It's Hardenbergia Time!

Hardenbergia Season! (goes by the names of Hardenbergia violacea, Native Lilac, Lilac Vine, Waraburra (Kattang Language), Happy Wanderer, Purple Coral Pea, False Sarsaparilla) 

There is only one Hardenbergia around here - you don’t notice it until July and August and suddenly, our world turns purple! They grow in a range of soils but always well-drained, and in full sun to Gumtree shady. I looked for a small-leaved form at Trees In Newcastle (Bush Regeneration Nursery) and planted them in my garden several years ago.  The tiny leaves are almost invisible all year but now everyone can see the masses of purple splashes all over everything!

Clever little things that make their own nitrogen fertiliser, they seem happiest if left to look after themselves - which they are quite capable of doing. For example, if they are growing in an exposed spot, they hold their leaves up erect to avoid the hot ground in the middle of a hot day, returning to rest them at night.

The leaves look single and lanceolate but on close inspection - especially when it is very young, you can see the leaves begin as trifoliate, but soon drop the outside leaflets and leave the central one - like a footprint of a Wallaby with side toes missing.

The stems have no thorns or tendrils but twist themselves around anti-clockwise so it can climb to a better vantage point to show off it’s sexual parts - and bask in the sunlight!

Very rarely, one comes across a different form in the wild - a shrub form or a different colour.  A couple of years ago a lovely pink form was found in Awabakal Nature Reserve.  I photographed it on a rainy day just as the sun was coming out!

 The area where this was growing was burnt last October so I wonder if there will be one this year?

Lately there has been a few different forms selected from along the east side of Australia and marketed - for example:

• "Canoelands" - a form with dense, long thin leaves
• "Happy Wanderer" (very vigorous, purple flowers)
• "Pink Fizz" (pink flowers - climbing, not vigorous)
• "Mini Haha" (tightly compact, shrubby - purple flowers)
• "Alba" (white flowers)
• "Free 'n' Easy" (whitish flowers, vigorous climber)
• "Blushing Princess" (shrubby - mauve-pink flowers)
• "Purple Falls" (trailing - purple flowers, good for rockeries)
• "Bushy Blue" (shrubby - blue-purple flowers)

Drink:  Apparently, the boiled leaves produce a slightly sweet and reasonably pleasant drink 

A grey-blue dye can be obtained from the flowers too! 

Cribb. A. B. and J. W. Wild Food in Australia.

Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants.