Australian natives that add colour and interest to your winter garden
The plants on this list are chosen specifically for immediate impact. Each one can be planted now and will contribute something worth looking at this winter including berries, foliage colour that intensifies in the cold and structural form. None of them require years of establishment before they deliver.
For plants that actively flower in winter, see our companion guide to Australian native plants that flower in winter — the two lists work together to create a garden with genuine year-round interest.
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Why winter is a good time to plant
Autumn and winter are one of the best times to plant Australian natives in temperate and southern climates. Cooler soil temperatures reduce transplant shock, natural rainfall reduces the watering burden and the plant has an entire cool season to establish its root system before facing its first summer. See our guide to planting natives for the best success for more.
Berries and fruit
Berries provide colour, movement and wildlife value through winter. A garden with berry-producing natives is a garden with constant bird activity even when flowering is minimal. The key is choosing plants whose berries are present on nursery stock now so they deliver immediate interest from the day they go in the ground.
Black-anther flax lily (Dianella revoluta)
All mainland states · Wide climate range
Dianella revoluta produces arching strap leaves and small blue berries that persist on the plant through winter, held on fine stems above the foliage. The berries are technically drupes; fleshy fruit with a single hard seed. Birds swallow them whole and disperse the seed, which is why dianella colonises new areas naturally. It occurs across all mainland states in a wide range of soil types.
Clear the planting area of weeds with a hand fork, then plant with a hori-hori into free-draining soil. It spreads slowly by rhizome to form larger clumps over time and requires no fertiliser. See our guide to native plants with berries for birds for companion berry-producing plants.
Midyim berry (Austromyrtus dulcis)
Queensland · NSW · Subtropical to warm temperate
Midyim berry's small white berries are speckled with grey-purple spots and carry a sweet, slightly spiced flavour. Used as a bush food for thousands of years, it is one of the most palatable native bush foods for garden settings. The berries appear in autumn and persist through winter and the plant has scented, aromatic leaves on a dense, low-spreading shrub.
It performs best in warm, frost-free or light-frost positions with free-draining, slightly acidic soil. Loosen the planting area with a hand fork to remove weeds before planting, then plant into free-draining soil and mulch well. No fertiliser required.
Foliage colour
Some of the most effective winter colour in a native garden comes from foliage that responds to cold temperatures including grasses that turn copper and bronze as the season progresses, silver-grey leaves that catch low winter light and cascading forms that hold their visual interest regardless of temperature. These plants are working from the moment they go in the ground.
Kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra)
All mainland states and Tasmania · Grassland and open woodland · Wide climate range
Kangaroo grass is one of the most broadly distributed native grasses in Australia. In winter the foliage shifts from green through tawny gold to a rich copper-red and the colour is most intense in the season after a hard cutback, making annual late-summer pruning worth doing specifically for the winter display. It performs best in lean, well-drained soils without fertiliser and declines in enriched conditions.
Use a wide-pronged fork to clear and loosen the planting area before planting into free-draining, unamended soil. Cut back hard to 10cm with secateurs in late summer each year to drive the strongest winter colour.
Wallaby grass (Rytidosperma spp.)
All mainland states and Tasmania · Grassland · Wide temperate range
Wallaby grass is finer and softer than kangaroo grass, taking on a silvery-buff tone in winter that catches low light beautifully. There are around 90 species of wallaby grass that occur in Australia all with differing seed heads and structure. Many are more shade tolerant than most native grasses, making it useful under eucalypts where other plants struggle.
John Tann from Sydney, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Plant into free-draining soil without amendment. Use a garden rake to clear leaf litter and loosen the surface before planting is all the preparation needed. Trim lightly with flower snips after seed heads drop in summer. No fertiliser required.
River wattle (Acacia cognata)
Victoria · NSW · SA · Cool to warm temperate
Acacia cognata's fine, blue-green phyllodes hang in weeping curtains from arching branches. The common name (river wattle) reflects its natural habitat along creek and river banks in Victoria and NSW, which explains its tolerance for both occasional waterlogging and dry periods. In winter, the foliage takes on a more silvery quality in low light. Compact cultivars including 'Limelight' and 'Cousin It' suit screening in smaller spaces.
It tolerates moderate frosts and a range of soil types once established. Plant with a planting spade into free-draining soil and bury an olla beside it to support establishment through the first summer.
Ovens wattle (Acacia pravissima)
Victoria · NSW · ACT · SA · Cool to warm temperate · Frost tolerant
Ovens wattle takes its common name from the Ovens Valley in northeast Victoria and is one of the most cold-hardy wattles in the Australian flora. It survives temperatures well below zero in its natural alpine range. Its small, triangular, silver-grey phyllodes are densely packed along arching stems that catch low winter light. In late winter the stems become covered in small golden flower balls, producing one of the most spectacular wattle displays available at that scale.
Donald Hobern from Copenhagen, Denmark, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Plant with a planting spade into lean, unamended soil — no fertiliser needed. As a nitrogen-fixer it improves the soil as it grows. Trim lightly with secateurs after flowering to keep the arching form tidy.
Foliage structure and flowers
Structural foliage plants hold a garden together through winter by providing form, volume and visual mass when other flowering plants are dormant. The best structural plants work immediately from planting as their form is the point and it is present from day one.
Book-leaf mallee (Eucalyptus kruseana)
WA · SA · Dry temperate to semi-arid · Frost tolerant once established
Book-leaf mallee has round, silver-blue leaves that clasp the stem in pairs at right angles to each other. This botanical arrangement is called perfoliate, where the stem appears to pass through the centre of each leaf pair. It is unlike any other foliage in the native flora. In winter the silver-blue colouring intensifies in low light and small yellow flowers appear, adding nectar value alongside the structural interest. It is one of the most manageable small eucalypts available.
Suited to free-draining, low-nutrient soils in full sun. It is not suited to humid, high-rainfall positions or heavy clay. Plant using a planting spade into unamended soil and bury an olla beside it to carry it through the first dry summer. Do not fertilise.
Native iris (Patersonia occidentalis)
WA · SA · Victoria · NSW · Tasmania · Wide temperate range
Native iris provides upright strap foliage that holds its structure and deep green colour through the cold months, then produces clear purple-blue flowers in late winter and early spring. Unlike the exotic garden iris, each Patersonia flower lasts only a single day but plants produce a succession of buds so the flowering period extends over several weeks. It combines well with kangaroo grass and wallaby grass.
Use a hand fork to weed the planting area and open a slot with a hori-hori into free-draining soil. It is frost tolerant and requires no fertiliser — it forms larger clumps naturally over successive seasons.
Native fuchsia (Correa reflexa)
Victoria · NSW · SA · Tasmania · Queensland (highland) · Cool to warm temperate
Correa reflexa is the most widespread correa in Australia and one of the most genetically variable. Plants from coastal heathland look almost nothing like plants from highland woodland, though they are the same species. All forms share a winter flowering season and a tolerance for shade that few other flowering natives match, and the eastern spinebill relies on them for nectar when almost nothing else is available. It is one of the most variable of the native flowering shrubs.
Plant into well-drained soil enriched with a small amount of organic matter and mulch generously to retain moisture at the shallow roots. Tip-prune lightly with flower snips after flowering to maintain a compact, bushy habit. Bury an olla beside it at planting to maintain consistent moisture without waterlogging.
Clustered everlasting (Chrysocephalum semipapposum)
All mainland states · Wide temperate range · Grassland and open woodland
Clustered everlasting produces tight clusters of papery golden-yellow flower heads from autumn through winter and into spring. The papery texture comes from dry, membranous bracts rather than true petals which is why the flowers hold their form and colour on the plant for months without wilting, long after most winter flowers have dropped. It is closely related to yellow buttons but with a more upright habit and it self-seeds reliably into surrounding bare ground over successive seasons.
DavidFrancis34 from Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Plant into lean, unamended, free-draining soil using a hori-hori. It declines in enriched or humid conditions — no fertiliser, no compost. Trim spent stems with flower snips once flowering finishes in spring.
Groundcovers
The groundcover layer is what prevents a winter garden from looking bare and unfinished. A continuous low layer of native groundcovers eliminates bare soil entirely and provides the base from which the structural and foliage plants above it emerge. Both plants below provide immediate groundcover from planting, with the bonus of late winter flowers that bridge the season.
Hop goodenia (Goodenia ovata)
Victoria · NSW · SA · Tasmania · Wide temperate range
Hop goodenia is a lush, fast-spreading groundcover shrub with bright green leaves and clear yellow flowers from late winter through spring. The leaves produce a faint sticky resin thought to deter leaf-feeding insects so they are faintly tacky to touch, which is the origin of the common name (the leaves resemble hop leaves). It spreads by layering as stems contact the soil and can cover a significant area within two seasons, making it one of the most effective plants for quickly covering bare ground in temperate gardens.
Use a wide-pronged fork to clear weeds from the planting area first, then plant into moisture-retentive soil. Bury an olla beside it through the first summer. Trim spreading stems with secateurs to keep it within bounds as needed.
Creeping bossiaea (Bossiaea prostrata)
Victoria · NSW · SA · Tasmania · Cool to warm temperate · Heath and dry sclerophyll
Creeping bossiaea is a genuinely low and spreading pea flower groundcover with flattened stems that hug the ground and produce yellow and red flowers in late winter and spring. The flattened stems are modified branches that perform photosynthesis in place of the small scale-like leaves. This is a structural adaptation to the dry, exposed heath soils it naturally grows in. It is one of the few true native groundcover peas available.
DavidFrancis34 from Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Plant into unamended, free-draining soil using a hori-hori and mulch lightly around the stems. Do not amend the soil or add fertiliser — it grows in lean heath conditions and declines in enriched soils.
Putting the winter garden together
A winter garden that holds together visually needs at least one plant from each of these categories; something with berries or colour, something with structural foliage and something covering the ground.
Any one of the plants on this list planted now will contribute to that picture this season, not next year. For plants that add winter flowering on top of the interest covered here, see the companion guide to Australian native plants that flower in winter.
keep reading
A Guide to Australian Native Gardening
How to plan, plant and care for a thriving native garden, whatever your experience level.
Read the guide →
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