If you wanted to create a garden of nothing but Australian plants, you would have a cornucopia of beauties from which to choose.

You could find ground covers, shrubs, and trees that flower magnificently and perform as advertised, once established, with no more than a single monthly deep soaking, no matter how hot it gets. By the same token, if a heat wave is predicted, it would be advisable to water deeply and then again when the heat wave is over.

I was enlightened as to the diversity and toughness of Australian native plants in a conversation with Jo O’Connell. She is the proprietor of Australian Native Plants, a nursery in Casitas Springs, located halfway between Ojai and Ventura. Checking the nursery’s inventory, the vast majority of several hundred selections were a mystery to me; I had never heard of them before. If you are in search of the exotic, this is clearly the place to go.

O’Connell first came to the area in 1989. At the time, she had been working as a horticulturist at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. John Taft, a Ventura real estate developer, was intrigued by the idea of bringing Australian plants to his property above Lake Casitas. He recruited O’Connell for the job since he also wanted plants that would attract birds and reasoned that her zoo experience uniquely qualified her to undertake this mission. Incidentally, the Taft Gardens are a distinctive horticultural venue in their own right, featuring Australian, South African, and California natives. You can arrange a tour at taftgardens.org

While working on Taft’s landscaping project, O’Connell met the man who would become her husband. Soon after their marriage, he gave her an acre of land to do with as she pleased and the idea of a nursery devoted to Australian native plants was born. Initially, she scoured nurseries throughout California in search of Australian natives she could use for propagation purposes in building nursery stock. Later, O’Connell would regularly travel Down Under to collect seeds and take cuttings – with all necessary permits – of plants that she thought worthy of introducing into Southern California gardens.

I asked O’Connell to identify her personal favorites in the ground cover, shrub, and tree categories. To my surprise, she heartily endorsed Scaevola – specifically, the Mauve Clusters variety – as a ground cover. Also known as fan flower due to its floral form, I had always considered Scaevola (SKAY-vo-la) to be a delicate plant that lived two years at the most before its demise. Yet O’Connell has many specimens growing in two-gallon containers that are more than ten years old. Moreover, she never fertilizes these potted specimens.

“If they begin to look a little sad, I just cut them back and they start flowering again. Scaevola really is one of the toughest plants you can grow,” she enthuses. Although Scaevola flowers are classically mauve or purple, you will also find varieties with pink or white blooms.

I should add that O’Connell has never changed the soil in the ceramic pots in which her Scaevola of decade-plus years are thriving. So of course I had to ask for the recipe of this magic mix. “I grow all of my nursery stock in it,” she confided. “It is a soilless mix that consists of 30% pumice, 30% perlite, 25% peat, and 15% fir bark fines.” True, this is a somewhat pricey mix, but the results make it a worthwhile investment.

It would appear that it’s the fir bark fines that make O’Connell’s mix special. Fir bark fines (made from Douglas fir, Southern California’s most popular Christmas tree and America’s most widely used construction lumber) are what remains after fir bark has been chopped up and sifted, and all the larger chunks and nuggets – the bark in orchid bark – have been removed. The largest fines are only 1/8″ inch in size, yet they are loaded with minerals essential to plants, including phosphorus, potassium, copper, manganese, and iron. It should also be noted that both fir bark fines and peat moss lower soil pH, an important fact since Australian natives require a slightly acid pH of 5-5.5. O’Connell mentioned that any container mix whose label touts it as suitable for palms, citrus, and cacti is also acceptable for growing Australian natives – and, I might add, for potted California natives as well.

Due to Southern California’s generally alkaline soil, which prevents iron from being absorbed by plant roots, it may be necessary to add supplemental iron to the soil where Australian natives are planted. Interveinal chlorosis is the most common symptom of iron deficiency, appearing as yellowing between veins on older leaves.

“For immediate effect, apply iron chelate,” O’Connell recommends, “and for long-term results, fertilize with iron sulfate or soil (agricultural) sulfur.”

These products can be mixed in with soil when planting or added topically according to necessity. I asked about a general fertilizer for Australian plants, having heard that phosphorus is not healthy for them since it is virtually absent from their native soil.

“I recommend a 17-3-6 (percentages of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) for container growing. Never apply a fertilizer that contains more than 3 percent phosphorus,” she cautioned. “I don’t fertilize plants once they are in the ground, although well-decomposed mulch is spread on the soil around them.”

When I asked O’Connell about her favorite woody perennials and shrubs, she extolled the Eremophila genus.

“The relationship of California gardeners to Salvias is the same as that of Australian gardeners to Eremophilas,” she explained.

Just as Salvias, commonly known as sages, have flowers in many colors and attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, so too do Eremophilas, sometimes referred to as emu bushes. There is also great diversity within both genera, with plant types ranging from ground covers to compact subshrubs, to robust shrubs that reach eight feet tall. O’Connell heartily endorses Eremophila glabra Kalgoorlie; it has grey-green foliage and vivid orange blooms, growing three feet tall with a spread of eight feet.

As for trees, O’Connell considers Banksia integrifolia not only one of the toughest but also one of the most ornamental. Its thick cylindrical, pale yellow flower clusters are six inches long and bloom from fall until spring. What’s more, these flowers last in vase arrangements, are suitable for dry, everlasting bouquets, and are also used in making wreaths. In the span of 10 years, this easily manageable tree will grow to a height of 25 feet.

Geraldton waxflower (Chamelaucium spp.) is my favorite Australian plant. It’s a highly drought-tolerant, airy shrub that can grow up to eight feet tall and is covered with pink or purple blooms. It’s well known for its popularity as a cut flower; lasting three weeks in a vase and thereby earning its “waxflower” moniker. Having broached the subject, I asked O’Connell about the usefulness of Australian shrubs and trees in general when it comes to flowers suitable for vase arrangements.

“The flowers of all of them admirably serve this purpose,” she proudly informed me.

O’Connell’s nursery has an international reach. Not only have botanic gardens and nurseries throughout North America ordered her plants, but she was the only nursery, other than one in Australia itself, that was called upon by the Singaporean government when Gardens By The Bay in Singapore were being planned. The gardens were meant to showcase Mediterranean climate flora, meaning the native plants of California, Chile, South Africa, the Mediterranean region, and Australia.

In closing, I asked if O’Connell had some general horticultural words of wisdom to impart.

“Never plant a dry plant in a dry hole,” she proclaimed.

Now that our soil has begun to dry out from winter rain, this advice is well worth heeding. Take your containerized plant and place it in a bucket or tub filled with several inches of water. Let it sit there for up to 12 hours. In this way, water soaked through capillary action will completely saturate the root ball prior to planting. Then, before planting, fill the planting hole with water, let it drain through, and then fill it and let it drain a second time. This practice will provide an extra measure of soil moisture that will ease your plant’s transition into the garden.

Visits to O’Connell’s nursery are by appointment only. Arrange a visit through the website at australianplants.com or over the phone at 800-701-6517.

California native of the week: Climbing or heart-leaved penstemon (Keckeilla cordifolia) is an unusual species that, while not exactly a vine, will wind its way through adjacent shrubs, displaying dazzling red-orange flowers that burst forth amidst the foliage of its host. Its tubular flowers will remind you of the more familiar penstemons, to which it is related, that grow as annuals or perennials in drought-tolerant flower gardens. While semi-evergreen along the coast, climbing penstemon will lose all its leaves inland during scorching summer weather. Yellow bush snapdragon (Keckiella antirrhinoides) is a shrub that reaches a height and girth of five feet. It has pale yellow flowers that turn black as they dry on the plant. It can withstand summer temperatures that exceed 100 degrees although it will go completely leafless in the process. Both species of Keckiella are available at the Theodore Payne Foundation (theodorepayne.org) in Sun Valley.

If you have an experience with Australian natives that you would like to pass along, please send an email to [email protected]. Your questions, comments, and photos pertaining to any plant or gardening subject are always welcome.

Related Articles