Australians are noted for their ability to withstand rugged conditions and still look good, for their tough exteriors hiding a certain sweetness, for their surprising tendency to smell good under all sorts of conditions. Of course, we're talking about Australian plants.
Ozbreed is a Sydney-based company that specialises in using the continent's native plants to create commercial breeds and works with several nurseries in New Zealand which grow and trial plants here under licence.
Sales manager Nathan Dutschke recently made his annual tour of the nurseries - in Auckland, Katikati, Napier, Masterton and Christchurch - to see how plants were doing in local conditions and to discuss plans for new lines.
"Most of our plants are grown in tissue culture labs," Nathan says, "so we can bulk up numbers quickly. "We have a couple of tissue culture labs in New Zealand and grow most of the product for this country here."
Ozbreed's best-selling plant - on both sides of the Tasman - is one Kiwis may mistake for a native of this country. Lomandra longifolia "Tanika", a drought-tolerant grass, is used extensively in public landscaping.
"The beauty is that it tends to stay evergreen," Nathan says, "some of the plantings are 4 years old and still performing.
"It's a plant that doesn't fail."
Ozbreed is looking at our native Libertia, also used widely in streetscapes and parks, to see if a new selection may be worthwhile.
"People are always working on different plants and often looking at flowers over foliage. However, we're more interested in nice compact, bushy things - if the flowers are good it's a bonus because something that looks good all the time is the backbone of any planting scheme.
"Most of Australia has been suffering a drought so we're always looking at what we call "no-irrigation" plants which, once established, can generally survive on natural rainfall and require minimal maintenance.
"And although we breed mostly for the landscape market, we're also interested in plants that home gardeners want.
Those sales make up about 30 per cent of our business."
Nathan believes the company is on to a winner with its new Westringia. Named "Aussie Box" and "Grey Box", they are naturally ball-shaped and not affected by box blight, which is hitting English box (Buxus sempervirens).
The company has also developed a range of mid-sized kangaroo paws, known as "Velvet Paws", using the tough Anigozanthos flavidus for plant health.
"The smaller-growing varieties are bred for their flowers," Nathan says, "and can be more prone to things like inkspot, so you almost have to treat them as an annual. Ozbreed trials its plants for a minimum of 12 months to see them through each season before deciding whether to release them.
"Double Gold", a sterile gazania, should be available within the next 12 months, while waiting in the wings are grevilleas "Cherry Cluster" and "Gold Cluster", both semi-prostrate groundcovers, the pink-flowered Liriope, "Isabella", which can be used like mondo grass or even as a lawn that needs mowing only once a year, and three nandinas that have red foliage most of the year.
However, the breeding work the company is doing with callistemons (bottlebrushes) is staying on the far side of the Tasman.
An outbreak of the devastating wind-borne myrtle rust, being described as the biggest threat Australia's ecosystem has faced, means no new material is allowed into New Zealand.