Growing Friends 2018 Autumn Plant Sale

This year the Growing Friends Autumn Native Plant Sale will be held on Saturday 7 April from 8.30AM to 11AM in the small car park adjacent to the Crosbie Morrison & Banks Buildings. 

Those plants which have been propagated from cuttings were sourced from plants growing in the ANBG. The plants are of exceptional quality and are very reasonably priced at $6 for a standard sized pot & $12 for a large pot. Sale proceeds support the Gardens.

As usual there is a wide range of plants available (over 90 different species), with compact types, ground covers, small shrubs, large shrubs and trees. 

The familiar and popular Acacias, Grevilleas, Correas, Croweas, Leptospermum, Prosthantheras, Scaevolas, Telopeas will all feature. 

In addition, there will be a good range of Hakeas particularly suitable for the ACT garden, being hardy, not too large with unusual but pretty flowers. 

The Hakea laurina  (Pin-cushion Hakea), for example, is native to Western Australia. It is a bird attracting, large shrub with long, oblong leaves and globular heads of red and cream flowers in autumn and winter. Protection from frost is recommended until it is about 1 metre high.

                                                                                                                                 Photo : Fagg, M.

There are also a large number of Wahlenbergia gloriosa, the ACT floral emblem, also known as 'Royal Bluebell' - not to be confused with the 'bluebells' commonly seen on the verges of many Canberra streets. A frost-hardy ground cover, it grows naturally in the higher areas around the ACT but will grow in a moist, well-drained spot or a shallow self-watering pot in the Canberra garden. It flowers from October to March. The flowers do not last long as cut flowers, but pots of Wahlenbergia can be taken indoors for the flowers to be enjoyed

                                                                         Photo : ANBG 2002 Botanical Intern                           Photo : ANBG 2002 Botanical Intern                         

There will also be unusual plants, such as Isopogon anemonifolius. This plant, also known as 'broad-leaved drumsticks' because of the round grey cones which follow its yellow flowers in late spring/early summer, can live up to 60 years. It grows between 1 and 1.5 metres tall and likes a sunny or partly shaded spot, sandy soil with good drainage. It is hardy to most frosts, drought tolerant, will also grow in a container and makes a good cut flower - an unusual and versatile plant!

                                                                                                                                        Photo : Fagg, M.

We have ample pots of the lovely rockery or ground cover plant, the Pelargonium rodneyanum, called 'Australia's most beautiful Pelargonium' by John Wrigley & Murray Fagg in their book 'Australian Native Plants'. It has magenta flowers above its leaves and will flower for long periods in Spring and Summer.

                                                                                                            Photo : Hotchkiss, R.                                Photo : Green, C.                    

Details of all the plants on sale will be available on the Friends website approx. 1 week before the sale.