Cockie’s Tongue

Cockie's Tongue is an easy-to-grow medium shrub with distinctive red flowers.

For information on staying waterwise, seeking a watering exemption while establishing your garden, offers, rebates and more, please visit the Water Corporation website.

Noongar Name: Yackal Djarr

Scientific Name: Templetonia retusa

Performance: Easy to grow

Size: Medium shrub with a maximum height 2m

Flower: Red

Flowering Time: Djeran – Djilba (Apr – Sep)

Natural Distribution: Grows locally in the Perth region

: Templetonia retusa (CC-BY 4.0) Kym Nicolson

: Templetonia retusa (CC-BY 4.0) Kym Nicolson

: Templetonia retusa (CC-BY 4.0) Sue Jaggar

: Templetonia retusa (CC-BY-NC 4.0) Loxley Fedec

Growing at a Glance

See Growing Guide for more detail

Position: Adaptable to sunny and light-shade positions

Watering: A waterwise, drought-hardy plant.

Feeding: Fertiliser not required.

Pruning: Generally not needed.

Waterwise Listing

Growing Guide

Ideal Position

Cockie’s Tongue is versatile, enjoying a range of positions. Suitable for denser plantings and will perform well in full sun or light shade.

Cockie’s Tongue is ideally placed in the middle of your garden bed.

When to Plant and Watering

Excellent screening plant. Plant young seedlings in Djeran (mid-Autumn) prior to the Makuru rains (Winter). Avoid planting in the hottest times of the year.
Seedlings should be watered twice a week over their first summer in the garden. It is important to ensure water penetrates down into the root-zone.
We recommend using a soil wetting agent as Perth soils are often ‘water repellent’, or do not absorb water effectively.
A layer of composted, coarse mulch can help in getting your garden started. It will help by reducing water loss and suppressing the growth of weeds.

Cockie’s Tongue are waterwise, drought-hardy plants and do not require supplementary water once established.

Cockie’s Tongue should be grouped with other waterwise, drought-hardy plants.

Feeding and Soil Care

Cockie’s Tongue don’t need fertiliser because they are adapted to grow in our local soils, which are typically low in nutrients.
Plants will benefit from adding some vegetable-based compost (avoid those with manure) into the soil at planting.
As your garden develops, practice ‘cut and drop’ when you prune your plants. The leaf and branch material that falls to the ground slowly breaks down over time, releasing nutrients to help your garden to grow.

How to Prune

Cockie’s Tongue generally don’t need pruning for shape, as their natural growth is usually attractive and/or interesting.
If part of the plant dies or grows in an undesired direction, prune from the base of the stem in question with a pair of secateurs or loppers.
You can also leave dead leaves and branches on the plant, as they provide valuable habitat and camouflage for insects.

Cockie’s Tongue can be maintained to their desired shape with regular tip-pruning.
Pluck the top couple of centimetres of the plant’s growing tips by hand once or twice a year.
If necessary use pruning shears, but avoid cutting down to the hard woody stems.