Happy Wanderer

~ Hardenbergia violacea ~

FABACEAE

The Happy Wanderer’s adorable flowers, with their peeping watchful eyes, provide nectar and pollen for native bees, moths, butterflies, wasps and other native insects. The seed is harvested by native insects and birds and dispersed by ants, while the foliage provides protective cover for native reptiles and insects. This fast-growing climber is a wonderful way to create habitat in your garden for our native fauna friends. The Happy Wanderer, aka the Purple Coral Pea, has been used as a substitute for sarsaparilla flavour, which was originally made from the vine Smilax ornata.

WHERE TO LOOK

From lutruwita (Tasmania) to Queensland, from coastlines to mountains, it can be found in many habitats – usually open forest, woodland and sometimes in heathland – and in many gardens in temperate and sub-tropical zones.

Locations → Queensland: Girraween National Park, D’Aguilar National Park and Burnett Creek near Mount Barney National Park; NSW: Blue Mountains National Park and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park; ACT: Namadgi National Park; SA: Watts Gully Native Forest Reserve.

FEATURES

A naturally gifted climber, this plant has stems up to 2m, featuring dark-green, leathery leaves 3–10cm long. Its 1cm long flowers are purple and pea shaped with two little yellow eyes peeking out from the middle of the flower face. Long brown pods 2–5cm long and 8mm wide contain the seeds.

FLOWERING SEASON

Winter and spring → The Happy Wanderer reaches peak flowering between September and November.

PLANTING

Seeds are widely available but do contain a tough seed coat that may need pre-treatment with abrasion or boiling water. Plants can also be grown from cuttings of the current season’s growth. Give this climber something to cling on to as it does have a tendency to try to climb other plants if nothing else is available. It would serve as a great fence or shed covering. Trailing and more compact shrubby versions are also available.