Woolly Bush

Woolly Bush (Adenanthos sericeus, prostrate form) is one of the few groundcovers people stop and touch. It holds at roughly 40cm tall and spreads to about 1.5m, carrying fine silver grey foliage that stays soft in the hand all year. Small red flowers sit among the growth and are easy to miss, so plant it for the colour and texture it brings to a dry coastal bed.

Why you'll love it

• Silver foliage that carries a bed. The soft needle growth reads pale grey from a distance, calming the darker planting around it.
• Low and wide, not tall. At about 40cm by 1.5m it covers ground without blocking a view or crowding a path edge.
• Sand, salt and drought are home ground. A Western Australian native from exposed coastal country, so poor soil and salt spray are normal conditions.
• Almost no upkeep. No spraying, no feeding regime, no staking. One light tip prune a year is the whole job.
• Native, and the honeyeaters find it. The small red flowers are nectar rich and bring small birds down into a low bed.

Where it works best

Coastal gardens. Salt tolerant and happy in sand, so it suits exposed seaside beds where most groundcovers burn off. Plant 1m apart for a soft spreading cover.

Slopes, rockeries and retaining walls. The low habit spills over a wall edge and knits across a batter. At 1m spacing you need roughly one plant per square metre.

Mass planting. Drifts through a gravel bed do more for a low maintenance garden than scattered single plants.

Growing woolly bush in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun with air movement. It suits warm temperate, Mediterranean and cool temperate gardens: Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and coastal South Australia. It takes light frost but not repeated hard frost, and it dislikes humid summers, so subtropical and tropical gardens are the wrong climate.

Soil. Sharp drainage matters more than fertility, and sand, gravel or poor stony ground all suit it. On clay, build a raised mound and open the soil with coarse sand rather than rich compost, because wet feet in warm weather is what kills these plants.

Water and feed. Water weekly through the first summer, then leave it to the weather. Feed sparingly and only with a low phosphorus native fertiliser in early spring, because standard blends hold too much phosphorus for this family.

Pruning. A light tip prune after flowering keeps it dense and stops the centre opening up. Do not cut back into bare old wood, which reshoots poorly.

What to expect when it arrives

This one is grown and sold as tube stock, so your plant will be small, usually 10cm to 20cm above the tube. That is the right way to buy Western Australian natives, which resent root disturbance and settle in faster from a tube than from a larger pot.

Plants travel upright and are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Expect little change for the first month, then steady spread, with a plant covering close to a square metre by the end of the second season. Every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Easy groundcover options for Australian gardens
• Browse the full groundcover range
• Compare plants for coastal and salt exposed gardens
• Australian native plants for low water gardens

Common questions

How far apart should I plant it for groundcover?

One metre apart in a staggered grid. Each plant spreads to about 1.5m, so the edges overlap and the bed closes without smothering.

Will it grow in Brisbane or the tropics?

No, and we would rather say so before you buy. Humid summers bring on collar and root rot in this species, so choose a subtropical groundcover instead.

Does it need a special fertiliser?

Yes. Use a native blend labelled low phosphorus, applied lightly in early spring. Ordinary complete fertilisers can damage the roots of plants in this family.