Balance bold colour with these cool natives

On the subject of selecting and planting trees this time of year, we immediately think of those traditional deciduous lines synonymous with bold autumn colour. But we ask that you don’t overlook the crispness of Australian natives. Their cool blue and icy green shades instil their own unique beauty year-round in the landscape and provide a welcome contrast to a strictly green palette.

For a complete package of cool-coloured leaf and intriguing bark, Eucalyptus leucoxylon ‘Euky Dwarf’ offers the complete package. It is a shapely native with a light open canopy, single trunk and smooth bark that sheds. A year-round performer, its greyish green leaves once mature is offset by masses of pink, red and sometimes cream blossom from late autumn to early summer. Its size makes it ideal for small gardens and landscapes, planted singularly for contrast or in groups for a wonderful mini bushland effect.

If your focus is purely bark related, the compact growing Corymbia citriodora ‘Scentuous' syn. 'Dwarf Pink’ with its beautiful salmon pink bark and slender aromatic leaves will definitely captivate.