Zanthorrea Nursery

Tucked into the hills east of Perth, this family-owned nursery has spent decades devoted almost entirely to Australian native plants — the banksias, grevilleas and grass trees that reward local soils rather than fight them. Wander past the six hundred-odd varieties on offer and you'll find plants sourced from accredited growers alongside stock raised on site, all hardened off before it leaves the gate. What sets the place apart is the setting: display gardens laid out in different styles let you see a possum banksia or a shade-tolerant grevillea as it might actually look years into a Perth backyard, not just as a pot on a bench. Native birds and the odd bandicoot treat the grounds as home turf, and a children's play area means a plant-buying trip doesn't have to be a solo mission. Staff lean on genuine horticultural knowledge — matching species to shade, soil pH and coastal exposure — rather than a script, and the nursery hosts occasional talks with figures like Kings Park's plant breeders, with gold-coin donations going to wildlife rescue. There's a gift shop too, stocked with garden-related odds and ends, but the real drawcard remains the depth of native plant knowledge and the gardens built to prove it works.