A native screen does three jobs at once — privacy, habitat, and resilience. Choose evergreen, dense-branching species and plant them 1.5–2 m apart for a continuous wall of foliage. Tip-prune after flowering to thicken growth.
Native Screening Shrubs
Australian native shrubs make some of the best screening plants: they shrug off our climate, feed local birds, and form dense privacy with far less water than exotic hedges. These natives all earn their place as a living screen.
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Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon' · Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon' · from $4.50 One of Australia's most popular garden hybrids — a low-maintenance native shrub producing red toothbrush flowers almost year-round to feed the birds. -
Weeping Bottlebrush · Callistemon viminalis (Sol. ex Gaertn.) G.Don · from $3.95 A fast-growing, tough Australian native with weeping branches and brilliant red bottlebrush flowers — a reliable screening and bird-attracting plant for almost any soil. -
After Dark Peppermint · Agonis flexuosa 'After Dark' A striking small weeping tree with deep burgundy-purple aromatic foliage and tiny white flowers in spring. A dramatic, colourful feature and screen for coastal gardens. -
Bluebell Creeper · Billardiera heterophylla A dainty Western Australian native twiner hung with nodding clusters of bright blue bell flowers through the warmer months, followed by blue berries. Pretty and hardy, but a weed risk outside its native range. -
Bower Vine · Pandorea jasminoides · from $16.95 A vigorous evergreen climber with glossy foliage and large trumpet-shaped pink flowers with deep rose throats through the warmer months. Ideal for covering pergolas, fences and arbours. -
Brush Box · Lophostemon confertus A robust evergreen Australian native with a dense rounded canopy of glossy leaves, peeling reddish-brown bark and fluffy white summer flowers. A tough, widely planted street and shade tree. -
Captain Cook Bottlebrush · Callistemon 'Captain Cook' A compact weeping bottlebrush with bright red brushes in spring and summer and attractive pink new growth. A neat screening and feature native for small gardens. -
Cardinal Tea Tree · Leptospermum 'Cardinal' A medium shrub smothered in deep red flowers in spring against fine green foliage. A hardy, bee-attracting feature and informal screen for low-water gardens. -
Claret Tops Honey Myrtle · Melaleuca 'Claret Tops' A dense compact melaleuca grown for its claret-red new foliage flushes against fine green leaves. A colourful, hardy low hedge and feature for low-water gardens. -
Coastal Rosemary · Westringia fruticosa A soft grey-green coastal shrub that clips beautifully into hedges and balls. Salt-proof, drought-proof and flowering most of the year — the native answer to box and lavender. -
Copper Glow Tea Tree · Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' A medium tea tree grown for its rich copper-bronze foliage and white spring flowers. A colourful, hardy feature and informal screen for low-water gardens. -
Cut-leaf Banksia · Banksia praemorsa A dense coastal WA shrub with blunt-tipped serrated leaves and large cylindrical flower spikes in wine-red or yellow. An excellent hardy screen and cut flower. -
Dusky Coral Pea · Kennedia rubicunda A tough, fast Australian native climber and groundcover bearing dusky red pea flowers in spring that attract honeyeaters. Hardy and adaptable, it is excellent for binding banks and quick cover. -
Dwarf Lilly Pilly · Syzygium smithii 'Minor' A compact lilly pilly with flushes of coppery new growth, fluffy white flowers and edible mauve berries. A versatile, hardy hedge and screen for most gardens. -
Dwarf River Wattle · Acacia cognata A compact, weeping wattle grown for its fountain of fine lime-green foliage rather than its flowers — a soft, mounding feature for pots, borders and low screens. -
Endeavour Bottlebrush · Callistemon 'Endeavour' An upright medium bottlebrush bearing large vivid red brushes through spring and summer. A robust, bird-attracting screen and feature shrub. -
Fireworks Grevillea · Grevillea 'Fireworks' An upright medium shrub with needle foliage and bright red and yellow spider flowers that explode across the bush like fireworks. Hardy and very bird-attracting. -
Free n Easy Native Lilac · Hardenbergia violacea 'Free n Easy' A vigorous twining climber smothered in white pea flowers through winter and spring. Hardy and fast, ideal for fences, trellises and screening in low-water gardens. -
Fringed Wattle · Acacia fimbriata A soft, weeping wattle with fine fringed foliage and a profuse late-winter display of fragrant lemon-gold pom-poms. Fast, hardy and ideal as an informal screen or quick filler. -
Giant Candles Banksia · Banksia 'Giant Candles' A large vigorous banksia hybrid producing enormous orange-bronze flower spikes up to 40cm long through autumn and winter. A dramatic bird-attracting feature and bold cut flower. -
Great Balls of Fire Bottlebrush · Callistemon 'Great Balls of Fire' A dense rounded bottlebrush grown chiefly for its brilliant red and pink new foliage flushes, with occasional red brushes. A colourful, hardy low hedge. -
Green Globe Honey Myrtle · Melaleuca 'Green Globe' A naturally rounded dwarf melaleuca with dense bright green foliage forming a tidy ball without pruning. Ideal for low formal hedges, balls and container feature plantings. -
Grevillea Moonlight · Grevillea 'Moonlight' · from $18.95 A large, fast-growing hybrid bearing long cream-white toothbrush flowers almost continuously, set against ferny green foliage. An outstanding bird-attracting feature or informal screen. -
Grey Box Coastal Rosemary · Westringia fruticosa 'Grey Box' A dense compact coastal rosemary with silver-grey foliage and white flowers, naturally forming a tidy ball. Ideal for low clipped hedges and coastal borders. -
Hairpin Banksia · Banksia spinulosa · from $5.50 A reliable evergreen shrub bearing golden-yellow flower spikes with distinctive hooked styles through autumn and winter, providing vital nectar for birds. Tough, frost-hardy and bushfire-adapted. -
Hannah Ray Bottlebrush · Callistemon 'Hannah Ray' A tall upright bottlebrush with weeping branches, bronze new growth and large red brushes in spring and autumn. An excellent narrow screening and street tree. -
Heath Banksia · Banksia ericifolia A dense shrub with fine heath-like foliage and brilliant orange-gold candle spikes through autumn and winter, drawing honeyeaters in numbers. A superb screening and bird plant. -
Hot Pink Bottlebrush · Callistemon viminalis 'Hot Pink' A weeping bottlebrush bearing vivid hot-pink brushes in spring and autumn that draw honeyeaters. A colourful, hardy feature and informal screen for warm gardens. -
Icee Blue Plum Pine · Podocarpus elatus 'Icee Blue' A striking selection of the native plum pine with powdery blue-grey new growth and a naturally narrow, upright habit. An eye-catching modern hedge, screen or container feature. -
Jervis Gem Coastal Rosemary · Westringia 'Jervis Gem' A compact low-growing coastal rosemary with fine foliage and abundant mauve-blue flowers over a long season. Hardy and tidy for low hedging and coastal borders. -
Kangaroo Vine · Cissus antarctica A lush evergreen rainforest climber with glossy toothed leaves that quickly clothes a fence or pergola in deep green and tolerates shade. A hardy screening vine and popular indoor plant. -
Katie Belles Lomandra · Lomandra longifolia 'Katie Belles' A tall upright lomandra with broad green strappy leaves and tall scented yellow flower spikes. Architectural and hardy, excellent for screening and feature plantings. -
Kings Park Special Bottlebrush · Callistemon 'Kings Park Special' A vigorous large bottlebrush with weeping branches and bold crimson brushes in spring and autumn that are alive with honeyeaters. A reliable screen, windbreak or specimen. -
Lady Di Bower Vine · Pandorea jasminoides 'Lady Di' A vigorous evergreen climber with glossy foliage and large pure white trumpet flowers with pale yellow throats through spring and summer. Ideal for fences and pergolas. -
Lemon Myrtle · Backhousia citriodora A rainforest tree whose glossy leaves release an intense lemon fragrance and are prized as a bush-tucker culinary herb, topped with fluffy cream flowers in summer. A useful aromatic feature and screen. -
Lemon-scented Tea Tree · Leptospermum petersonii A tall tea tree with aromatic lemon-scented foliage and white spring blossom, often grown as a fragrant informal hedge. The leaves can be steeped for a citrus bush tea. -
Lilly Pilly · Syzygium australe · from $3.95 Australia's favourite native screen — glossy evergreen leaves flushed coppery-red when new, clipping into dense hedges and topiary, followed by edible magenta berries the birds love. -
Little John Bottlebrush · Callistemon 'Little John' A dense dwarf bottlebrush with blue-green foliage and deep blood-red brushes through spring and intermittently year round. Ideal for low hedging and containers. -
Luscious Water Gum · Tristaniopsis laurina 'Luscious' A selected water gum with large glossy leaves, smooth orange-brown bark and clusters of fragrant yellow flowers in summer. A handsome, well-behaved shade and street tree. -
Marian's Marvel Correa · Correa 'Marian's Marvel' An upright shrub with long pink and yellow-green bell flowers through autumn and winter that draw honeyeaters. A hardy, shade-tolerant feature and informal screen. -
Ned Kelly Grevillea · Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' A spreading medium shrub bearing large orange-red comb flowers nearly all year. Hardy, bird-attracting and useful as a low informal screen. -
Old Man's Beard · Clematis aristata A graceful native clematis climbing through shrubs and trees, covered in starry white flowers in spring followed by fluffy silvery seed heads. A delicate cover for shaded fences and woodland gardens. -
Peaches and Cream Grevillea · Grevillea 'Peaches and Cream' A rounded medium shrub with large bicoloured cream and peach comb flowers held above the foliage for much of the year. Showy and very attractive to honeyeaters. -
Pincushion Hakea · Hakea laurina A large shrub or small tree with blue-green leaves and striking crimson pincushion flowers tipped with cream styles through autumn and winter. A nectar magnet for honeyeaters. -
Plum Pine · Podocarpus elatus A handsome native conifer with long, glossy dark-green leaves and edible purple-black fleshy fruit used as a bush-tucker flavouring. Tolerant of clipping, it makes a fine native screen, hedge or feature. -
Poorinda Ballerina Mint Bush · Prostanthera 'Poorinda Ballerina' A bushy aromatic mint bush smothered in white flowers flushed mauve in spring. Fast-growing and bee-attracting, ideal as a feature or informal screen in cooler gardens. -
Port Jackson Pine · Callitris rhomboidea A graceful native cypress pine with weeping, fine green foliage and a slender pyramidal habit. Adaptable and low-care, it suits screening and feature use in coastal and temperate native gardens. -
Purple Coral Pea · Hardenbergia violacea 'Happy Wanderer' A vigorous twining native pea bursting into sheets of purple flowers in late winter and spring. A reliable, fast cover for fences, trellises and banks. -
Queensland Silver Wattle · Acacia podalyriifolia A striking large shrub clothed in rounded silvery-blue phyllodes and bright golden winter blossom. One of the most ornamental wattles, valued for foliage as much as flower. -
Resilience Lilly Pilly · Syzygium australe 'Resilience' A psyllid-resistant lilly pilly selection with dense glossy foliage, bronze new growth and white flowers followed by red berries. An excellent low-care hedge and screen. -
Rosemary Grevillea · Grevillea rosmarinifolia A hardy prickly-foliaged shrub resembling rosemary, flushing red-and-cream spider flowers through autumn, winter and spring. Excellent dense habitat and screening for small birds. -
Scarlet Kunzea · Kunzea baxteri A spreading WA shrub with fine foliage and brilliant bottlebrush-like scarlet flowers tipped with gold anthers in winter and spring. A showy, bird-attracting coastal feature. -
Scarlet Sprite Grevillea · Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite' A prickly-leaved rounded shrub smothered in red and cream spider flowers through winter and spring. A dense, bird-friendly habitat and screening plant. -
Slim Bottlebrush · Callistemon 'Slim' A very narrow upright bottlebrush bred for tight spaces, with red brushes in spring and summer. Ideal for slim hedges and screening along fences and driveways. -
Smokey Coastal Rosemary · Westringia fruticosa 'Smokey' A hardy coastal rosemary with variegated grey-green and cream foliage and white flowers most of the year. Colourful and salt-tolerant for clipped hedges and coastal borders. -
Snow in Summer · Melaleuca linariifolia 'Claret Tops' · from $17.95 A compact form of the popular paperbark with striking burgundy new growth maturing to green, and fluffy white summer flowers. Hardy and adaptable for hedges, screens and feature planting. -
Tick Bush · Kunzea ambigua A soft, arching shrub with fine aromatic foliage smothered in fluffy honey-scented white flowers in late spring that hum with bees and insects. A fast, hardy screen for coastal sites. -
Water Gum · Tristaniopsis laurina An adaptable evergreen Australian native with glossy leaves, smooth peeling orange-brown bark and fragrant yellow summer flowers. A popular, well-behaved street and feature tree. -
Weeping Lilly Pilly · Waterhousea floribunda A graceful evergreen Australian native with gently weeping branches of glossy ripple-edged leaves and fluffy cream flowers. Excellent as a tall screen, shade tree or feature. -
Weeping Tea Tree · Leptospermum 'Cardwell' · from $16.95 A graceful weeping tea tree smothered in masses of small white flowers in late winter and spring above fine arching foliage. A reliable, hardy feature and informal screen for native gardens.