Acaena inermis purpurea (purple bidibid)
Deep purple ferny leaves intensify in colour in a sunny, open position. Tough plant thriving in exposed places and poor soil but demand good drainage and summer moisture. Best colour in full sun. Will tolerate and even thrive in difficult exposed situations. Very hardy non invasive groundcover. Excellent in rockeries or next to grey or blue-foliaged plants. Can be planted in gravelly situations amongst rocks or paving stones to create a softer edge. Great effect when mass planted.
Habitat: Found in grasslands and fellfields and along the edges of screes up to 1,600m.
Flowering: December - January
Fruiting: January -
Brachyglottis monroi (monros groundsel)
Neat compact low spreading shrub with leaves a green to brownish-green above and whitish below. The margins of the leaves are distinctly crinkled. Superb plant in any landscape. Clusters of bright yellow flowers in summer. Hardy will grow in sun or shade, and tolerant of dry conditions.
Habitat: Found in subalpine scrub among the Kaikoura Ranges.
Flowering: December - March
Fruiting:
Chionochloa flavescens (broard-leaved snow tussock) [Out of Stock]
Large snow grass forming bold tussock. Broad, glaucous green leaves and flowering stems up to 1.5m with open flowering panicles. Needs moist but well drained soil. Found in sub alpine scrub and grasslands.
Chionochloa rubra (red tussock)
Large, striking red tussock. Flowing form is impressive in exposed windy sites. Handles wet to dry, and low fertility soils.
Habitat: Subalpine to alpine (rarely upper montane). Often the dominant of tussock grassland, also found within shallow bogs or fringing the margins of deeper bogs and small ponds, tarns and slow flowing streams. Occasionally in canopy gaps in upper montane forest or within subalpine scrub.
Flowering: October - December
Fruiting: November - May
Coprosma propinqua (mikimiki)
A small, tough, bushy tree with interlaced foliage. Laden with fruit that changes from white to dark blue, makes good pigeon food. Good low shelter. Hardy and tolerates damp. Evergreen.
Habitat: Found in lowland forest, along forest margins and streambanks, in scrub, gravelly places and along the edges of bogs and swamps.
Flowering: October to November
Fruiting: March to May [Berries: Dark Blue]
Coprosma rugosa (needle-leaved mountain coprosma)
Hardy native evergreen. A divaricating shrub selected for its texture and structure. Excellent for mass planting, hedged or low maintenance, structure plantings.
Habitat: Found in lowland, montane and subalpine grasslands, scrublands and forest margins.
Flowering: October - November
Fruiting: February - April
Corokia cotoneaster (korokio)
Good hedging and ornamental shrub. Attractive fine silver/grey foliage with bright yellow flowers in early summer. Densely interlaced branchlets. Red berries/seed. Evergreen. Very hardy to drought and cold.
Habitat: Found in scrub and on dry river flats and rocky places throughout the country.
Flowering: September - December
Fruiting: January - May [Fruit: Red]
Discaria toumatou (matagouri) [Out of Stock]
A divaricating shrub that grows to small tree size in the wild. Flowers are white and inconspicuous, but sweetly fragrant. Nitrogen-fixer. Common in dry shrublands of the eastern South Island.
Habitat: Found in dry riverbeds, open rocky places and sand dunes from coastal to subalpine.
Flowering: October - January
Fruiting: December - March [Fruit: Orange]
Festuca novae-zelandiae (hard tussock)
A fine-leaved tawny tussock, upright in habit. A common component of low tussock grasslands on dry, windy and cold plains in Canterbury & Otago. Tolerates poor soil and dry conditions.
Habitat:
Flowering:
Fruiting:
Melicytus alpinus (porcupine shrub)
Unusual dense, flattened, sprawling and very hardy shrub really does resemble a porcupine. Its' short stiff interlaced leafless branchlets even have spikey tips. Found in the wild on very light sand or rocky soils, or on rock outcrops in full sun though it grows on any well-drained soil.
Habitat: Occurs east of the Southern Alps in exposed rocky places between 600m and 1.300m.
Flowering: November - January
Fruiting: February - April [Fruit: White]
Muehlenbeckia axillaris (creeping pohuehue)
A dense ground-cover with wiry stems and small dark-green leaves. Flowers prolifically in summer with masses of small creamy flowers. Prefers full sun. Tolerant of hot, dry conditions.
Habitat: Found in subalpine rocky places, riverbeds and and grasslands.
Flowering: November - April
Fruiting: December -
Olearia nummulariifolia
Medium-sized, much-branched, box-like shrub. Its' stiff branches give the bush an unusual appearance. The leaves are small, thick, oval and yellow-green in colour. The flowers are carried at the branch tip. Ideal hedging.
Habitat: Found in alpine and subalpine scrub.
Flowering: November - April
Fruiting:
Ozothamnus leptophyllus (tauhinu, cottonwood)
Bushy shrub with small silver green leaves with fine silver hair beneath. The stems silver/white in colour. It has an attractive silver-grey appearance and from July to August it flowers in profusion with clusters of tiny cream daisy (wheel-shaped) flowers followed by down-covered seed heads.
Habitat: Found in coastal areas.
Flowering: November - January
Fruiting:
Pimelea prostrata (pinatoro, NZ daphne)
This NZ native groundcover is an attractive low growing plant with white flowers. It flowers prolifically over the summer months and is followed by small clear, white berries. The outstanding blue green foliage is a stand out with this groundcover. Is best grown in a free-draining soil in a full sun position. Excellent for sunny banks or rockeries.
Habitat: Coastal to montane. In open sites, such as coastal gravel, sand dunes, grasslands and mudstone cliffs.
Flowering: September - May
Fruiting: June - August [Fruit: White]
Podocarpus nivalis (snow totara)
Low growing, almost prostrate shrub found in sub alpine parts of New Zealand, although can grow at low altitude as well. It has small leathery olive-green leaves and edible red berries in the autumn. Fantastic option for a trimmed low hedge.
Habitat: Montane to alpine. Common in open tussock grassland and subalpine scrub.
Flowering: September - November
Fruiting: December - June [Fruit: Red]
Raoulia hookeri (golden scabweed)
Small, mat-forming evergreen perennial with tiny, rosettes of silver, spoon-shaped leaves. Excellent in the rock garden.
Habitat: Dense mat forming plants found covering stone-strewn dry river and stream beds. Found in alpine dry rocky places and screes.
Flowering: December to January
Fruiting:
Sophora microphylla (small-leaved kowhai)
A small-leaved kowhai which often goes through a tangled juvenile stage. There are many varying forms, some taking many years to flower. Suitable for planting as a shade tree.
Habitat: In the North Island, especially the northern half this is a species of mainly riparian forest. South of about Hamilton it can be found in a diverse range of habitats from coastal cliff faces and associated wetlands to inland grey scrub communities.
Flowering: August to October
Fruiting: October to May
Sophora prostrata (dwarf kowhai)
Dense, tangled wiry kowhai shrub with sparse foliage and hidden orange-yellow flowers in late spring. Semi-deciduous. Very tough on exposed, cold, dry sites.
Habitat: Found from the coast to subalpine in open rocky planes.
Flowering: September to October
Fruiting: January -
Veronica buchananii (hebe buchananii) [Out of Stock]
A tiny glaucous leaved plant with white flowers, compact and low growing. It is closely related to Hebe pinguifolia.
Habitat: Open penalpine/subalpine areas on rocks, debris slopes, in low shrubland, or sometimes in grassland.
Veronica decumbens (hebe decumbens)
This hebe which is native to the North Canterbury region has shiny dark green leaves with a red margin. Bears tiny white flowers from spring to summer.
Habitat: Found among mountains from Nelson to Canterbury on rocky ledges at around 1,000 - 1,400m.
Flowering: November to February
Fruiting:
Veronica odora (hebe odora)
This rounded NZ native Hebe has dark green box-like foliage and racemes of white flowers in summer. Can be clipped to maintain a neat shape and makes an attractive hedge. Light prune and feed after flowering to maintain shape and promote new growth.
Habitat: It grows in montane to penalpine grassland, shrubland, bogs and flushes.
Flowering: October to March
Fruiting:
Veronica pinguifolia (hebe pinguifolia)
Neat, low-growing compact shrub with small grey-blue leaves and profuse white flowers.
Habitat: Open alpine areas, on rocks and debris slopes, sometimes in grassland.
