You’ve got your Wild Bosky Screening Bundle home — now what?

The Screening Bundle is designed to grow into a mixed native screen, windbreak and habitat corridor, rather than a uniform hedge. The different species will grow at different rates and to different heights, creating a layered planting with flowers, foliage, shelter and food for wildlife throughout the year.

Depending on seasonal availability, the exact species in our Screening Bundles may change from time to time. Use the plant list supplied with your bundle to identify the plants you have, then find them below.

Before you plant

Think of it as a small plant community

For the best result, avoid planting all ten plants in a perfectly straight, evenly clipped row. A slightly irregular or staggered arrangement will create a more natural screen and gives the plants room to develop their individual forms.

The taller eucalypts and sheoak can form the upper structure, while wattles, hakeas, bottlebrushes and melaleucas fill the middle layer. Together they create a more useful habitat than a single-species hedge.

Spacing

As a general guide:

• 1.5–2.5 metres apart will create a relatively dense screen as the plants mature.

• 2.5–4 metres apart will create a looser, more natural habitat corridor.

• A staggered double row can make an especially effective windbreak and visual screen where space allows.

Allow additional room around the larger trees, and consider their mature size before planting near buildings, fences, septic systems or overhead powerlines.

Sun

Most of the species in the bundle perform best in full sun, although several will tolerate some light or dappled shade.

Watering

These are hardy Western Australian natives, but newly planted tube stock still needs help while establishing its root system.

Water deeply at planting, then provide regular deep watering through the first dry season if rainfall is inadequate. The aim is to encourage roots to travel down into the surrounding soil rather than keeping the surface permanently wet.

Once established, most of these plants are considerably more drought tolerant.

Mulch

A layer of coarse organic mulch around each plant will help conserve moisture, moderate soil temperature and reduce weed competition. Keep mulch a few centimetres away from the stem itself.

If using fertiliser, choose one formulated for Australian native plants and low in phosphorus, particularly around hakeas and other members of the Proteaceae family.

The plants in your Screening Bundle

1. Callistemon phoeniceus — Lesser Bottlebrush

Typical mature height: around 3–6 m
Flowers: bright red, mainly spring to early summer
Best position: sun to light shade; particularly happy where a little extra moisture is available

The Lesser Bottlebrush is one of the most colourful plants in the bundle. Its red bottlebrush flowers are rich in nectar and attract birds and insects when in flower.

In nature it is often associated with watercourses and depressions, so if your planting area includes a slightly lower or moister position, this is a good candidate for it. Once established it is nevertheless a hardy plant.

It can be allowed to develop naturally as a large shrub or small tree, or lightly pruned after flowering to encourage denser growth.

You may also see this species referred to botanically as Melaleuca phoenicea.

Why it’s in the bundle: dense screening, brilliant flowers and wildlife value.

2. Casuarina obesa — Swamp Sheoak

Typical mature height: around 6–10 m, sometimes taller
Flowers: inconspicuous
Best position: adaptable, but particularly suited to heavier, seasonally damp or even somewhat saline ground

The Swamp Sheoak provides one of the taller structural elements in the bundle.

Its fine, drooping green branchlets give it a softer appearance than a broad-leaved tree and allow wind to filter through the canopy, making sheoaks particularly useful in shelter and windbreak plantings.

It naturally occurs around waterways, winter-wet areas, saline flats and salt lakes and is unusually tolerant of difficult conditions.

Swamp Sheoaks have separate male and female plants. Female trees eventually develop the familiar woody sheoak cones.

Why it’s in the bundle: height, shelter, toughness and long-term habitat structure.

3. Acacia microbotrya — Manna Wattle

Typical mature height: up to around 7 m
Flowers: cream to yellow, mainly autumn through winter
Best position: sun; adaptable to sandy loam, clay loam and gravelly soils

Manna Wattle is a bushy large shrub or small tree and can be one of the quicker plants to begin contributing useful height and density to a new screen.

Its rounded flower heads appear mainly from autumn into winter, adding another flowering period to the overall planting.

Like many wattles it also plays an important ecological role as an early structural plant while slower-growing species mature.

Manna Wattle can produce root suckers, particularly following root disturbance. In a habitat corridor or revegetation-style planting this can help form additional cover, although it is worth allowing it some room to do so.

Why it’s in the bundle: relatively quick cover, winter flowers and a dense middle-to-upper layer.

4. Acacia meisneri — Blue Wattle

Typical mature height: around 2–4 m
Flowers: yellow, mainly late spring and summer
Best position: sunny, well-drained position; adaptable to loam, clay and sandy soils

Blue Wattle is generally lower and bushier than the larger Manna Wattle.

Its attractive grey to blue-grey foliage provides useful contrast against the deeper greens of the melaleucas and eucalypts, while its dense branching helps fill the middle layer of the screen.

Yellow wattle flowers appear mainly from late spring into summer, although flowering can vary with conditions.

Because it generally remains smaller than the tallest plants in the bundle, it is useful toward the front or outer edge of a mixed planting.

Why it’s in the bundle: dense mid-level screening, contrasting foliage and seasonal flowers.

5. Melaleuca viminea — Mohan

Typical mature height: around 3–5 m
Flowers: white to cream, mainly winter and spring
Best position: sun to part shade; particularly suited to lower or seasonally moist areas

Mohan develops into a densely branched large shrub or small tree with fine foliage and masses of small white to cream flowers.

It naturally occurs around creeks, drainage lines and wet depressions, making it another good choice for a lower point in the landscape where winter moisture tends to collect.

Its dense branching provides useful shelter for small birds and other wildlife, while its flowers attract a wide range of insects.

Why it’s in the bundle: dense cover, winter and spring flowering and excellent habitat value.

6. Eucalyptus erythronema — Red-flowered Mallee

Typical mature height: around 2–6 m
Flowers: red, pink or occasionally cream, mainly spring and summer
Best position: full sun; well-drained sand, clay, gravel or lateritic soils

This is one of the feature plants in the bundle.

Rather than becoming a huge forest tree, Eucalyptus erythronema generally develops as a mallee or small tree, often with several stems arising from near ground level.

Its smooth, often pale or powdery bark combines with colourful flowers to make it attractive even when used primarily for screening.

Flower colour varies between plants and forms of the species, ranging from red and pink through to cream.

Once established it is drought hardy and well suited to an open sunny position.

Why it’s in the bundle: upper-level screening without becoming an enormous tree, colourful flowers and valuable nectar.

7. Hakea multilineata — Grass-leaved Hakea

Typical mature height: around 3–5 m
Flowers: spectacular pink flowers, mainly winter to early spring
Best position: full sun to light shade in well-drained soil

Grass-leaved Hakea is one of the stand-out flowering plants in the bundle.

It has long, narrow, leathery leaves and produces conspicuous spikes of vivid pink flowers during winter and early spring — a time when nectar is particularly valuable to wildlife.

The flowers attract nectar-feeding birds and insects, while the woody fruits that follow also provide food for seed-feeding birds.

Give this plant good drainage and avoid high-phosphorus fertilisers.

Light pruning after flowering can encourage a denser form where screening is the priority.

Why it’s in the bundle: spectacular winter colour, bird habitat and dense evergreen foliage.

8. Calothamnus rupestris — Mouse Ears

Typical mature height: around 2–4 m, occasionally larger
Flowers: pink to deep red, mainly winter through early summer
Best position: sun to light shade; particularly suited to well-drained gravelly or rocky soils

Mouse Ears is a tough, attractive shrub naturally associated with rocky hillsides and granite country.

Its fine foliage forms a useful middle layer within a screen, while clusters of pink to red flowers provide nectar for birds and insects over a long flowering season.

It works particularly well where the soil is free draining and can cope with relatively dry conditions once established.

It may be lightly pruned to encourage additional density if required.

Why it’s in the bundle: hardy mid-level screening, long flowering period and wildlife value.

9. Melaleuca adnata — Sandhill Honey-myrtle

Typical mature height: around 3–5 m
Flowers: white, cream or pale pink, mainly spring and summer
Best position: sunny position; sandy or clayey soils, including soils over laterite

Sandhill Honey-myrtle develops into an erect to spreading large shrub and is another useful plant for filling the middle section of the screen.

Its small leaves and dense branching make it useful for shelter, while clusters of pale flowers appear through spring and summer.

In the wild it occurs on flats and around drainage lines across parts of Western Australia, and it tolerates a useful range of soil conditions.

Why it’s in the bundle: dense evergreen structure, adaptability and summer habitat value.

10. Eucalyptus drummondii — Drummond’s Gum

Typical mature height: around 3–9 m
Flowers: cream to white; flowering can occur from winter through summer
Best position: full sun with room to develop

Drummond’s Gum is another mallee or small tree rather than a towering forest eucalypt.

It commonly develops several stems and a dense, sometimes irregular canopy. Individual plants can vary considerably in their foliage and form, which is part of the natural character of the species.

Creamy-white flowers provide nectar for birds and insects, and mature trees develop valuable shelter and habitat.

It is naturally found on a variety of soils including gravel, clay and loam associated with granite and laterite.

Give it enough room to develop its natural form rather than trying to treat it as a tightly clipped hedge.

Why it’s in the bundle: height, long-term habitat, nectar and strong structural screening.

What will the finished screen look like?

The important thing to remember is that these plants are not meant to become ten identical green columns.

Over time, some will become small trees while others form dense shrubs underneath and between them. Some will flower in winter, others in spring or summer. Fine-leaved sheoaks and melaleucas will mingle with wattles, hakeas and mallee eucalypts.

That variation is deliberate.

A diverse native screen can provide:

• privacy and visual screening

• protection from wind

• nesting and refuge for small birds

• nectar and pollen for birds and insects

• seeds and other food resources

• shade and shelter

• a corridor through which wildlife can move

• a much more natural-looking part of the landscape

It may take several years before the planting performs as a substantial screen, but the habitat begins developing long before the plants reach their mature size.

One last tip: give them room to become themselves

It is tempting to plant native tube stock very close together because the plants look tiny when they first go in.

Remember that you are planting the future plant, not the tube sitting in front of you today.

Give each plant enough space, help it through establishment, and then allow the different species to develop into the layered, slightly wild plant community they were selected to become.

That’s the idea behind the Wild Bosky Screening Bundle.