Native trees, bushes and flowers to help you have a very Aussie Christmas

Australians are spoilt for choice when it comes to native plants to brighten up the festive season, with our very own Christmas trees, bushes, mistletoe and holly.

Using pine trees and mistletoe to celebrate Christmas is a tradition that originated in the northern hemisphere, where they’re among the few plants with leaves in winter.

“Christmas time in Europe is pretty bleak,” says Murray Fagg of the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

But it’s quite different during the antipodean summer.

“When you come to Australia everything is green at Christmas time.”

And some natives have very pretty flowers that come out in December.

Christmas bushes