The 12 best Australian native plants for Perth gardens
Perth sits at the centre of one of the most biodiverse regions on earth. The southwest corner of Western Australia, Noongar Boodjar, contains around 8,000 plant species in a relatively small area. The plants that evolved here did so under specific and demanding conditions: long hot dry summers with virtually no rain, mild wet winters, nutrient-poor sandy soils and fire.
The plants below are matched specifically to the Swan Coastal Plain and its surrounding landscapes. Several are Noongar plants with deep cultural significance.
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Understanding Perth's soils
The Swan Coastal Plain runs in parallel bands from the coast inland to the Darling Scarp, with soil type changing significantly as you move east. Knowing which band your garden sits in shapes almost every planting decision.
Quindalup dunes — coastal strip
Formed from wind-blown shell material, these soils are highly alkaline (pH up to 9) and almost entirely sand. Few plants handle this combination of high pH and very low nutrients, but those that do — including westringia, melaleuca, scaevola and coast banksia — thrive with essentially no intervention. A slim trowel is all the tool most planting here requires as the sand offers no resistance.
Spearwood dunes — inner coastal suburbs
Yellow to brown sand sitting over limestone, slightly less alkaline than Quindalup, covering much of the inner coastal suburbs from roughly the Mitchell Freeway corridor west. Most Perth natives perform well here. The limestone layer below can create a water table in winter so it is worth checking with a hori-hori by driving it to full depth and noting where resistance changes.
Bassendean dunes — middle suburbs
These soils have almost no nutrient retention, no water-holding capacity and become severely water-repellent when dry in summer. This is the most challenging soil in the Perth region for establishment. Apply a 10cm layer of coarse mulch before planting. A cultivator raked through the top 10cm breaks the hydrophobic layer and allows the first deep watering to penetrate.
Darling Scarp foothills — hills suburbs
These soils are acidic, reasonably fertile, drain well on slopes but can pool on flats. Digging holes here is genuinely hard work so a quality hand-forged spade or fork with a sharp edge cuts through ironstone gravel where lighter tools flex and turn. The hills support a different plant palette from the coastal plain so plants including the most spectacular forms of kangaroo paw perform well here.
12 native plants that genuinely perform in Perth
Cottonheads (Conostylis candicans)
Conostylis candicans is one of the most useful low groundcover plants for Perth's sandy coastal gardens. It forms a compact clump of long, silver-grey strappy leaves with short stems of bright yellow flowers in spring. It is happy to be grown in a pot provided drainage is good. It is genuinely indifferent to poor sandy soil and summer drought, requires no fertiliser and almost no maintenance beyond an annual tidy with hedging shears.
It can be divided with a hand fork or garden knife in autumn to extend a planting and fills gaps between larger shrubs effectively. It is one of the plants that Perth gardens in Bassendean sand can grow without amendment.
Swan River daisy (Brachyscome iberidifolia)
Swan River daisy produces an abundance of small daisy flowers in blue, violet, white and pink through spring and into summer, self-seeding freely in sandy soil. Early European botanists collected it around the Swan River in the 1830s and it has been in cultivation internationally ever since — it was one of the first WA wildflowers to be widely grown in English gardens.
Islander61, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Plant in full sun, water through the first flowering season and allow seed to set and fall before tidying the spent plants with secateurs. It suits naturalistic underplanting beneath banksias and taller shrubs.
Balga — grass tree (Xanthorrhoea preissii)
Balga is the Noongar word for the grass tree, one of the most distinctive and culturally significant plants in southwest WA. Noongar people used virtually every part of it as adhesive and food and fishing spears, among other things. In the landscape, balga is a keystone plant: it provides nectar for honeyeaters and insects in spring and nesting material and habitat for small reptiles.
Hesperian, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In the garden it is slow to establish but essentially maintenance-free once settled. Plants in tubestock establish far better than large specimens. Plant in full sun in well-drained sandy soil, use a terracotta olla for deep watering and then leave it alone. It will outlive every other plant on this list by a century.
Kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos flavidus)
Tall kangaroo paw handles a wide range of soils including clay loam, tolerates wet winters and is resistant to the leaf rust and ink disease that cut down shorter-lived species. Kangaroo paws are not phosphorus-sensitive so they can be fertilised with standard low-phosphorus native fertiliser to improve flowering.
Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The tubular flowers are uniquely shaped to dust the foreheads of honeyeaters as they feed. Cut flower stems to the base after flowering with sharp secateurs and divide the clump every three to four years in autumn using a hand fork or garden knife. Division is what keeps the plants productive and prevents the centre dying out. A well-maintained clump of tall kangaroo paw can persist for twenty years or more.
Planting in Perth's summer
Resist the urge to plant in Perth's summer. The combination of heat, low humidity and dry soil gives new plants little chance of establishment. The Perth planting window is autumn (April to June) when the first rains arrive. See our maintenance guide by climate zone for the Perth seasonal calendar.
Pincushion hakea — kodjet (Hakea laurina)
Pincushion hakea produces crimson spherical heads with cream styles projecting from each individual flower to create the pincushion effect that gives it its name. The Noongar name, kodjet, is the name most often used by Noongar people today. Flowering occurs through autumn and winter, which means kodjet fills the nectar gap between the spring wildflower season and the summer dormancy period.
It performs best in free-draining sandy or loamy soil in full sun and is drought-hardy once established. It does not have a lignotuber and will not regenerate from hard pruning into old wood so keep any shaping light and limited to removing crossing or wayward branches with sharp secateurs or loppers immediately after flowering.
Candle banksia (Banksia attenuata)
Candle banksia is the dominant tree of the Swan Coastal Plain banksia woodland. This was the ecological community that once covered most of suburban Perth and that now exists only in protected fragments. It is tall and upright with narrow, serrated leaves and long cylindrical cream-yellow flower spikes that appear through summer. The summer flowering fills a critical nectar gap for honeyeaters.
It is adapted to the deep, nutrient-poor Bassendean and Spearwood sands and develops a deep tap root that eventually accesses the groundwater table below. Never fertilise with phosphorus-containing products. For a complete guide to growing banksias, see our banksia growing guide.
Scarlet banksia (Banksia coccinea)
Scarlet banksia is the most visually striking banksia in Australia. The flower spikes are unlike anything else in the genus and have made it one of the most commercially valuable cut flowers grown in Western Australia. Perth gardeners can grow it on its own roots in well-drained sand with genuine success. Perth's dry summers are exactly what it is adapted to.
It requires excellent drainage and is sensitive to Phytophthora root rot in poorly draining soils so plant in a raised position or in the sandiest, most freely draining part of the garden. Handle with care when pruning as the stiff, toothed leaves are sharp so leather gloves are advisable. For the complete banksia guide, see our growing guide.
Geraldton wax (Chamelaucium uncinatum)
Geraldton wax is one of the most beautiful Australian wildflowers. In the garden it is spectacular in late winter and spring, covering itself in small waxy flowers. The fine foliage is aromatic. It grows naturally along the mid-west coast around Geraldton in near-pure sand over limestone, which tells you exactly what it needs: sun, sharp drainage and very low soil nutrients.
It is short-lived by tree standards, typically eight to fifteen years, but grows quickly. The single most common cause of failure is poor drainage. Do not plant into amended or enriched soil and never let water pool at the base. Prune by up to one-third immediately after flowering with sharp secateurs to encourage dense regrowth.
Blue lechenaultia (Lechenaultia biloba)
Blue lechenaultia produces flowers of a saturated and vivid blue. It is a colour rare enough in the plant world that it stops people in their tracks. It grows naturally in sandy soils in the southwest of WA, flowering through winter and spring in a display that covers the plant almost completely.
Plant in the most freely draining position available, on a slight slope if possible, in unimproved sand. Do not fertilise or overwater. A slim trowel makes precise planting in sand possible without disturbing the surrounding soil, which matters for a plant with such specific drainage requirements. Tip prune lightly after flowering to keep it compact.
Phytophthora in Perth gardens
Phytophthora cinnamomi — cinnamon root rot — is widespread across the Swan Coastal Plain and the Darling Scarp and is one of the most serious threats to WA's native flora. In gardens it moves through wet soil, on dirty tools, and in infected nursery stock. Wipe down hori-horis and trowels with methylated spirits between sections of the garden if you know or suspect dieback is present.
Silver princess — gungurru (Eucalyptus caesia)
Silver princess is a weeping tree with silver-white stems, large pink flowers and urn-shaped silver seed capsules. It grows naturally in the WA Wheatbelt in rocky granite outcrops rather than sand, which means it prefers free-draining soil with some structure.
It grows quickly, flowers within two to three years from planting and attracts honeyeaters and lorikeets reliably through the winter flowering season. Minimal pruning is needed as the weeping form is the plant's most distinctive quality. Remove any dead or crossing branches with loppers after flowering.
Robin redbreast bush (Melaleuca lateritia)
Robin redbreast bush is a fitting name for a plant whose primary value is as a wildlife resource. It produces orange-red bottlebrush flowers through summer and into autumn. This summer-autumn flowering window makes it genuinely valuable in a wildlife garden as a gap-filler between the winter-spring season and the following year's banksias.
Murray Fagg, CC BY 3.0 AU, via Wikimedia Commons
It grows naturally in the southwest of WA in sandy and loamy soils and handles Perth's dry summers without irrigation once established. Prune by up to one-third after the main flowering flush with sharp secateurs to keep growth dense and maintain flowering productivity the following season.
Fanflower (Scaevola crassifolia)
Scaevola crassifolia produces masses of fan-shaped blue-purple flowers in spring and summer, with succulent-like leaves that reflect its adaptation to coastal drought and salt spray. Its flowers are split and flattened to one side, giving them the appearance of having been halved. This asymmetry is an adaptation that presents pollen at a specific angle to the insect or bird visiting.
Photographs by JarrahTree...commons.wikimedia.org, CC BY 2.5 AU, via Wikimedia Commons
For bayside gardens on alkaline coastal sand it is irreplaceable as it is genuinely indifferent to pH 9 soils, salt, wind and drought, spreading naturally to fill gaps and stabilise sand. In inland sandy gardens it also performs well. No fertiliser or soil amendment needed. Trim with hedging shears in early autumn to remove spent growth and encourage the spring flush.
Native gardens by city
Find the right garden tools and advice for your city
Each Australian city has its own soils, climate and indigenous plant palette. Our city guides cut through the generic advice.
Putting it together
A Perth native garden built from these twelve plants produces something that works with the Mediterranean climate. Balga and candle banksia provide permanent structure that deepens over decades. Silver princess, kodjet and scarlet banksia carry the autumn and winter flower season. Geraldton wax and lechenaultia take over in late winter and spring. Kangaroo paw bridges spring into summer. Robin redbreast bush fills the summer-autumn gap that would otherwise be bare. Cottonheads, fanflower and Swan River daisy fill the ground level through every season.
Perth's sandy soils lose surface water rapidly through evaporation in summer. Deep, infrequent watering during establishment trains roots downward toward the groundwater table rather than upward toward an unreliable surface. A terracotta olla buried beside each new plant delivers water slowly and directly at root depth, building that downward habit from the first season.
Mulch is as important here as anywhere in Australia. Apply 10cm of coarse wood chip mulch over the root zone of every new planting and replenish it each April before the winter rains begin.
The result — a garden reflecting one of the world's most remarkable botanical landscapes, alive with birds and insects and asking progressively less of you as it finds its own footing in the sand.
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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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