Native gardens

The City encourages the use of local native plant species in residential gardens and public landscapes.

Native gardens look beautiful and help to strengthen ecological corridors. This enables wildlife to thrive by providing habitat and a source of food. They also use less water once established, and have a reduced risk of invading bushland areas.

The first step to establishing a native garden is to assess the landscape features of your garden. Consider the soil type, topography, shade, and water availability. These factors will influence the best plants for certain areas of your garden.

The second step is to visualise the appearance of your garden. Consider using plants of different height, colour and growth forms, such as climbers, creepers, shrubs, herbs or trees. This will add interest and structural diversity to your garden.

Gardens with greater structural diversity are more inviting to native wildlife. You may start getting visits from dragonflies, birds, lizards, frogs and small marsupials.

You can also make your garden more wildlife friendly by installing bird baths, ponds, logs and nesting boxes. The Carnaby's and Forest red-tailed Black Cockatoos are particularly fond of certain plants and trees. Please download this brochure for a list of the species they prefer.

The plants listed below are all found in the City's bushland, river or wetland environments. To learn more, visit the FloraBase website and search your desired species.

Trees

• Coastal Blackbutt (Eucalyptus todtiana)
• Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata)
• Marri (Corymbia calophylla)

Small trees

• Bull Banksia (Banksia grandis)
• Firewood Banksia (Banksia menziesii)
• Slender Banksia (Banksia attenuata)

Shrubs

• Compacted Featherflower (Verticordia densiflora)
• Couch Honeypot (Banksia dallanneyi)
• Common Woollybush (Adenanthos cygnorum)
• Grass Tree (Xanthorrhoea preissii)
• Rose Banjine (Pimelea rosea)
• Swan River Myrtle (Hypocalymma robustum)

Herbs

• Common Dampiera (Dampiera linearis)
• Prickly Conostylis (Conostylis aculeata)
• Mangles Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos manglesii)
• Many-flowered Fringe Lily (Thysanotus multiflorus)
• Purple flag (Patersonia occidentalis)

Rushes

• Bare Twigrush (Baumea juncea)
• Knotted Club Rush (Ficinia nodosa)
• Sea Rush (Juncus kraussii)

Climbers and creepers

• Native Wisteria (Hardenbergia comptoniana)
• Scarlett Runner (Kennedia prostrata)
• Snake Bush (Hemiandra pungens)