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Hibbertia and Snake Vine

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Hibbertia and Snake Vine

Hibbertia is the native with the bright yellow guinea flowers that keep coming for most of the year. The snake vine, Hibbertia scandens, scrambles over a fence, a bank or a dune as a climber or a ground cover; the compact forms sit at the front of a bed or in a pot; the grey guinea flower adds silver foliage to the mix. All of them take sun, sand, salt wind and dry spells, which makes them a mainstay of the coastal garden.

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How to choose a hibbertia

Snake Vine is the vigorous one, a twining climber to 3m on a fence or trellis, or a ground cover 2m across on a bank, with glossy leaves and 5cm yellow flowers from spring to autumn. Little Rocker is a compact form about 30cm tall and 1m wide for the front of a bed, a rockery or a pot. Grey Guinea Flower has small grey green leaves and yellow flowers on a 60cm shrub, and Grey Guinea Flower Prostrate is its low spreading form at about 25cm, for ground cover under taller natives.

The trade-off is vigour against neatness: the snake vine covers the most ground and needs the most cutting back; the compact forms stay where they are put.

Where hibbertia works

Hibbertias grow in full sun to part shade in sandy or free draining soil, and they are coastal plants first: the snake vine grows on dunes and headlands from Queensland to New South Wales and takes direct salt wind. They tolerate dry periods once established and light frost. Use the snake vine to clothe a fence, cover a bank or hold a sandy slope, the compact forms in a native border or a pot, and the grey guinea flower in a dry sunny bed with grasses and saltbush. See the other climbers and ground covers and the coastal and salt tolerant plants they grow with. Bees work the flowers all season, which earns them a place in any planting for native bees.

Planting and spacing

Plant snake vine 1m to 1.5m apart as a ground cover, or one plant to every 1.5m of fence. Space Little Rocker and the prostrate guinea flower 80cm apart, and the grey guinea flower 60cm apart. Plant level with the soil, water in and mulch. No fertiliser is needed at planting.

Care basics

Water weekly through the first summer; after that rain is enough on the coast and a deep watering a month inland. Feed once in spring with a native fertiliser. Prune the snake vine back hard in late winter if it has gone where it should not; it regrows quickly and flowers on the new growth. Tip prune the compact forms after each flush to keep them dense. Pests are few; scale occasionally appears on the snake vine and is treated with horticultural oil. The wider planting of a windy site is covered in our coastal garden guides.

Common questions

Does snake vine need a trellis?

No. Left on the ground it is a ground cover; given a fence, wire or shrub to twine through it climbs to about 3m.

When does hibbertia flower?

Mainly spring to autumn, with flowers on and off through most of the year in warm coastal districts.

Is hibbertia frost tolerant?

Light frost, yes, once established. It is a coastal plant and does best where winters are mild.

Is snake vine invasive?

It is vigorous but not invasive. It spreads by its stems, not by seed, and a late winter prune keeps it to the area you want.

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