokers
Red Pokers is an absolutely extraordinary, erect native shrub growing 3 to 5 meters tall, world-renowned for its intensely striking floral spikes. It features long, narrow, linear green foliage and puts on an unforgettable, breathtaking display in winter and spring, producing massive, 15cm long poker-like flower spikes in an intense, glowing orange-red along the old wood branches. It requires full sun and sharp drainage to thrive[cite: 27]. Where will it live: Sunny garden Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Privacy / Wildlife Height: Very Large (>3m)
Red-leg Grass
Red-leg Grass is a tough, tufted native perennial grass that grows in reddish-green clumps between 30cm and 80cm tall. It features distinctly reddish-purple stems and narrow flowering spikes that appear in late summer and autumn, offering high tolerance to heat, drought, heavy grazing, and poor soils. It acts as an excellent, low-maintenance structural groundcover for sunny clay beds and provides food and cover for local insects and birds. Where will it live: Sunny garden Watering: Minimal Best for: Wildlife Height: Medium (30cm-1m)
Red-stemmed Wattle
This robust shrub or small tree grows around 3 to 6 meters high and gets its name from its distinctive reddish bark and stems, which intensify in color during winter. It features pale yellow flowers in late winter and spring. It is incredibly adaptable, easily tolerating rocky, poor soils and heavy frosts, making it a reliable and colorful choice for rural landscaping and privacy screening. Where will it live: Sunny garden Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Privacy / Wildlife Height: Very Large (>3m)
River Tea-tree
The River Tea-tree is a fast-growing, upright native evergreen shrub reaching a height of 2 to 3 meters. It features attractive, bright-green obovate leaves that release a pleasant aroma when crushed, and bears a dense succession of starry white flowers in summer. Thriving naturally along damp watercourses, it is a specialized selection for heavy clay soils and wet depressions receiving lots of water, serving as an effective screen. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Shady spot Watering: Lots Best for: Privacy / Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Large (1-3m)
Robin Redbreast Bush
The Robin Redbreast Bush is a stunning, upright native evergreen shrub reaching a height of 1.5 to 2.5 meters. It features clean, narrow bright green foliage and bears a spectacular, highly reliable seasonal display of large, cylindrical bottle-brush flower spikes in an intense, fiery orange-scarlet color along the older stems. It responds beautifully to pruning, thrives in sun-baked borders, and acts as a major magnet for honeyeaters. Where will it live: Sunny garden Watering: Some Best for: Flowers & colour / Privacy / Wildlife Height: Large (1-3m)
Rock Mintbush
The Rock Mintbush is a slender, graceful native shrub growing roughly 60cm to 1.2 meters tall, naturally adapted to rocky escarpments. It features fine, narrow green leaves that emit a pleasant herbal scent, paired with a long-lasting display of dainty white-to-pale-mauve bell flowers from spring through summer. It handles partial shade well, adding fantastic soft texture and color to rockeries or external courtyard pots. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Shady spot / Pot outside Watering: Some Best for: Flowers & colour / Fragrance / Wildlife Height: Medium (30cm-1m)
Rosemary Grevillea (Local Form)
The local form of the Rosemary Grevillea is a tough, densely branched native shrub growing roughly 1 to 1.5 meters high. It features narrow, rigid, pine-like dark green leaves that resemble culinary rosemary, paired with a heavy winter-and-spring display of complex, curved pinkish-red and cream spider flowers. It is exceptionally drought and frost-hardy, adapting easily to poor gravelly or clay soils in open sunny borders[cite: 27]. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Pot outside Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Large (1-3m)
Rough Spear-grass
Rough Spear-grass is a slender, fine-leaved tufted native grass growing between 30cm and 80cm tall. It produces delicate, fine flowering spikes that shimmer in the sunlight during late spring, acting as a crucial element in native grassland restoration and an attractive habitat for local wildlife. It is highly resilient, thriving in dry, sun-baked, or nutrient-poor soils where other plants struggle. Where will it live: Sunny garden Watering: Minimal Best for: Wildlife Height: Medium (30cm-1m)
Rough Wattle
Characterized by its distinctly rough, resinous, and hairy foliage, the Rough Wattle is a small to medium shrub reaching up to 2 meters in height. It produces pale yellow, fluffy flower heads from winter through to early spring, providing crucial early-season nectar for native pollinators. It thrives in tough, dry conditions, preferring sandy or gravelly soils in open, sunny positions. Where will it live: Sunny garden Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Large (1-3m)
Round-leaf Wattle
The Round-leaf Wattle is a charming, low, sprawling shrub that typically grows to a height of 1 to 1.5 meters. It features small, neat, rounded green foliage clustered along arching stems that become completely hidden under bright golden-yellow flower balls in spring. It looks fantastic cascading over rockeries, filling out low garden beds, or growing in a decorative outdoor pot. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Pot outside Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Large (1-3m)
Round-leaved Mintbush
The Round-leaved Mintbush is an exceptionally popular, fast-growing native evergreen shrub reaching a height of 1.5 to 2.5 meters with a dense, bushy footprint. It features tiny, rounded dark-green leaves that are intensely aromatic, releasing a rich mint-perfume across the garden. Throughout spring, it bears an absolute profusion of dense, cascading clusters of vibrant purple-violet flowers, making a premier informal privacy hedge. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Shady spot Watering: Some Best for: Privacy / Fragrance / Flowers & colour Height: Large (1-3m)
Running Postman
The Running Postman is an exceptionally tough, prostrate native groundcover that stays under 10cm in height but spreads widely up to 1.5 meters across to form a dense carpet. It features distinctive, rounded green leaves with wavy, crinkled margins, topped with a massive spring display of bright, fiery scarlet-red pea flowers. It acts as an elite living mulch for binding baked banks or cascading out of courtyard pots[cite: 27]. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Shady spot / Pot outside Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Small (<30cm)
Rusty Hakea
The Rusty Hakea is a tough, multi-stemmed upright native shrub growing roughly 1.5 to 2.5 meters high, featuring long, narrow, cylindrical needle-like leaves with small grooves. In spring, it erupts into a spectacular display of densely clustered mauve-pink to purplish flowers that line the upright branches, accented by brown furry bracts. It thrives in dry, rocky, or nutrient-poor soils in open sun-baked positions[cite: 27]. Where will it live: Sunny garden Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Large (1-3m)
Sand Grevillea
The Sand Grevillea is a robust, heavily branched native shrub growing 1.5 to 3 meters high, distinguished by its attractive, soft oval green leaves that have a silky, silvery downy underside. From winter to summer, it bears highly unique, curved bell-shaped flowers that transition through shades of pink, green, and red to feed native honeyeaters. It trims beautifully, allowing it to be shaped into a decorative, dense privacy hedge[cite: 23]. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Shady spot Watering: Minimal Best for: Privacy / Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Large (1-3m)
Scarlet Mintbush
The Scarlet Mintbush is an extraordinary, highly decorative small native shrub growing between 30cm and 60cm tall. It features tiny, narrow linear green leaves packed with essential oils that release a rich, refreshing mint aroma when brushed against. In spring and summer, it sets the garden alight, completely filling its tight frame with bright, tubular fiery-scarlet to orange flowers that draw in native honeyeaters. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Pot outside Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Fragrance / Wildlife Height: Medium (30cm-1m)
Scrub Sheoak
The Scrub Sheoak is a compact, dense, and multi-stemmed native shrub growing between 1 and 3 meters tall. It features fine, dark-green needle-like foliage that rustles beautifully in the breeze and handles damp, poorly drained soils far better than most other sheoaks. It serves as an excellent low-level structural privacy screen or windbreak and provides safe nesting sites and food for native birds. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Shady spot Watering: Some Best for: Privacy / Wildlife Height: Large (1-3m)
Sea Urchin Hakea
The Sea Urchin Hakea is a robust native large shrub or small tree growing 3 to 5 meters high with a neat, rounded canopy. It features large, broad, distinctively oval blue-grey foliage, and sets the winter garden alight by producing a heavy display of spherical pincushion flowers that transition from pale lime-green to a rich, deep purple highlighted by cream styles, looking like sea urchins along the stems. It is highly drought-hardy[cite: 27]. Where will it live: Sunny garden Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Privacy / Wildlife Height: Very Large (>3m)
Showy Parrot-pea
Living up to its name, the Showy Parrot-pea is an erect, slender native shrub growing around 50cm to 1 meter tall, featuring fine, soft, upward-pointing needle leaves. In spring, it produces a breathtaking, highly dense column of flowers, with pairs of bright yellow, orange, and intense red-purple pea blossoms packed tightly along the upright stems. It looks spectacular when mass-planted in a sunny native garden bed or rocky border. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Shady spot Watering: Minimal Best for: Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Medium (30cm-1m)
Showy Podolepis / Copper-wire Daisy
The Showy Podolepis is a striking native perennial herb forming a basal rosette of lance-shaped green leaves, from which rise rigid, copper-wire-like stems up to 40cm to 60cm high. Throughout spring and summer, each stem is crowned with a large, spectacularly detailed bright golden-yellow daisy flower head with deeply fringed petal tips that attract native butterflies. It loves a sunny, well-drained spot in borders or pots. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Pot outside Watering: Some Best for: Flowers & colour / Wildlife Height: Medium (30cm-1m)
Sieber's Mintbush
Sieber's Mintbush is a highly robust, fast-growing native shrub that reaches a structural height of 1.5 to 3 meters, developing a neat, dense, bushy form. It features highly ornamental, deeply toothed oval leaves that release a strong, invigorating mint aroma when brushed, and bears a heavy spring display of large clusters of mauve-pink flowers. It trims beautifully, allowing it to be shaped into a highly decorative privacy screen. Where will it live: Sunny garden / Shady spot Watering: Some Best for: Privacy / Fragrance / Flowers & colour Height: Large (1-3m)