Vibrant red and yellow clusters of grand Christmas Bells emerge just before Christmas or shortly after. My mum remembers a time when they grew wild and flowered abundantly on the roadsides. How spectacular that would have been! For most of the year this is a little grass like clump, it is unassuming and easy to miss. But oh is it incredible when flowering! Quite low fuss in my experience too – handling both drought and recent La Niña rains equally well. Difficult to source, but this is a great addition to your Australian flowering garden if you can find it.

Grow among other natives in a densely planted low growing flower bed where you won’t notice the grass like foliage until it flowers. Can also be grown in a container if you don’t have the needed well drained and sandy soil. Over time the plant will naturally form a small clump with multiple flower heads – generally one flower head added every year.

Low fuss and unbothered by pests. The most critical thing is to keep the water coming in the summer and to allow it to dry out a bit in winter to replicate the natural seasons in it’s native range.