Plant natives now

If you want to add bold and attractive plants to your garden that are resilient and will last for years with little love, then look no further than native plants. Right now — in autumn — it’s the perfect time to plant natives in your garden. While most natives that we grow at Awapuni Nurseries are actually quite hardy plants, planting your natives now lets them really get established before the cooler and wetter months arrive.

The great thing about natives is their ability to cope in areas of high rainfall, and their resilience to growing in a range of landscapes. Once planted, natives can easily flourish for years with very little extra care, making a very low maintenance, but striking Kiwi garden feel. And, as an added bonus, natives are fantastic for attracting birds to your garden, as they love the flowers, nectar and berries.

At Awapuni, we’ve been growing NZ natives for around a decade. Our native grasses, flaxes, hedging and trees come in 2L bags, and are between 9-18 months old. You can order online from our Awapuni shop to be delivered direct to your door.

Worried natives are only for people with loads of space? Lowgrowing flaxes take up relatively little room, and can provide years of enjoyment. Cookianum mountain flax is a dwarf variety, with lush spiky green foliage. And Banks Peninsula blue (Festuca actae) is an ornamental perennial grass, which is grown for its subtle, soft blue foliage.

Many native trees and hedging plants are diverse in their use. They can be shaped into smaller shrubs or aligned into hedges. Trees such as pittosporum (tenuifolium) look great as an individual planted tree, but when planted around 1m apart form a fast-growing hedge that can be moulded to your liking. Another example is akeake (green or purple) — usually considered a fast-growing shrub, but if left alone will become a tree reaching 3-4m.

Kakabeak is a favourite of mine — a lovely shrub with attractive spring / summer flowers that resemble the beak of the kaka parrot. They can reach 2-3m high, and last 15-20 years — making for a pretty garden, with a relaxed upkeep. Once planted, you can easily plant annuals around these natives, and vary these yearly to change the garden feel.

Once you’ve got your natives, select their new home in the garden. Natives can be planted in boggy areas too, so it could be a chance to revitalise a wet or less-attractive part of your garden.

I often encourage gardeners to grow ‘drifts’ of natives plants; which means planting an uneven number of plants, or unbalanced groupings, to create a casual and natural looking native garden — similar to the flowers in a cottage garden.

To plant, dig a hole for each plant and bury to the top of its root ball. They will need an initial watering every few days to ensure their best possible start. Natives enjoy rich soil, so mulch with a rich compost, and top this up six-monthly.

You can layer shells, pebbles and different sized rocks around your plants for a contemporary feel, and this will additionally help keep the weeds away. Natives can also be planted in larger pots, and can thrive for a few years with minimum work. Smaller flaxes naturally lend themselves here, but native shrubs can look really pretty too. The pots will restrict their roots and create a ‘bonsai’ effect, keeping them smaller.