Festive favourites

Flowering gum (Corymbia ficifolia and hybrids, plus grafted cultivars)

It’s the flamboyant blooms of the flowering gum that make this small to medium-sized tree a winner. The large clusters of pink, red or orange flowers provide a cheery pop of colour throughout summer and, being nectar-rich, attract butterflies, birds and bees in droves, so get your camera ready!

If you want a particular colour, choose a grafted form. They’re more expensive and you may have to hunt them down, but you know what you’re getting and they’re more reliable in high humidity and heavy soils. They’re also perfect for pots. If the colour or height isn’t an issue, non-grafted forms are cheaper and a good option for a shade tree, as they grow to 10–15m. All flowering gums need well-drained soil.
Grafted forms: ‘Summer Red’ (4–6m), ‘Summer Beauty’ (pink, 3–5m), ‘Wildfire’ (red, 4–6m), ‘Baby Scarlet’ (3–4m)
Climate: Subtropical, semi-arid, warm temperate, cold temperate 

Billy buttons (Pycnosorus globosus syn. Craspedia globosa)

What’s not to love about spherical golden blooms swaying on long stems like colourful metronomes? This perennial forms a clump of silvery-grey foliage 50cm wide, and adds a quirky touch to beds, rockeries and pots. For that classic yellow/blue combo that you and pollinators will adore, grow it with native bluebell (Wahlenbergia stricta) and morning iris (Orthrosanthus multiflorus). It grows naturally in coastal and inland Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, often in low-lying, moist areas, so while it copes with the dry, it appreciates water during extended periods without rain. It likes full sun to light shade and tolerates light frost. Remove spent blooms to encourage flowering.
Climate: Subtropical, arid, semi-arid, warm temperate, cold temperate

Golden penda (Xanthostemon chrysanthus)

Talk about lighting up your life… and garden… and neighbourhood! The dense canopy of this stunning tropical rainforest tree provides welcome shade, so it’s often used in public areas. Growing 8–12m in cultivation, it’s a spectacular specimen tree and it can also be hedged. The tree’s bronze new growth becomes large, glossy mid-green leaves – the perfect backdrop for its nectar-filled, fluoro-yellow ‘fluffy’ blooms, which appear through summer and autumn. The tree is not dissimilar in appearance to its relative the flowering gum, but while the gum needs a drier warm season, golden penda is used to singing in the summer rain and needs that extra moisture to thrive.

Climate: Tropical, subtropical, warm temperate

For more native flowers check out Clarence Slockee’s native bouquet in this episode of the TV show.

Header image by iStock