Growing the right plants to keep gardens flourishing

Not I might add that my half acre plot is all that big, but looking after it does take time, especially during droughts.

Pondering how I can keep it flourishing as our rainfall gradually shrinks, the answer seems to be, with some difficulty.

“And more time, effort and water,” adds an invisible voice. 

But there’s a solution to every gardening problem if you niggle away at it.

What are a gardener’s most demanding jobs?

At a guess I’d say: watering, pruning, re-planting. 

Add mowing if you have a big lawn and do it yourself. I have small lawns which luckily for me, Bill mows.

So, how to cut back on the first three?

If you consider them together as one, the answer is easy: grow the right plants.

The right plants in the right place don’t need watering once they’re established, they don’t need pruning and they’re far less likely to die and need replacing.

But, and it’s big but, what are the right plants?

Easy if you’re prepared to limit your garden to native trees and shrubs from the nearby bush, eked out with cacti and succulents.

But all gardeners dream of more.

We love the challenge of new plants, we want to frame views and create secret corners, we like colour and scent even when Jack Frost hovers.

We love to stand under trees we planted as tiny saplings.

Last week (The Land, October 18) I wrote about zoning, the system of grouping plants according to their water requirements.

There’s no reason why you shouldn’t adapt an established garden to this system.

Make a mud map on the back of an envelope and outline your three irrigation zones to include none, minimal and regular.

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Then as gaps arise, check in which zone they occur and replant accordingly.

In my garden in a highland climate of dry summers and frosty winters it’s the challenging no-irrigation zone where gaps occur most often.

Here I need tough evergreens like Russian Olive (Eleagnus angustifolia) with scented yellow blossom, Mediterranean Pine, Pinus halepensis, Irish Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo) with white bell flowers and red fruit, and my favourite juniper, also Irish, J. communis ‘Hibernica’.

Deciduous trees could include Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia), Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) for summer flowers, Pomegranate (Punica granatum) for colourful fruit and native White Cedar (Melia azedarach) with scented purple flowers and yellow winter berries. 

Once established these should all take care of themselves.

Heads Up: Fiona will officially open Rockley Gardens and Art on Saturday November 10 at 9.30 am at the School of Arts Hall, Rockley, to help raise funds to restore this historic old building.

Ten gardens include established gardens, heritage gardens and ‘works in progress’.

Morning and afternoon teas, wine tasting, tickets, maps and information available at the School of Arts Hall, Hill Street, 10am to 4pm, 10/11 November, entry $10, details Kerry Mahony on 0434 179 401 or mahonykerry4@ gmail.com/