Rare native flora on sale
If you are a lover of West Australian flora, you won't want to miss this weekend's Friends of Kings Park plant sale.
Traditionally held over the September long weekend during the Kings Park Festival, the sale offers a rare chance to buy unusual native plants that are not often available from commercial nurseries.
The group will have approximately 15,000 plants for sale from 380 species and cultivars.
The feature group of plants for this year's festival will be WA's unique and spectacular kangaroo paws, including the State floral emblem anigozanthos manglesii (red and green kangaroo paw), Kings Park Federation Flame, one of my favourites, and the stunning Macropidia Midnight.
There will be limited numbers of grafted plants, including the spectacular pimelea physodes (Qualup Bell) and pimelea spectabilis (Banjine), together with pimelea ciliata, darwinia oxylepis, and the Magnificent Mint Bush (prostanthera magnifica). A few lucky people will also find the Snottygobble tree - persoonia longifolia.
Some of these plants will be better suited to pots than in the ground, particularly the Qualup Bell and Macropidia. Many natives can be grown successfully in pots and look great when mixed together. Always use a native potting mix.
The sale is on from tomorrow until Monday from 10am to 4pm daily at the Exhibition Ground off Fraser Avenue in Kings Park.
The Kings Park volunteer master gardeners will be on hand to provide free advice on how best to plant and look after your purchases. Many of our plants are soil-type specific, so take advantage of their knowledge to make sure your area is suitable for that species.
