This little member of the daisy family is a plant with bright yellow flowers and silvery leaves. It is a native of Australia, in the states of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. The binomial name is Pycnosorus globosus, which has the following meaning:

• Pycnosorus-comes from two Greek words is ‘pyknos’ that means dense or thick and ‘soros’ for heap-referring to the fact that the genus produces dense flower heads.
• Globosus-Latin for spherical in shape

Billy buttons is a perennial plant that performs best on well drained, moist soil in either sun or semi-shade. It has to be said that they are apparently ok on heavier soil too-they will grow in clay or loam soils, but aim to have good drainage in your clay soil, if thats what you have. They are also happy in pots. Being an Australian plant, they are drought tolerant, are frost hardy and can be used in coastal gardens-I love a plant that can be used in several different situations.

As for size, billy buttons is not a big plant, it reaches up to one metre in height and up to half a metre in spread. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in looks. Its leaves are a silvery colour and hairy to help it reduce water loss through transpiration from the leaves. The leaves are long and narrow.

As much as the leaves are rather nice, it’s the flowers of billy buttons that are the star of this particular show. They are a fabulous yellow colour and shaped like a ball, up to 35mm in diameter. They appear in spring and summer.

With gardening, many people get a little fixated on having a certain ‘style’ associated with it. While thats all well and good, I’m of the view that if you like a plant, crack on and grow it-the style may be nonexistent, but if you love your garden then the opinion of others is of no relevance! For those that need a bit of order and style (which is also a great thing), then billy buttons is great in Mediterranean, cottage, courtyard/container and Australian native gardens. Insects, especially bees and butterflies, are attracted to these flowers.

As with any plant, it does need some care in the garden. Dead head the spent flowers, which should encourage more flowers. If the soil is dry (stick your finger in to test this), then water well and deeply (to encourage deep root growth, but only when needed. If grown in pots, plants will need watering more frequently-check a few times a week and water as required. Propagation is by seeds or cuttings, which apparently root pretty quickly, but I haven’t tried myself.

All in all, a very nice little ground cover sort of plant that can sit happily in the garden. It has quirky little flowers and attracts wildlife to the garden. When I get a patio free of the builders, it is something I will be growing out there.

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