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Gastrolobium praemorsum 'Brown Butterfly' (Gastrolobium)

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Helpful articles

Top plants for hedges and screens. Hedges and screens in gardens create privacy or screen out an unwanted view. Learn about which plants are best for this.

Plant index (not used). (not used).

Planning your garden. Learn how to design a garden using a step-by-step approach.

How to plant. Learn how to plant correctly. Planting correctly will not only get your garden off to a flying start, but it will also ensure that your plants's root systems develop as healthily as possible, maximising their long-term stability.

Plant description

gastrolobium praemorsum brown butterfly 001

gastrolobium praemorsum brown butterfly 002

gastrolobium praemorsum brown butterfly 003

gastrolobium praemorsum brown butterfly 004

The unusual brown foliage with a green edge gives this cultivar its intriguing name. It is a ground covering plant that is great for embankments, as a feature plant spilling over retaining walls or as a potted plant. Being a legume, it can fix nitrgen from the air for nutrition and therefore needs much less fertiliser than non-legumes. Give it a light trim after a heavy flush of flowers and it will continue to thicken up as a ground cover. The brown colour of the foliage is more intense in full sun.

Further reading: Top ten native plants and Best natives for pots and small gardens (articles written by native plant expert and horticulturalist Angus Stewart).

Additional plant information

Flowers

Flower colour: Red
Flowering season: spring summer winter

Scent

No

Plant size

Maximum height: 0.3 metres
Minimum height: 0.1 metres

Maximum width: 3 metres
Minimum width: 1 metres

Sunlight, frost & salt tolerance

This plant will tolerate full or partial sunlight.
Light frost tolerance.
Plant is not salt tolerant.

Fauna attracting?

Yes. Attracts: Birds.

Climate

This plant species will grow in the following climates: temperate, arid.

Soil types & conditions

Loam: dry, moist, well-drained.

Clay: dry, well-drained.

Sand: dry, moist, well-drained.

Soil pH: 5.5-6.5

Miscellaneous information

Native to: Australia.

Planting season: Autumn or spring.

Types of fertiliser: Low phosphorus Australian plant fertiliser.

Video

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