By Drew Cooper
Planning for your native gardens requires consideration of a number of factors: aspect, slope, water, wind, and of course plant species. Thoughtful layering of your garden will be required to get the best results long-term. We want our gardens to not just look fabulous but also evolve into an ecosystem where plants live together, feed each other, and support each other through the seasons. To create layers is to think not in rows but in relationships.
Starting with some suggestions for lower-storey plants, kidney weed (Dichondra repens) spreads in dense mats across shaded ground, holding moisture and suppressing weeds without any intervention. Ruby saltbush (Enchylaena tomentosa) is a wonderful edge plant also. Mat rush(Lomandra) pairs well with it: tough, long-lived, and useful as nesting material for small birds. In seasonally damp areas, knobby club rush(Ficinia nodosa) establishes quickly and holds soil on slopes and edges. These types of lower-storey plants are important for any healthy natural garden by keeping the surface stable, shading out emerging weeds, and providing cover for lizards, beetles and spiders.
The mid-storey is where planting decisions have the most impact, both visually and for local habitat. White correa (Correa alba) and Olearia species add wonderful contrast to the garden and support both insect and birdlife. Hedge wattle (Acacia paradoxa) grows into dense, bird-safe cover. Its small spines make it almost impenetrable to cats and foxes, which makes it one of the best nesting shrubs you can plant. Woolly tea-tree (Leptospermum lanigerum) handles coastal conditions and provides beautiful soft cover year-round, while cut-leaf banksia (Banksia praemorsa) and hairpin banksia (Banksia spinulosa) both produce long-lasting flower spikes that feed honeyeaters and spinebills from autumn through winter, when little else is flowering.
At the canopy level, coast banksia (Banksia integrifolia) is the obvious starting point for Peninsula gardens. It grows naturally from Cape Schanck to Portsea, handles salt and wind, and its old flower cones persist on the branches for years as nest and foraging sites. Where soils are deeper, manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) is the tree that supports koalas and birdlife on the Peninsula – a single mature specimen can sustain resident animals. Sweet bursaria (Bursaria spinosa) is a perfect tree for small birds to sit protected and enjoy the garden. Moonah (Melaleuca lanceolata) and coast beard heath (Leucopogon parviflorus) are slower-growing but significant, and every tree planted in a garden adds to a shrinking gene pool.
Fill the gaps with common everlasting (Chrysocephalum apiculatum), which seeds freely between shrubs; and running postman (Kennedia prostrata), a ground-creeping vine with vivid scarlet flowers that threads through the lower layer and provides early-season nectar.
By the third or fourth year, the layers and plant relationships start to really establish, the birds start nesting, and the garden begins to function as habitat rather than just planting.
Peninsula Plants Nursery: peninsulaplants.com.au
