Native Australian Flowers

I love native Australian plants. My garden is almost entirely natives. I love their flowers, and their form, and I love that they bring the native wildlife like native bees, and rainbow lorikeets.

As I was out walking with the dogs this morning on a chilly Brisbane morning (let's say a crisp 11 degrees C), I was appreciating the trees that are still in flower as we head into our winter.

This is a Eucalyptus, or gum tree. I'm not sure of the variant but I love it's vibrant red colour, and the gum nuts that follow the flowering.

This is a grevillea honey gem, complete with foreign honey bee. I have 2 of these in my front yard to attract the rainbow lorikeets.

This is a melaleuca, or paperbark. It's actually from the same family as the Eucalyptus. These flowers seem to attract large swarms of flies when they first appear, and they can have quite on off-pungent aroma when en masse.

My favourite Australian native tree is the Banksia. It is such a diverse genus! This is a banksia candlestick from my front yard.

Here's another flower in the fork of the tree. This will become a hard seed pod in time.

Finally I have one last banksia pod. I belive this is a coastal banksia. It has more of an upright form, and larger pods than the candlestick.

So that's the diversity of flowering native Australian trees within 1.5km of my home!