downunder plants

**Saxon Holt sholt@saxonholt.com>**

Well, it's time I chimed in on this since no one else seems inclined to
mention the incredible and magnificent variety of Australian plants that
are appearing in even the mass produced nursery stock her in CA.

Grevillea is fabulous and i hope it completetly replaces juniper one day
as a backbone evergreen in drought tolerant gardens (for those who want
more variety than our own CA natives,that is !). G. lavandula, G.
rosmarinifoia, G. 'Noellii' and 'canberra' all are beginning to tbe accepted.

Correa is appearing everywhere and is better understood as a shrub and
not just a specimen plant.

The many Melaleucas have been around for awhile here in CA but gardeners
seem to use the other native Australia small tree  Callistemon (
citrinus, viminalis) more often.  But for those who like the look of
paperbark look, paperbark Melaleca (M. quinquenervia) will become more
popular.  Specialty nurseries carry M. incana and thymifolia

Someone mentioned Proteas (South African) but probably meant Banksias
(Australia) which are just as showy in their own striking way and
usually considered a cut flower but come in many forms for those who
have perfect conditions

How about Boronia, Leptospermum, Hakea, Xanthorrhoea. Pandorea,
Anigozanthus ?

Australian plants are not just Eucalyptus and Acacia anymore, though I
guess some of those are the ones that have become problems as escaped
exotics here in CA.  But we can't malign the whole group.  Sure E.
globulosa should be banned and may be the main culprit for the
devastating Oakland firestorm 12 years ago, but E. sideroxylon is a
wonderful small tree.  (Sunset publishing lists more than 40 Eucalypts
in the Western Garden Book.)  Similarly many Acacias are well behaved,
while some like Acacia auriculiformis become invasive.

While I don't want to debate the merits of native plants and the loss of
pristine native habitats to alien plants from around the globe,
gardeners are all too aware of problem plants that become thugs when
introduced to an environment that is not ready for it.  It is our job as
garden communicators to keep the public aware of this, but in the long
run the plants will have a way of spreading themselves around whether we
humans want them to or not.  Indigenous to planet Earth may one day be
the next line of defense....

Saxon Holt
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