September 14th, 2025Beetham’s Botanicals

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

Well here I am penning another article for you, the reader to enjoy…
This time we’ll be looking at smaller Australian native trees for the spring garden and beyond.
So let’s start with the acacias of which there are over one thousand species distributed throughout Australia, Africa and southern America, with the majority right here in Oz.
The common name of wattle is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning woven, referring to the saplings (acacias and others) that were woven or interleaved to form the framework in “wattle and daub” buildings during early colonial days. Right now around the Hepburn Shire you’ll be enjoying a great display of yellow flowers from the silver wattle (acacia dealbata); this species flowers before a similar species, the black wattle (acacia mearnsii).
Here’s a list of wattles you might like to track down and plant in your garden: acacia leprosa ‘scarlet blaze’ (the only wattle with orange-red flowers), a. glaucoptera (clay or flat wattle), a. elata (cedar wattle), a. pendula (weeping myall) and a. baileyana ‘purpurea’ (purple-leaved cootamundra wattle).

And now to the eucalypts. Some kind of challenge I’m setting myself, but here is a list of smaller species that would suit the home garden as opposed to large parks, reserves, botanic gardens and arboreta.
Eucalyptus forrestiana (fuchsia gum), e. scoparia (wallangarra white gum – I planted several at a Dry Diggings property and they’re doing well), e. crenulata (Victorian silver gum), e. macrocarpa (mottlecah – I came across a fine specimen growing in Bendigo) and corymbia ficifolia dwarf crimson (dwarf red flowering gum).
Perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea but to follow is a peek at some interesting conifers that give an almost exotic flavour to the garden landscape: callitris oblonga ‘glauca’ (blue-foliaged pygmy pine), prumnopitys ladei (brown pine) and Wollemia nobilis (Wollemi pine). The standout blue foliage of the pygmy pine and compact habit gives good structure to the landscape.
As a quick aside, we should all note that Aussie native plants can be planted amongst non-native species with great effect – think for example eucalyptus macrocarpa in the Grey Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, the stunning white bark of e. scoparia and to offset any green-foliaged plant, the purple-leaved cootamundra wattle is a good choice.
And to finish off (in alphabetic order) a selection by genera (with one species each): banksia coccinea (scarlet banksia); brachychiton rupestris (Queensland bottle tree); callistemon citrinus ‘white Anzac’ (white-flowering bottlebrush); elaeocarpus reticulatus (blueberry ash); geijera parviflora (wilga); hakea francisiana (emu tree); leptospermum brachyandrum (silver weeping tea tree); melaleuca incana (grey honey myrtle); and telopea speciosissima ‘wirrimbirra white’ (white-flowering waratah)
Please note that the callistemon and melaleuca above can be shrubs when young but over time can be shaped to be more “tree-like”. I just had to include them for the striking white bottlebrush flowers and weeping soft grey foliage respectively.
I do hope you find this eclectic selection of smaller trees has piqued your interest and so, happy plant hunting.