by Spencer Shaw
When we think of Hibiscus, we think of the classic exotic Queensland tropical garden flower, with a huge range of cultivars and spectacular colours. But beside these showy blow-ins, we have five native Hibiscus to the Sunshine Coast.
First up is the Cotton Tree Hibiscus tiliaceus, these are a beautiful hardy coastal tree, that some people love and unfortunately some people love to hate… They are robust and can produce prolific suckering and dense thickets, that are great for stabilising estuarine riverbanks or coastal foreshores. On mature trees they produce thick horizontal branches that are great to run around in and if your kids haven’t had the opportunity to climb in a Cotton Tree they are missing out!
Next up is the Swamp Hibiscus Hibiscus diversifolius, and in spite of the name these are a great, colourful quick growing plant for the garden. Relatively short lived at only a year or two, they grow fast to between 1-2 metres in coastal wetlands that are subject to disturbance. They produce masses of yellow flowers nearly 10cm across.
For speed and colour we can’t quite go past the last three shrubs of the open woodlands, all grow to between 2-6 metres depending on conditions. The most widespread throughout the coast is the Native Rosella Hibiscus heterophyllus which has white to 8cm pink flowers. Hibiscus splendens is less common in our area, and can be a very bushy shrub, with huge 15cm pale pink flowers. Last but not least Hibiscus divaricatus is the least common throughout the region but found in a few patches of open woodland, these have yellow 12cm flowers.
Native Hibiscus are great in their natural environment and the last four also in your garden. Plant some native colour and benefit from the bird, insect life and soil improvement that they bring.
