online but may be purchased in person from the nursery. Click here for open times.

Indigofera australis, the native indigo, is an open shrub growing up to 2 metres in sunny positions.It can be pruned to keep it bushier, and if encouraged to stay low to the ground can even grow as a prostrate ground cover.

In spring it sends out spikes of lilac pea-shaped flowers. When growing wild in harsh conditions it is often straggly and leaning with few main stems, but with garden care it becomes a superior plant with beautiful sprays of blue-green foliage and dark purplish stems. It is frost hardy and can tolerate some drought, thrives in a variety of soils, even clay, preferring it to be at least a little acidic.

It is a host for the small long-tailed pea-blue butterfly and for the common grass-blue butterflies.

To visit the webpage on the Australian National Botanic Gardens click here