Australia · garden flowers · in my garden · native Australian birds · native Australian plants · rain · subtropical weather · summer

Australian and New Zealand Native Plants

Joanne
First ‘Little Ewan’ flower

In previous posts, I have mentioned that during the past year, I have focused on revamping my garden, by removing plants that I wasn’t happy with and trying new plants in their place.

A new plant to me was ‘Metrosideros Little Ewan’, otherwise known as a dwarf New Zealand Christmas bush. I thought I’d give it a go, so bought three tube stock plants. Much to my delight, I noticed this week that I have my first Little Ewan flower.

‘Little Ewan’, looking down into the centre of the flower

The clusters of red spires look to be growing from a yellow base; also, there is the tiniest hint of yellow at the end of the soft spires. The plant is still tiny but grows to one metre in both width and height. It will be lovely to see the plant in flower when it reaches its full maturity.

First finger limes

Finger limes are native to Australia. Referred to as “bush tucker” by aboriginal people, the fruit, when cut open, has the appearance of caviar! My tree is young, and this is the first summer it has fruited. I have been lucky enough to try finger limes previously when my neighbour brought some off their tree for us to try. When I cut open my first lime, I will take photos to share here. 🙂

Finger lime tree in bud

I am still learning the intricacies of finger lime tree growth, but I predict we may have a few more limes appearing before summer is over.

Lilly pilly buds

Also in bud is my native Australian Lilly Pilly shrub. This shrub is growing in a pot currently, but I have plans for it to become a feature plant in one of my newly renovated gardens.

Wet, wet, wet!

A post of Australian natives wouldn’t be complete without a photo of kookaburras. As you can see, we have summer rain here which I am thankful for – it is keeping the temperatures lower each day, even if the humidity is a tad high! During the mid-month of summer, I am grateful for any reprieve I can get from the heat. 🙂

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Published by Joanne

23 thoughts on “Australian and New Zealand Native Plants”

  1. I love your little Metrosideros with its cheerful flowers, Jo. I have a Metrosideros collina ‘Springfire’ in my own garden (mixed in with succulents in my south-side garden). Despite its name, it’s blooming now during our winter months. I’ll be interested to hear what the finger limes taste like. The kookaburras are charmers, at least in photographs.

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    1. I enjoyed your Wide Shots post showing all aspects of your garden, Kris. I had another look and couldn’t make out where your Metrosideros is situated, but perhaps when it’s in flower it will make a “close up shot” appearance?
      The kookaburras are gorgeous birds. Each bird has a different personality and I love watching their antics when in the garden. 🙂

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      1. The Metrosideros ‘Springfire’ is in the 6th photos in my wide shots post (which is the first one of my south-side garden). It’s in the rear on the left side but may have been upstaged by the the agaves in front of it 😉 It’s flowering, albeit lightly.

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    1. I am still learning about finger limes, Barbara, but I think the colour of them varies, depending on the variety. When I cut one open, I am eager to see what colour they are inside too. 🙂

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  4. The flower of “little Ewan” is very sweet, it looks like a bloom hummingbirds would visit. I haven’t tried finger limes, I look forward to your review of the taste. Are the kookaburras very loud?

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    1. If only we had hummingbirds here, I am sure they would love the Little Ewan flowers. I know I love the photos I see of hummingbirds. 🙂
      The kookaburras are very loud, Tracy, in fact they are very good alarm clocks in the morning!

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  5. Your Little Ewan reminds me a tiny bit of our Bottle Brush flowers – I don’t know their proper name. The likeness is only in the tiny strands that make up the bloom and the color. I just got a lemon tree which will live in my space inside in the winter, and spend its summer outside on the patio.

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    1. The Little Ewans do have a bottle brush look to them, I agree.
      Lemon tree grow quite well in pots! Do you have many potted plants on your patio, Carol?

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      1. Several on the patio, which is still in the “design” stages. I’m hoping to get it more developed this spring. I’m adding more indoor plants to my space inside – the part of the house I call my own. I’ve developed a new passion for air plants inside.

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        1. Why don’t you take some photos and write a blog post about them, Carol? I would love to see more of your ‘new’ home, even though you’ve been there for a while now. 🙂

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            1. I would love it if you did … and didn’t Karma encourage you to blog again too? Your blogging buddies might gang up on you to share that wandering mind of yours again, Carol. ❤

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    1. Thank you, Julie. 🙂
      So I had to look up the pōhutukawa tree – which I can’t even pronounce! – but I thought it must be my Little Ewan. He only grows to one metre in height, but I think from the photos I’ve seen, his flowers are the same as his full sized version.

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