Gardening Tips on Native and Exotic Plant Species
All plants can be purchased at the Mountain View Garden Centre.
Angiopteris Evecta
King Fern
This is an easy to grow fern for dappled shade, but needs regular water to keep the giant fronds from wilting.
Reputed to be the largest fern in the world, this fern has fronds growing 5 to 7m in length. Usually found growing near creeks (e.g. Fraser Island). Fronds and their bases are edible.
Browallia Jamesonii
Orange Browallia
Grown in full sun or part shade, once established it is very easy care. Just a light prune at the end of summer.
Small bushy evergreen shrub to 1m. This is a spectacular flowering ornamental with masses of orange trumpet-shaped flowers, which are very attractive to honey eater birds.
Tibouchina 'Jazzie'
Growing in full sun or semi shade, it tolerates a range of soils.
A small, evergreen shrub to 1.5m, this bushy plant shows masses of deep purple flowers with a white centre eye and distinct white stamens for almost the whole year.
Pseudocalymma Alliaceum
Garlic Vine
Great for covering a fence, shed or grown over an arbour.
A climbing plant which is best suited to warm sunny conditions. Spectacular in bloom, it develops massed clusters of flowers that emerge mauve and turn to pink. The leaves smell of garlic when crushed - hence the common name.
Rondeletia 'Caprice'
Sweet Petite
Good in full sun - ideal for cottage gardens.
Small, evergreen shrub growing to 1m. Compact and bushy with narrow green leaves and continuous masses of vibrant perfumed pink flowers in late winter through to spring.
Carphalea Kirondron
Flaming Beauty
Growing well in full sun or part shade to around 2m, all it needs is a prune back after flowering.
A very rare colourful shrub with large flower heads of brilliant red and white. It makes a wonderful specimen plant as it flowers for most of the year.
Syzygium
Northern Gem
Grows well in full sun to light shade and benefits from mulching. Ideal for screening or as a specimen plant.
Compact, dense and bushy shrub to 2m, new growth has fascinating pastel shades ranging from pink, apricot, cream and yellow that drape down. White flowers followed by edible red fruits.
Clerodendrum Nutans
Bridal Veil
Will grow in full sun but prefers a partially shaded position. Responds well to a good prune after flowering — flowers twice a year.
A beautiful, slender, exotic shrub growing to 2m tall. It is evergreen, drought and frost tender. Leaves are softy, hairy and narrowly heart-shaped. Flowers are cream and tubular and hang down resembling a bunch of grapes.
Gingko Biloba
Maidenhair Tree
It’s an interesting tree as a specimen and highly regarded for bonsai culture.
A large tree originating from China. Leaves are light green/grey resembling a maidenhair then they turn golden yellow in autumn. Male and female trees — the latter having a cone with an edible kernel.
Elaeocarpus Eumundi
Eumundi Quandong
Will grow in full sun and tolerates some frost and poor soil. Bird attracting — particularly nectar feeding birds.
Rainforest tree named after Eumundi, where it was first described by early settlers. Fast growing and hardy. Dense crown with new flushes of bronze red leaves. Flowers are cream, very ornamental and perfumed. Fruit is decorative and greenish blue in colour. Also useful as a timber tree.
Syzygium Wilsoni
Powderpuff Lilly Pilly
Prefers semi-shaded position with dappled sunlight but can grow in full sun if mulched well. Bird attracting.
Small rainforest shrub growing 2–3m tall. Endemic to Queensland’s coastal rainforests. Magnificent large burgundy flowers in spring. New growth pink turning to reddish in colour and drooping white clusters of fruit.
Phaleria Clerodendron
Native Daphne
Fast growing and will grow in sun or part shade. Ideally suited to the climate here.
Small rainforest plant from North Queensland growing to 3m high. Has prolific white clusters of perfumed flowers that engulf the trunk and all the branches. This happens several times a year (usually following rain). The sight takes your breath away. Fruit is bright red and eaten by cassowaries in North Queensland. Leaves are dark, glossy green.
Evodiella Muelleri
Little Evodia
It is fast growing, needs good drainage and benefits from mulching. Every garden should have one of these delightful plants growing.
This exquisite shrub / small rainforest tree grows 3–5m tall. It produces lolly pink / white flowers along branches — this often happens twice a year, followed by aromatic seed capsules containing black seeds. It flowers in part shade but prefers full sun for mass flowering. The leaves smell of nutmeg and it is bird and butterfly attracting. They are a food source for the Ulysses butterfly larvae in North Queensland.
Pyrostegia Ignea
Orange Trumpet Vine
Prefers full sun in a well drained soil. Flowers in June.
Majestic creeper with masses of orange tubular flowers in winter. Ideal for covering fences, arches, pergolas and up through tall trees.
Syzygium Cascade
Small Lillypilly
Disease and pest resistant (true story) and ideal as hedging plants or a cascading specimen plant. Strong, hardy and fast growing — will grow happily in full sun or part shade.
Small Lillypilly (height 2/3m) with stunning pink pom pom flowers with gold tips. New leaves are vibrant pink in colour before turning green. Edible pink fruits. ‘Cascade’ is a hybrid between Syzygium Luehmannii and Syzygium Wilsoni. Good food source for birds — particularly honeyeaters — and also butterflies.
Polyscias Nodosa
Noah’s Bass Wood
Easy to grow, they prefer full sun to part shade but don’t like heavy clay soils. Another feature is that they don’t require much water. This small rainforest tree is perfect for narrow spaces as it only grows to 2 m wide.
This is a rare plant from Cape Tribulation in North Queensland — only a pocket of sixty plants remain in the wild. It grows to about six metres in height, with a slender trunk and a decorative crown of palm-like foliage. The long flower spikes are similar to the umbrella tree in shape and form. The flowers are red developing into dark berries, which are very attractive to birds. In larger areas they form an eyecatching feature if grown in a group.
Callistemon
Glasshouse Country
Good as a screen or hedging plant. Prefers full sun to partly shaded position. Will tolerate moderate frost, extended water logging and drought.
Our very own bottlebrush, born and bred here. Evergreen with aromatic leaves and silvery new growth. Masses of soft pink bottlebrush flowers throughout most of the year. Grows 3–5 m tall. Flowers very attractive to nectar feeding birds.
Tacca Integrifolia
White Bat Plant
It’s ideal for sub tropical gardens in morning sun or a dappled canopy. They’re great as pot specimens.
An amazing, exotic plant with large leaves and white flowers that rise above the plant on tall stems. The unusual flowers resemble a bat and have long, white tendrils up to a metre in length. There is also a black form (Tacca Chantrieri).
Mallotus Claoxyloides
Smell Of The Bush or Green Kamala
In cultivation it can be trained into a bushy shrub or small tree. It is hard to propagate but becomes very hardy in dry and frosty conditions.
The strong bush / percolated coffee smell near creeks, can be attributed to this plant. The shrub itself is insignificant and blends into the landscape having rough leaves and small cream flowers. There are male and female plants, both of which flower. It is a native of dry and subtropical rainforest from northern NSW up to the Iron Range on Cape York Peninsula.
Randia Fitzalanii
Native Gardenia
It prefers part shade conditions where it will grow bushy and lush. It will grow large in its natural habitat but 3–6m in garden situations. It’s also good for indoor and outdoor container plants.
This is a beautiful rainforest marginal plant with very fragrant white flowers in spring and large, glossy green leaves. The plant develops large fruit that are yellow turning to dark brown. The pulp is edible and resembles black sapote fruit when ripe.
Backhousia Citriodora
Lemon Scented Myrtle
It’d used more and more in bush tucker foods and is a great mosquito deterrent.
Shrub or bushy tree (3–8 metres high) native to the east coast from Brisbane to Mackay. A beautiful plant that contains citral oil which gives off a powerful scent of lemon — flowers are cream and profuse. Also called ‘Lemon Ironwood’ because of its very hard timber.
Alloxylon Flammeum
Tree Waratah
Very bird attracting. Avoid planting in poorly drained soils — benefits from humus but avoid fertilising with poultry manures.
One of the most beautiful rainforest trees. Glossy green foliage and profuse red flowers when grown in full sun. Flowers in spring and summer. Has very interesting, sought after pink timber.