Native plant highlight: Mallee Annual-Bluebell

Dr Christina Zdenek, Urban Birds Coordinator at BirdLife Australia, shares why the humble Mallee Annual-Bluebell deserves a spot in your habitat garden

See how the small and modest Mallee Annual-Bluebell (Wahlenbergia tumidifructa) is arresting erosion and beautifying streetscapes.

The Mallee Annual-Bluebell is a perennial herb that bunches in thickets, rather like grass, up to 600mm. It’s native to much of Australia, enjoying a wide distribution, excluding Tasmania, the northern half of the NT, and coastal NSW and Victoria. It is adorned by a profusion of mini purple flowers between March and December.

I find no need to dead-head them, as the dead stems just looks like little brown tussocks of grass among other evergreen plants, and the fairy-wrens appreciate the cover. For Queenslanders and Territorians, Red-backed Fairy-wrens enjoy hunting among these mini-herb stands. These stands also help cover the ground to limit weed growth, lower the maintenance and reduce erosion — all very important things!

I planted just a couple of these in my habitat garden near Brisbane, but most of these plants in my garden were ‘volunteers’, growing naturally, from seed bank. This makes it good value for money if you’re habitat gardening on a budget. The key for me was identifying it from a similar-looking weed so I didn’t pull out the native! The bluebell has wavy leaves, rather than jagged edges.

Dr Christina N. Zdenek
Urban Birds Program Coordinator
BirdLife Australia