(GENTLE MUSIC)
MILLIE: Last year, I paid a visit
to the native flower farm and garden
of passionate plants-woman Marilyn Sprague.
Then, I was looking at her amazing collection of West Australian natives
but now I'm back to find out what garden inspiration she's drawn
from the local ironbark forest
that surrounds her 4.5-hectare property.
MARILYN: I love it. Box-ironbark forest is beautiful.
So, there's a huge range of plants here
and they've all evolved
in this harsh, rocky, clay ground
over thousands of years.
And, yeah, there's a terrific range.
Really, really beautiful.
It's just a picture all the time, really.
There's no doubt that the plants of the surrounding forest
really are beautiful,
and that's why Marilyn's used so many of them in her own garden.
It's one thing to live in a beautiful forest,
but it's a whole other thing to make a garden in one.
It is, isn't it?
The use of indigenous plants just as fundamental, basic background
is just amazing.
Like, I use the golden wattle
as a dappled shade overstorey,
and they come up naturally.
Here, they're such a light canopy tree
as opposed to a big, thick-growing plant.
That's right.
The little micromyrtus here is just beautiful.
That is incredible!
So beautiful and so delicate. So dainty, isn't it?
It's a beautiful little form.
There are other forms out there
that are, you know, really dense and so on,
but, oh, that's just gorgeous.
Tell me about this extraordinary little beauty.
Yeah. It's Prostanthera denticulata.
Normally a deep purple around in the box-ironbark forest,
but this one here
is a beautiful, beautiful little pink form
that I found over in Strathfieldsaye.
Yeah, gorgeous thing. Smell. Isn't it gorgeous?
That is such a distinct smell. Oh, it is!
But the prostanthera over there,
Prostanthera aspalathopides, oh, it's to die for.
It's just beautiful. And it's another local species.
Yeah, and red flowers. Yeah.
Really, really beautiful.
Why should people look to their local species
for things to include in their garden?
Well, they're bound for success, is the reality.
But also, there is so much clearing going on.
People are buying up blocks everywhere
and there's lots disappearing.
So, you're really doing a very valuable thing for the environment.
And there's nothing more iconic, really, than...
This is a Bendigo wax. Yes.
I saw this one plant, like, you know, maybe 30 years ago,
it was,
and it was in an area that's beside a road
and it's no longer there,
but I took some cuttings off it
and then started to grow it.
So it's really tall, which is most unusual.
It's great for a cut flower.
So, how many forms or varieties might you get of something like that?
Oh, lots. (LAUGHS)
I particularly love the double-petal forms.
And I've got four or five different double-petal forms.
(BIRDSONG)
I absolutely love this clustered everlasting.
It just lights up the bush.
Yeah. Fantastic plant.
Chrysocephalum semipapposum.
And you find it in drier areas around in the box-ironbark forest.
And this yellow one is the classic.
You know, it's the one that's everywhere.
But I did find a stunning orange form.
Was this a one-off? This was just a one-off.
So, I took a couple of cuttings off the original plant
and so it's still there intact, which is great,
and then I've grown more of them since then, lots more of them.
And I've been collecting seed off just the orange ones
and then selecting the orange ones from the seedlings,
so I've got, you know, some good patches of them now.
How long have you been working on this particular plant?
Oh, years. (LAUGHS)
Yeah. Many years.
Yeah, probably... I don't know.
15, 18 years? Something like that.
(BIRDSONG)
Taking so many of those lessons
from the way you observe things growing naturally in the bush,
has that made you a better gardener?
Oh, I think so.
Yes, success is it.
So, learning about, you know, the ecology of them,
what they really like and so on,
is, I think, really important.
And I think for lots of people these days,
you know, even to just google the plant,
where it comes from,
and learn about that,
and then you'll unlock the secrets of what that plant really likes.
I can see that you've got this mounded up as well.
Is that to help the plants or just for aesthetics?
The plants grow up on the high, dry hills and so on,
and so this really helps with drainage.
If I was just to plant them down low
and, you know, they got really wet,
their root system's not gonna like it, and they're gonna die.
Talk about local species.
Creamy candles - I have absolutely always wanted to grow these.
Yeah. Can I?
Yes, you can! Yes!
Stackhousia monogyna.
And that just is suckering all through this garden now.
So, I've got a bit of stony mulch on the top
and it's just local soil, rocky clay soil, underneath.
And it's very happy in a dappled shade or full sun.
So what I do to divide it up a bit...
Look over here. See all these little suckering ones?
That's how I get more. Very, very easy plant to grow.
That is not something you see every day.
What a great way to get a ground cover upright.
Yeah! It's a beauty.
That's Glycine clandestina.
And this was a golden wattle that died.
And so I just planted it at the bottom, and up it's gone.
It's beautiful, isn't it? A bit wiggly.
Careful. (LAUGHS)
There's so much diversity and so on out there
and they're just really beautiful.
They bring in the birds, all of them.
I'm just really passionate about the diversity
that we have here in Australia.
It's just amazing, and just to see it all around you
is just so rewarding.