Greenery - Maidenhair fern, maple tree, Westringia, aloe vera

Some greenery around the garden, basically those which aren't just for the sake of flowers or fruit.

Maidenhair ferns are very beautiful plants with bright green leaves coming off contrasting black stems (this is where the name comes from). We have this in a hanging pot because the weeping habit looks really nice this way. These are best grown indoors, but we keep it outdoors in a shaded position. When we get back to summer, it will probably need to come back inside.

We picked up a young maple tree for cheap from Bunnings a while ago but it is not doing very well and does not appear to be changing colour with the seasons (it is supposed to, according to the care instructions). I guess we will invest a bit more in a decent/named variety one day.

We like to pick up plants on 'special' at garden centres and see if they can be nursed back to life. If it doesn't work, we just end up with an extra pot for planting other stuff so it's not a big deal. This was a plant that ended up doing quite well. It is an Australian native shrub called a Westringia "Wynyabbie Gem" which produces small mauve flowers in spring, but may flower throughout the year. It is currently winter here in Sydney and we are still seeing it in flower.

We recently picked up some aloe vera while visiting in the Eden area. This has now been potted up and seems to be doing okay.