A bone-dry spell in March was a chance to see which plants flourished under testing conditions.
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Cistus, ceanothus and smoke bush (Coinus) looked better than ever, but best of all were my Aussie native shrubs.
These included Crowea exalata with starry pink flowers, Grevillea Scarlet Sprite, some Westringia fruticosa varieties, among them Jervis Gem, and Correa alba, with soft grey leaves and tiny white flowers in winter.
Last September I risked planting a Hardenbergia violaceae, knowing I'd have to water it daily but desperate for something to plant under a new arch in time for our open garden. It hasn't looked back and is already neary 40 centimetres high.
While it's unrealistic for most of us to plan gardens that will survive on no extra water without limiting ourselves to cacti and succulents, it makes sense to choose those with low water requirements.
Getting into my delayed autumn planting, I'm blessing my decision to experiment with more natives, though I've included a Kiwi from Perenialle Plants Nursery in Canowindra, who offer a wide choice of good plants (www.perennialle.com.au/).
Haloragis ereta 'Wellington Bronze' is a spreading shrub (to 60cm) with bronze, toothed leaves on distinctive reddish stems. In NZ, Haloragis grows in altitudes up to 500 metres and likes fertile soil although luckily, in cultivation overseas, it has been found to tolerate dry soils with low nutrients.
My other purchases are mostly shrubs, with some grasses and kangaroo paws for contrast.
Many grevilleas are hardy, long flowering and tough and a wide range is readily available.
I'm trying a spreading, clay tolerant groundcover, G. lanigera Tamboritha, with tiny, dark green leaves and sprays of red and yellow flowers.
Grey leaves are reliably heat and drought resistant so I've included another groundcover, Eremophila glabra Kalbarri Carpet from WA, with small, silvery leaves and yellow flowers in spring and summer.
Moving up to low shrub height, Casuarina 'Cousin It' makes a useful evergreen mound for rockeries and banks, up to 1 metre and said to tolerate a range of climates and soil - fingers crossed it will take frost to -5 degrees Celsius.
Leptospermums or tea trees are a group of shrubs and small trees from Australia, NZ and South-east Asia with attractive flowers with five rounded petals alternated with clusters of stamens.
L. 'Julie Anne' is a form of L. rotundifolium from Jervis Bay, a low shrub (30cm by 1.2m) with pale pink spring flowers, tolerating both coastal conditions and frost.
L. 'Aphrodite' is a large shrub (2m by 2m) with bright pink flowers in late spring, fast growing, frost tolerant and suitable for a wide range of soils. I can't resist a red and purple leaves so I'm also trying L. 'Burgundy Queen' (3m), with purple foliage and deep red flowers.
Finally, correas, you can never have too many. I'm adding C. pulchella 'Dusky Bells' (up to 1m by 2m) to my collection, with pink flowers from autumn to spring.
The Australian Plants Society NSW has a brilliant website (austplants.com.au), easy to navigate, beautifully illustrated and with links to gardens and reserves to visit, plants and seeds to buy, a native plants database (updated weekly) and many others. Membership (one year $56, concession $48) includes the national newsletter Australian Plants, published quarterly. Email office@ausplants.com.au
