Australian Native Plants Society (Australia)

The ANPSA is a great online resource for those with an interest in native Australian plants, regardless of level of knowledge.

However, for a novice gardener or internet user, it can be a bit bewildering trying to find your way around, so I thought it might be worthwhile highlighting some of the key resources that are worth checking out.

Hope this helps! :)


Over the years, the ANPSA has established quite a collection of articles, newsletters, magazines and other publications, either solely or in collaboration with others.

They have produced a wonderful booklet called Getting Started: an introduction to growing and propagating Australian Native Plants, which is perfect for those who have little experience of native plants.  I found it invaluable when I first came to Australia and still refer back to my copy when I'm going through a propagation phase :)

You can then take your budding knowledge further, by exploring the online gallery or native plant guides.  These are available for groups of plants, from Acacia, through the Kangaroo Paw and Pea families, to the Waratah and it's relatives.  Each guide provides further information on that group, including specifics of cultivation and propagation, making them one of the first points of call for me when I'm working with something new.

I also love the newsletters produced by the various study groups, some of whom have their own websites and newsletters available online. Check out the garden design and bonsai groups for some interesting ideas!

Other tools that I've found to be an amazing help with choosing plants for specific areas, plant ID, botanical nomclemature and also what plants are related, have been created by Howard Harvey, in association with the ANPSA.

Howard Harvey is the developer of the APSQuery (Australian Plant Society) software and it's brilliant.  This software allows you to select a group of plants to fit specific criteria: growth habit, height & spread, location, soil, pH and other tolerances can all be specified.  The basic search allows you to quickly select the criteria, click start and then you can browse through the list of plants suggested, look at plant information for each, or conduct various web searches for more info etc using a single click.

The best thing about this program is that it's completely free to download and use!

If you want, you can purchase a full copy of it for $50, which then comes with plant images included.  Not really necessary when the web links allow you to see the images online and of course downloading these would take up more space, but...  we all like to have these on our pc don't we? :)

For more info on APSQuery, including how to download the free or paid version (with the photos) can be found here.  For those who do pay, the purchase cost is donated to the Australian Plants Society (SA).

Those who become members of the Society (used due to the fact that each of the regional groups have different names!) can expect to receive first class information and support, including being able to attend study groups, lectures, receiving a quarterly newsletter from your own regional group and also quarterly issues of the Australian Plants Journal.

You should check out the differences between what the regional groups provide to see if the Australian Plants Journal is included, as sometimes they require an additional fee.


Even if you opt not to become a member, you can actually subscribe to the Australian Plants Journal on it's own (information on this can be found on the publications page, here).

Regardless of whether you do or not, there is also a an archive of Australian Plants Online, which has a host of articles covering a 14 year period up to 2009.


Please take some time to check out this wonderful online resource and, if you like what you see, consider subscribing! :)