This bush grows wild next to a walkway to the beach near my home. The flowers keep well in a vase and look very pretty too. We would love to grow it in our garden. Please can you identify it, and is it a native?

Christel Fritze, Dundowran Beach, Qld

PHIL DUDMAN SAYS This plant with pretty pink flowers enclosed by green-veined white bracts is commonly called white shrimp plant or squirrel’s tail (Justicia betonica). It is native to southern Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Unfortunately, it seeds readily and has become a serious and widespread weed in coastal districts north of northern New South Wales, so we don’t recommend growing it.