This has to be one of the most tactile of native plants, rivalled closely by Adenanthos sericeus, with its silver white foliage and hundreds of purple flowers it is a coveted specimen for many gardeners. The bees love it too as you can see in the image above.
Eremophila nivea is absolutely striking even when not in flower, nivea Latin niveus means snow or snow white, referring to the overall appearance of the shrub, this silver colour contrasts easily with other greens in the garden and make this a stunning feature shrub. Eremophila nivea is from Western Australia and therefore dislikes the weather and soil on the east coast and needs to be grafted if it is to survive here. Two common varieties are Eremohpila nivea ‘Blue Velvet’ and Eremophila nivea ‘Beryls Blue’, they vary slightly in foliage and flower colour.
The main reason for this post is that Eremophila nivea loves to be pruned, it should say ‘please prune me!’ on the label. The plant in this blog post receives pruning twice a year, nothing major just an all over tip prune to shape. This is done for two reasons, the first is to thicken it up and encourage flowers the second is to strengthen the plant. Because this is a fast growing species and quite dense it can easily snap in strong winds, especially after rain when it is top heavy. I planted this specimen 2 and 1/2 years ago and it has never looked so amazing!
Eremophila nivea Grafted can also be grown very successfully in pots if you don’t have a free daring soil or raised bed. Keep watering to a minimum and only water the soil around the root zone, don’t forget to tip prune and you should end up with a beautiful full snow-cloud of a plant dotted with purple 😉