Favourite Plants

My favourite Australian native plants are members of the daisy family, Correas (sometimes referred to as native fuschia) and Eremophilas (known as emu bushes). There are numerous others that I like very much, but those I listed are the ones that I collect.

I joined the Australian Daisy Study Group years ago because I had fallen in love with a local daisy, Olearia pannosa, which is a threatened species I have since found out. I could not believe that a native daisy could have such a large flower, 2 inches or 5cm diameter. I was able to germinate some seed that winter, and have since struck cuttings of the plant. It grows naturally not far from home on the road side and is a lovely thing in flower in mid spring.

It is amazing which plants are daisies. Lettuce is an example that comes to mind. When I did some research on daisies for a talk that I gave, there was a huge list of common garden plants which come into this category, including a few vegetables.

The ADSG is a very proactive group. The first book published by the group was a general book on Australian Daisies, covering a few of the species which fit into this category of plants. Later came one on Brachyscomes, and the last was on Paper Daisies. Currently work is being done on a book on Olearias, like the one on the roadside near here.

The newsletter arrived yesterday, with a new seed bank listing!