A little bit about polygala

If you’re looking for a small, compact, fast-growing, colourful and hardy shrub, polygala ticks all the boxes. For most of the year, you’ll find polygala awash with eye-catching pink or purple petals, making it perfectly suited to mass planting with a splash of colour. It also makes a brilliant border plant and with its compact growing habit, looks fab in a pot too. Varieties like ‘Little Polly’ naturally form a small, neat, round shape that’s ideal for hedging. Other varieties, like grandiflora, grow larger and more freely. You can tell a polygala by the unique and charming little feathery tuft that sits within its pea-flower-like petals. As a great cut flower, you can enjoy polygala in your home too.

 

Botanical name: polygala

Common names: milkwort, Seneca, snakeroot, sweat pea shrub

Height: 1 - 2 metres Width: 1 - 2 metres

Ideal spot: Polygala likes light, well-draining but not wet soil. It flowers best in full sun but can also tolerate dappled light. Polygala grows well in coastal spots.

Where to grow polygala? Polygala is happy in the garden or in a container.

When does polygala bloom? Polygala flowers year-round. Flowers are usually followed by small seed pods.

 

Caring tips

How to prepare for planting?

To give your polygala a great start, dig in blood and bone and organic compost.

Feed

Twice a year feed polygala with a complete fertiliser for flowering plants.

Prune

Just a light prune of straggly stems after flowering is all that’s needed to maintain a dense habit. Trimming after flowering will also encourage more flowers.

Protect

Caterpillars like polygala, so use Dipel or Success Ultra to keep them away. Keep aphids away with Conquer Residual Insecticide Concentrate.

Watering

Water polygala well while flowering.

 

Polygala 'Little Bibi' pictured.

 

Polygala Myrtifolia is a self-seeding variety and considered an environmental weed in parts of NSW. Flower Power does not sell this variety.