Sabrina Hahn's top trees for festive flora
There are splashes of brilliant orange throughout WA with the Christmas tree (Nuytsia floribunda) spotted through bushland and around city parks.
The WA Christmas tree can reach a height of 10m and flowers from November through to January.
They are found growing in sandy/gravel soils from north of Geraldton to Albany and into the Wheatbelt to Esperance.
They are pretty tricky to propagate because nuytsia are a root parasitic plant and need a host to get going. They are very slow growing but most rewarding when they begin to flower.
The WA Christmas tree is available for sale from native nursery specialists such as Zanthorrea, Lullfitz and the Australian Native Nurseries Group.
The other bright Christmas-coloured tree at the moment is Eucalyptus ficifolia - the red-flowering gum.
The colours of the two different trees together are astonishing. When purchasing a seed-grown E. ficifolia you never really know what colour you will end up with; it could be anything from cream to pink to orange.
The grafted forms may be more expensive but you have the added assurance that you will get the colour that it shows on the tag.
There are also different sizes available. Some of the grafted forms are small trees to only 4m but others can grow to 8m in height.
