Kangaroo Paw Anigozanthos Bush Ballad PBR

Bush Ballad is a compact red kangaroo paw bred for garden beds rather than the cut flower trade, so the flower stems sit just above the fan of strappy evergreen leaves instead of towering over them. The colour is deep red with the velvety, felted texture the genus is known for, and it repeat flowers through the season rather than giving one short burst. Honeyeaters find it within days. It is a border and feature plant, used in drifts and as a bird attracting accent.

Sun, sharp drainage and the ink spot problem

Full sun and free draining ground are not negotiable. It is low water once established and moderate in growth, which suits dry gardens, raised beds, mounded soil and gritty mixes, and rules out heavy clay that stays wet through winter unless you build the bed up first. Set plants roughly half a metre apart for a drift, so air moves between the clumps. It grows across most of southern and eastern Australia, and humidity rather than cold is the limiting factor. It also grows well in a large pot of free draining mix, which is how to run it in a humid coastal garden.

The failure mode is ink spot, a fungal blackening that runs down the leaves and through a whole fan in humid summers. Airflow is the main defence, along with watering at ground level and early in the day rather than over the foliage late in the afternoon. When a fan blackens, cut it right out at ground level and bin it instead of trimming the tips. Snails also graze new flower stems, so bait early in the season.

Not a tree, and that is the point

Everything else in this batch is woody. If you want flower colour at knee height, in full sun and dry soil, with no structure to prune and no litter over paving, Bush Ballad does a job none of the trees here can. The nearest comparisons for a flowering feature are Peace Baby and Alstonville lasiandra, which give far more mass and height but want acid soil, shelter from wind and a frost free position. Use the paws in front and the lasiandras behind them. The other difference is time: a paw reaches full size in a season and can be lifted and split when a clump tires, where the woody plants here are a long commitment to one position. More in kangaroo paw.

The hard cut back

Cut the whole clump back hard after the main flowering flush, taking the foliage down to about a hand's width above the ground. It looks brutal and it is exactly right: the plant reshoots clean, and skipping it is how a paw turns into a brown thatch with a few flowers on top. Remove spent flower stems at the base as they finish through the rest of the season. Feed straight after the cut back with a controlled release fertiliser suited to natives and low in phosphorus, and water it in. Mulch lightly, keeping it off the crown. Divide congested clumps in early spring, replanting the outer fans.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 2 sizes, from 140mm up to 170mm, priced from $17.95 to $24.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to planting for birds.