13 perfectly purple Australian native garden plants
Purple sits at the intersection of two pollinator strategies. It carries enough red to be visible to birds and enough blue to attract native bees. This means purple-flowered plants in the Australian flora are often working across multiple pollinator groups simultaneously.
Aniseed boronia (Boronia crenulata) — purple in the Australian flora attracts both native bees and honeyeaters simultaneously.
The result is a set of plants with some of the most varied and interesting blooms, from one-day ephemeral flowers and fragrant lilies, to a WA shrub that covers itself entirely in purple before it has produced a single leaf.
Eremophila — the contrast between silver-white and purple within the flowers is one of the most striking in the WA flora.
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1. Tree hovea (Hovea elliptica)
Tree hovea covers itself entirely in deep purple pea flowers before a single leaf has emerged for the season. This bare-stem mass flowering is a specific timing strategy. By flowering before the leaves emerge, the plant maximises pollinator access without the physical obstruction that foliage would create.
Tree hovea covers itself entirely in deep purple pea flowers before a single leaf has emerged for the season.
Melburnian, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
It grows naturally in the jarrah forest and coastal heath of southwestern WA, where it has one of the most spectacular early-season flowering events. It is not well known outside that region.
In the garden
Plant in part shade to full sun in free-draining, slightly acidic soil. It suits Mediterranean-climate gardens in WA and SA and tolerates moderate drought once established. Prune lightly after flowering with sharp secateurs. Like all legumes it fixes nitrogen through root nodules and improves soil nitrogen over time.
2. Purple flag iris (Patersonia occidentalis)
Purple flag iris flowers last for a single day only, opening in the morning and closing permanently by mid-afternoon. This strategy is a deliberate allocation of resources: rather than maintaining individual flowers for multiple days at significant metabolic cost, the plant produces a succession of new flowers across a long season.
Purple flag iris — each flower opens in the morning and closes permanently by mid-afternoon.
Jean and Fred Hort, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
It occurs across all states in a wide range of habitats from coastal heath to inland grassland, making it one of the most geographically adaptable native perennials available.
In the garden
Plant in full sun in free-draining, slightly acidic soil. It is drought-tolerant once established and tolerates light frost. It suits the front of a native border, gravel gardens and container planting. Divide congested clumps every three to four years using a hand fork to reinvigorate flowering.
3. Common fringe lily (Thysanotus tuberosus)
Common fringe lily is one of the most structurally distinctive native flowers available to Australian gardeners. The three inner petals of each flower are covered in dense, fine fringes along their entire margin — a feature so unusual that it has no parallel in any other native flowering plant.
Common fringe lily — the fringed petal margins have no parallel in any other native flowering plant.
The fringes are thought to be tactile guides for native bee pollinators, directing them toward the reproductive structures at the flower's centre. The plant grows from a small tuber and emerges annually in spring.
In the garden
Plant tubers in free-draining, slightly acidic soil in full sun. It suits gravel gardens, naturalised grassland plantings and the front of a native border. Use a slim trowel to plant tubers at the correct depth without disturbing surrounding soil.
4. Round-leaf mint bush (Prostanthera rotundifolia)
Round-leaf mint bush produces one of the most spectacular purple displays of any cool temperate native shrub. In spring, the entire plant is smothered in small purple to mauve flowers that cover every stem so completely the foliage nearly disappears.
Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Round-leaf mint bush — the foliage releases an intense peppermint fragrance at the slightest touch.
The foliage releases an intense, peppermint fragrance at the slightest touch. This fragrance comes from oil glands in the leaves. The Prostanthera genus belongs to the Lamiaceae family, the mint family, which places it in the same family as basil, rosemary, sage and thyme.
In the garden
Plant in part shade to full sun in free-draining, slightly acidic soil. Prune by one third immediately after flowering with sharp secateurs. Apply a low-phosphorus native fertiliser in early autumn. It suits the cool temperate gardens of TAS and the Victorian highlands particularly well.
5. Grass lily (Murdannia graminea)
Grass lily belongs to the Commelinaceae family — better known in Australia through the introduced wandering trad that are declared environmental weeds. The small three-petalled purple flowers are delicate and produced through the warmer months. It grows naturally in moist grassland, wetland margins and disturbed ground where it tolerates wet season inundation and drought.
Grass lily — a native member of the wandering trad family, producing delicate purple flowers through the warmer months.
In the garden
Plant in full sun to part shade in moist to moderately dry soil. It suits subtropical and tropical gardens across QLD, NSW and NT and performs well alongside plants that tolerate wet conditions. It spreads slowly from the base and is well suited to the edge of a water feature or a moist garden bed.
Why purple attracts bees and birds
True red flowers are largely invisible to bees; true blue flowers are less visible to birds than to bees. Purple, combining both wavelengths, is broadly visible to both groups — which is why purple-flowered plants in the Australian flora often attract a more diverse range of visitors than plants at either end of the spectrum.
6. Kangaroo apple (Solanum laciniatum)
Kangaroo apple is a fast-growing native shrub that produces large purple star-shaped flowers with prominent yellow anthers. The yellow anthers require buzz pollination, a technique used by native bees that involves gripping the anther and vibrating at a specific frequency to release the pollen.
Rl, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Kangaroo apple — the yellow anthers require buzz pollination, a technique only native bees can perform.
The flowers are followed by large green fruits that ripen to yellow, eaten by birds and, traditionally, by Aboriginal communities once fully ripe. The plant is genuinely fast-growing and provides dense screening and wildlife habitat within a single year of planting.
In the garden
Plant in full sun in free-draining soil. It tolerates a range of soil types including degraded and compacted soils, making it useful in difficult positions. It can be short-lived in cultivation so treat it as a fast pioneer plant rather than a permanent fixture. Cut back after fruiting with bypass loppers to maintain shape.
7. Black-anther flax lily (Dianella revoluta)
Black-anther flax lily provides two entirely distinct seasons of ornamental interest from a single plant. In spring it produces small but vivid purple to blue-purple star-shaped flowers with black anthers. The flowers attract native bees, which buzz-pollinate the anthers to release pollen. Through summer and autumn the spent flowers are replaced by vivid blue-purple berries.
Black-anther flax lily — purple flowers in spring, vivid blue-purple berries through summer and autumn.
The berries provide food for fruit-eating birds. It is one of the most widely distributed native perennials in the country, occurring across all states in a broad range of habitats.
In the garden
Plant in full sun to part shade in almost any free-draining soil. It tolerates drought, light frost and moderate coastal exposure. Divide congested clumps every three to four years in autumn using a hori-hori knife.
8. Chocolate lily (Arthropodium strictum)
Chocolate lily has star-shaped purple flowers that are produced on branching stems in spring and are genuinely beautiful — but the fragrance is the revelation. The flowers produce a warm, sweet scent similar to chocolate and vanilla.
Chocolate lily — the purple flowers produce a warm, sweet scent with unmistakable chocolate and vanilla notes.
The fragrance compounds produced by the flowers include benzaldehyde, the same compound that produces the almond-chocolate note in food. The plant grows from a small tuber in temperate grassland and grassy woodland across eastern Australia.
In the garden
Plant tubers in free-draining soil in full sun to part shade using a slim trowel. It suits naturalised grassland plantings, gravel gardens and the front of a native border where the fragrance can be appreciated at close range.
9. Australian hibiscus (Alyogyne huegelii)
Australian hibiscus produces some of the largest individual flowers of any native shrub. The open blooms can reach 8–10cm across. The flower form is the opposite strategy to tubular or bell-shaped flowers: the open saucer provides maximum visibility and unrestricted access, inviting any pollinator capable of landing in the centre to contact the central column.
Australian hibiscus — flowers 8–10cm across in vivid lavender to deep purple, produced in succession over a long season.
It is one of the most free-flowering of all native shrubs, producing successive blooms across a long spring-to-summer season, and is both widely available and underused in cultivation outside WA.
In the garden
Plant in full sun in free-draining, slightly acidic soil. Prune by one third after the main flowering flush with sharp secateurs to maintain a compact form and encourage the following season's growth. It performs well in large containers in full sun.
10. Digger's speedwell (Veronica perfoliata)
Digger's speedwell has upright stems that carry pairs of blue-grey leaves that clasp the stem so completely that the stem appears to pass directly through the centre of each leaf. This structural feature is called a perfoliate arrangement that gives the plant its species name and makes it instantly identifiable.
Donald Hobern from Canberra, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Digger's speedwell — the leaves clasp the stem so completely that the stem appears to pass through the centre of each one.
The small purple to blue-purple flowers are produced in loose sprays along the stem through spring and summer. It grows naturally in cool temperate forest and grassy woodland and is among the most underused native perennials for cool temperate gardens.
In the garden
Plant in part shade to full sun in free-draining, slightly acidic soil. It suits cool temperate gardens across VIC, ACT and TAS and tolerates moderate frost. Cut back after flowering with bypass secateurs to encourage a second flush and maintain a compact form.
11. Silky eremophila (Eremophila nivea)
Silky eremophila earns its common name visibly: the entire plant is covered in dense, soft white hairs. The flowers are produced through winter and spring and attract honeyeaters in the WA mallee and sandplain communities. Like all eremophilas, it is adapted to the combination of summer drought and winter rainfall that characterises the Mediterranean-climate zones of the southwest.
Silky eremophila — lavender-purple tubular flowers against intensely silver foliage, one of the most striking combinations in the WA flora.
In the garden
Plant in full sun in very free-draining sandy or gravelly soil. It does not tolerate waterlogging, humidity or heavy soils. A light trim with sharp secateurs after the main flowering flush maintains a compact silvery form. It performs well in containers where drainage can be controlled.
12. Blue howittia (Howittia trilocularis)
Blue howittia is a member of the same family as Australian hibiscus and the relationship is visible in the flower structure: small, violet-purple flowers with a prominent central column. The flowers are individually modest in size but the cumulative effect of a well-established shrub in full bloom is considerable.
Blue howittia — a member of the hibiscus family that flowers purple in sheltered, moist gully positions where most natives struggle.
It occupies a quite different ecological niche to most purple-flowered natives, growing naturally in sheltered, moist gullies and along creek lines. It is a genuinely useful plant for the shaded, sheltered parts of a cool temperate garden where little else will flower purple.
In the garden
Plant in part shade to full sun in free-draining, slightly acidic, humus-rich soil. It suits sheltered positions under established trees or beside a south-facing wall. Water consistently through the first two summers using ollas to establish the root system in drier garden conditions. Apply a low-phosphorus native fertiliser in early autumn.
13. Rottnest Island daisy (Trachymene coerulea)
Rottnest Island daisy sits at the lavender-blue end of the purple spectrum. Rather than a single open flower, it produces flat-topped compound umbels: tight, dome-shaped clusters of dozens of tiny individual flowers. It is endemic to Rottnest Island in WA in the wild but has naturalised widely across southern Australia and is grown commercially as a cut flower.
Calistemon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rottnest Island daisy — lavender-blue compound umbels, a flower structure with almost no equivalent in the Australian flora.
In the garden
Sow seed direct in autumn in free-draining, slightly sandy soil in full sun. It germinates readily and requires no specialist treatment. It self-seeds freely once established and will return year after year without replanting in suitable conditions. Use gloves when handling cut stems — the sap can cause skin irritation in some people.
Purple across the Australian landscape
What connects these plants is a colour that straddles two pollinator worlds simultaneously — attracting bees, birds and in several cases butterflies; a broader ecological reach than most colours in the native flora achieve.
Fan flower (Scaevola) — the half-flower forces every pollinator to approach from a controlled direction.
The chocolate lily's scent, the fringe lily's fringed petals, the kangaroo apple's buzz pollination, the digger's speedwell's stem-clasping leaves: each is a different solution to the same problem of getting pollen from one flower to the next and each makes the plant considerably more interesting than it first appears.
Coast rosemary with trailing hardenbergia — purple in a native garden works across every scale and growth form.
Beyond the wildlife benefits, purple in a native garden is versatile across every scale and growth form, whether you're choosing it as the main palette or dotting it through an existing landscape.
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A Guide to Australian Native Gardening
How to plan, plant and care for a thriving native garden, whatever your experience level.
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