Australian Native Kangaroo Paws

You know how as a kid you thought your mum was the vegie monster because she made you eat food like Brussel sprouts but as you get older the idea of Brussel sprouts for dinner grows on you till somehow you find yourself not only buying them and cooking them but also enjoying them.

Kangaroo Paw, an Australian Native Plant

Kangaroo Paws are kind of like my Brussel sprout in the garden! For years I would almost double over in pain at the idea of growing one of these hideous plants. Why? I couldn’t come to terms with a plant that had gangly disease ridden leaves and long boring flowers.

I guess I just had never seen it used well in landscaping because now I am totally in love. Why? Strangely enough it was Ipswich City Council and the Riverheart parklands that caused me to start to fall in love with them because a few years ago they were planted en masse in the gardens and they looked fantastic most of the year. 

Kangaroo Paws belong to the genus Anigozanthos, native to south-western Western Australia. A region that’s drier, hotter, and has very sandy soil. Quite different from Ipswich's heavier soils and sticky summer air.

And that’s where a lot of the trouble starts. One of the main reasons I disliked Kangaroo Paws was because of the dreaded ink spot, those black patches that ruin the leaves. It’s mostly caused by fungal diseases thanks to humidity, but frost damage and snails can also contribute. Parts of Ipswich can swing between high humidity and black frosts, basically, Kangaroo Paw hell.

Some newer cultivars, like the Celebration series, recommend growing in pots in a partially shaded spot and only in areas with less than 70% humidity (Ipswich averaged around 75% in summer 2024). So while Kangaroo Paws traditionally love full sun and excellent drainage, if you're in a more humid region like ours, pots in airy spaces with morning sun might be the better way to go. Terracotta pots are a great choice too, because they breathe. If you want to grow Kangaroo Paws out in the garden, try going for the older varieties like Anigozanthos flavidus or the red and yellow flowering forms in the Bush Gem series.

Most sprays or fertilisation will not prevent Ink spot.  Thanks to Angus Stewart, the main cultivator of Kangaroo Paws, I now know the best and easiest way to deal with ink spot! Mow over them when the leaves start to become infected and fertilise with a complete organic slow release fertiliser like Organic Link!  Secateurs would work just as well as a mower but nowhere near as fun!

By cutting all that leaf off, you get get rid of Ink spot and encourage beautiful, fresh new leaf which gives the plant a really vigorous green appearance and promotes the flowers and the flowers are the best part.

Kangaroo Paw flowers have been described as one of Australia’s most striking and unusual flowers and with modern cultivation I think there is one available in in all the colours of the rainbow, hot pink, red and green and the black are my favourite.

These fabulous bird-attracting, drought tolerant plants grow to all different sizes too. From small boarder plants to large striking feature plants there is one suit all gardens.  All they need is a dry well drained spot in full sun and easily accessible by mower (or Secateurs)!

I love using a mixture of flowering heights in pots too. They make an awesome feature in a hot area of your patio or garden. Just remember to remove the spent flowers and yucky leaves and this plant should reward you with vibrant colour most of the year.

This weekend eat some Brussel sprouts and plant an icon of the Australian garden at your house.

Brilliant Australian Native Plant

Photo by Brian Walters from the Australian Native Plants Society

Summer Red Eucalyptus would have to be the best flowering Australian Native gum tree for suburbia.

Before this range was released if you wanted a flowering gum tree you had to just go out and buy one and hope for the best. Sometimes the flowers turned out red and other times pink, but quite often it was an insipid white which you didn’t really want anyway. Plus the plant was straggly and had to be kept heavily trimmed to look nice.

The good news is that it’s now possible to buy flowering gums with predictable flower colours. Specially bred for the home garden, the new plants are hybrids between Eucalyptus ficifolia and Eucalyptus ptychocarpa, grafted on to Eucalyptus intermedia rootstock.

Eucalyptus ‘Summer Red’ produces masses of mid-pink to red flowers in summer and grows quickly to around 5 metres. It has large glossy green leaves and the new foliage is an attractive bronze colour. The trees should do well in most areas of Australia and will tolerate light frosts and drought.

Eucalyptus ‘Summer Red’ would be my ideal gum tree for the home garden. It is the perfect shade tree, with a height and spread of around 5m. It can be kept easily pruned and is even suitable for large pots.

Make a bird happy today and plant a Eucalyptus ‘Summer Red’!

It can be trimmed after flowering and I find its best to fertilise them at least three times a year with Organic Link.