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Australian native plants are found in many California gardens today. They can add a bit of the exotic to your garden while conserving water, and many are easy to maintain.

Westringias can provide a screen, an upclipped hedge, a background for perennials, an accent, and a ground cover. These plants need good drainage, and a sunny location, but otherwise are tough and generally hardy to 25 degrees. Many tolerate coastal conditions. Their flowers are white with a few lavender exceptions and they're in bloom from winter until early summer, although in coastal areas they often bloom year round. Leaves are small, and gray green with a few exceptions.  Here are some Westringias that I like to use in my designs. 

W. fruticosa grows 4 to 6 feet in height and is wider than it's height. The leaves have a fine texture and overall has a pale green appearance with white flowers. It needs a sunny location with well draining soil. It doesn't seem to attract pests, always a plus. I use this as a screen plant along fence lines and it's most attractive planted as an unclipped hedge.

W. f. 'Smokey' grows  4 to 5 feet and has gray green leaves with cream colored margins and white flowers.

W. 'Wynyabbie Gem' gets a bit taller, sometimes to 7 feet. The lavender flower is attractive, and it looks great as a background to lower growing shrubs.  

Another lovely Westringia is W. f. 'Morning Light'. With it's light green/yellow leaves, it grows to a maximum of 3 to 3 1/2 feet making it perfect as a backdrop to lower growing plants or individually as an accent. It also needs good drainage.

A newish Westringia in the U.S. is W. f. 'Mundi'. I'm very excited to see this plant come onto the market as it's low growing, 1 to 2 feet high, and spreads to about 4 to 5 feet. It's perfect as a ground cover, on slopes or in mass plantings in areas that get little maintenance. It's tough! With dense growth and with it's gray green leaves and white flowers, it's an attractive, drought tolerant beauty.