August 31st, 2025Beetham’s Botanicals

Well here I am again penning another article for you, the reader, to enjoy…

This time we’ll be having a peek at our upcoming spring which officially starts on September 1, however my old mate from the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne (ex-director and CEO Tim Entwisle) has coined the phrase ‘sprinter’ to describe the transition from winter to spring. I know, I can hear you all saying: “Oh paleeze…name dropping…really?” Haha.
So let’s get this party started by looking at the many varieties of flowering trees available to us. Perhaps some of the best showy ornamental trees are those in the botanical family rosaceae which includes genera such as amelanchier (serviceberry), crataegus (crabapple), malus (flowering apple), prunus (flowering apricot or cherry) and sorbus (rowan).

They all produce masses of white and pink flowers that are often bee attracting (do remember that, if planting) and some are followed by attractive (and in some cases edible) berries.
Staying with trees for the moment, I thought a tour of the magnoliaceae might be worth booking – all aboard. There are myriad late winter/early spring flowering magnolia taxa out there so making the right choice is definitely subjective and here are a few of my faves.
M. denudata (yulan magnolia), M. figo ‘Lady of the Night’ (port wine magnolia and such a controversial cultivar) & M. x soulangeana ‘Black Tulip’ (saucer cup magnolia). Another member of the magnoliaceae worth mentioning is liriodendron chinense (chinese tulip tree – the Asian cousin of the Northern American species L. tulipifera) which may take a long time to flower but in the meantime the emerging scalloped leaves are tinged with a purple hue.
Steering away from trees, let’s now explore the world of shrubs in alphabetical order. Camelia, cornus (dogwood), dendromecon (tree poppy), exochorda (pearl bush), forsythia, garrya (silk tassel bush), rhododendron, stachyurus (spiketail) and viburnum.
Just a small selection of genera that are guaranteed to please with displays of pinks, whites and yellows and in the case of garrya elliptica ‘James Roof’ a riot of amazing pendulous yellowy-green flower tassels, and as an afterthought it will be interesting to see how the camellia breeders of the future fare with the now ongoing hybridisation of camellia species, C. nitidissima is now C. petelotii with its vibrant pure yellow flowers and other more common cultivars. In the meantime you might like to source C. japonica ‘Brushfield’s Yellow’.

So far you may have noticed I have not included any Australian native plants as I know they deserve their own separate article (watch this space). Think wattles, grevilleas, eucalypts, tea-trees, bottlebrushes and banksias.
The ever-expanding universe of spring-flowering perennials defies imagination, think sages, foxgloves, mints, lupins, hostas, penstemons and hollyhocks.
I have recorded and photographed a selection of these plants from around the Hepburn Shire and will endeavour to pen another future article on these most ornamental beauties for your reading pleasure.

Cheers JB (Trees in Australia)

Next time: Aussie natives for the spring garden.

Scan the QR code to see JB’s instagram post.