Well, Florida has sandy alkaline soil, and lots of nematodes. However, of course it is also very humid in the summers, but maybe someone from there could give you some ideas.

Jackie

Thanks Jackie :) Hopefully the Floridians (??) can chime in with some tips of plants that can handle the nematodes!

I had thought that the Perth climate might be fairly similar to some parts of California? Maybe Southern California? Winter day temps in Perth range from 60-70 degrees F, and summer day temps are usually between 90-105 degrees F. Perth gets about 30" or 32" of rain annually, mostly from late autumn to early spring, although rainfall seems to be on the decrease. I know you don't have sandy soil or nematodes there, but as the climate seems sort of similar (soooo different to mine) I thought the suggestions from all you good folks in California, Northern Italy and even Crete might be really helpful.

I do like trees or shrubs that stay green in the winter so it doesn't look so bare when the deciduous trees like crape myrtles lose their leaves. I have columnar junipers, some boxwood and of course cypresses. Your sister has quite a bit more rain than we do, so that's very fortunate. She might want to consider remontant irises that have bloomed for me in odd months like February, July, October and November. Daylilies are also great for the cottage look. Trailing ivy geranium in lavender tones look great with pink and white roses. Limonium perezii with its purple panicles of flowers is another great favorite of mine. They multiply so you don't need to buy too many. Rosemary and lavender are also good plants, although I don't like rosemary close to roses. We don't have nematodes here so I can't comment on how they would affect what you grow.

Ingrid

Does she have any aversion to Australian natives? I need to do some checking regarding what climates in Australia they do best in, but I can only imagine how much better the variety of Grevilleas, Proteas, Banksias, Correas, Boronias, and other shrubs is in Australia than here in the US. There are dozens of Correa I've seen pictures of that will remain a dream till someone starts importing a lot more Australian cultivars into California. Then again, these genera could be very common and seem boring there for all I know.

Jay

Hi Jay :) Nothing against Aussie natives, it's just that (crazily) many of those don't actually grow for me here in the Eastern states (except wattle and callistemon, which give me shocking hay fever!) so I didn't think to recommend them. See, this is why this forum is so great!

Banksias, correas, and gravilleas are very very common over there, and can often look quite scraggly so they do get overlooked when considering garden design that's not strictly native. Also, boronia is one of my favourite fragrant flowers, but I don't know anyone who has ever successfully grown it. It just dies!! Don't tell me you can grow it over there?

But some of the proteas and ground-cover banksias would work really well, as well as the smaller pink and cream callistemon varieties, which makes an awesome informal hedge and a pretty feature tree. Some of the smaller eucalypts are endemic to that area too (we can't grow them over here), such as the super beautiful Eucalyptus Caesia and Eucalyptus Macrocarpa, which are my favourites.

Ingrid, limonium is a great suggestion, thanks! I've already told her all about crepe myrtles thanks to the pics of your garden, and she loves them. Can you tell me what the root systems of juniper and cypress are like to garden around? She has a small-ish suburban sized yard, so anything with a super-vigorous root system is going to take up too much valuable planting space and would have to be planted too close to the house to make it safe. Also, why don't you like to plant rosemary near roses? Is it just personal preference, or is there something I should know?

Thanks :)

I wouldn't plant cypresses in that case, and they get huge anyway, and even the columnar junipers would be iffy. I have an area that has a cypress, a crape myrtle and a butterfly bush and when these were young the roses did fine but now I can't get a rose to grow there for love or money.

Rosemary will get humongous unless you can find some dwarf varieties. Since that's their natural inclination I wouldn't even go there. I have mine on top of a retaining wall, in very poor soil, and they've still turned into monsters, although now crisped by the heat. Lavender and nepeta are much better options, and I'm sure there are other plants, but most of what I've grown hasn't done well here so I stick to a basic few that I know can survive here. Your conditions may be entirely different. I should think that asking at a local nursery might provide some good suggestions.

I'm curious what roses you've recommended. Do you mind telling us?

Ingrid

Thanks Ingrid :) Good info.

Most of the local nurseries over there are closing down. Of the three main rose nurseries, one has been sold and will be turned into a resort, one is on the market and will most likely be redeveloped into housing, and the last is under significant pressure to sell to developers. From what I can. See, most other nurseries are the large national ones, that stock the same plants in all their stores, which are often not appropriate (and many are even invasive in some parts where they are sold. Drives me nuts).

Aaaanyway, I've mostly recommended what I've seen doing well in the posts of all you hot climate gardeners on here, and have sort of cross-references those against what I saw doing well at the two rose nurseries we visited. There don't seem to be many China's available over there, which left us with mostly teas and Noisettes - all of these looked pretty amazing in Perth. She loved Lady Hillingdon most of all, and Duchesse de Brabant was another firm favourite. Also Mons. Tiller ex Beales was a hit (I think that's really Noella Nabonnand?), as were Anna Olivier and Buff Beauty, but she was not keen on Crepuscule. She liked a lot of the apricot/yellow Austin's and HTs, but I have advised her to wait a few years with those until she's got her watering regime down pat and seen what the disease pressures are like.

Based on availability (they didn't have a lot of stock), I bought her Lamarque to grow over her shed, and a vintage Clark gigantea hybrid called Lorraine Lee to make a huge thorny barrier along her front fence. In winter I will try to source Cl. Lady Hillingdon and Cl. Duchesse de Brabant to grow over her gazebo.

I fully support the use of natives and have an exclusively native front yard. But, be careful combining them with exotics because they will not appreciate high phosphorus fertilisers.

Definitely go for tea roses. I like that they are nearly no-prune and provide a great refuge for little birds.
I would also highly recommend the David Austin rose "Radio times" as it thrives in Perth.

I prefer more tropical/Mexican looking gardens and recommend frangipani and oleanders. The double white and double pink oleanders are surprisingly fragrant (like vanilla and baby-powder) and hardly need any care. Yes they are toxic, but why would you want to try and eat them?

In terms of trees, Almond and stone fruit trees provide welcome shade and a nice flower show in spring. Citrus trees grow well and look good all year round. Avoid Robinias like the plague.

Buddleias are hardy and a magnet for butterflies, which is good because sadly we don’t really get many here in Perth,
Most of the South African bulbs establish easily in Perth. Some of the species Gladiolus, Freesias and various lilies can become invasive though so you need to be watchful and never dump any garden waste in the bush. Chincherinchees are nice and are a good cutting flower. The African daises like Osteospermum and Gazanias are also very weedy, but are good for blanketing large bare areas. Pelargoniums are very hardy too and cheaply acquired through cuttings. Then there is the omnipresent Agapanthus.

I have recently been bitten by the Alstroemeria bug and have amassed a decent collection sourced cheaply from the local swap meet. They are very hardy and the flowers last two full weeks when cut. They come in a big range of colours and while I like the warmer reds, oranges and saffron yellow ones, you can also get them in creams and pale pinks.

Tell her to check out the Water Corporations waterwise plant search tool too. There is a cottage option under garden type.

Here is a link that might be useful: waterwise plant search

Awesome info, thanks Adam! I was hoping you would chime in :)

Just out of interest, where is your local swap meet? My sister is not far from the Kardinya and Melville ones.

The Mandurah Forum/Centro. I haven't been to the Kardinya one but I hear it's good.
Sadly the Mandurah one closes over the summer and restarts in Feb. Maybe. Allegedly the big hardware stores complain and try to have it closed permanently.

This post was edited by adamharbeck on Tue, Oct 28, 14 at 21:01

I live near San Francisco, in California , which also has one of the few Med. climates.
We have 3-4 months of continuous drought, each year during summer, so water preservation is a concern. Any plant i list here regarding water use, is a mature sized plant.
Drought tolerant: I've never watered any of the Mexican Sage, which were on my property when I bought it, because they never need it. Long flowers of a deep lavender hue attract hummingbirds every day. c. 5 feet tall by just as wide. There are many forms of salvia that are drought tolerant.
- It took me a long time to take to Succulents, but after I remembered my grandmothers growing ' Hens and Chicks' in her cottage garden, I added a dozen or so to my rose garden. I have several growing in a low bowl shaped container to show off their growth habit. I find their smooth texture adds interest to a rose garden.
Pomegranite I keep mine to c. 5' tall by 6 feet wide, by never watering it. Since reading that the climbing rose, 'Sombruiel' is drought tolerant in our area, I plan to move mine so it is in the same bed as the Pom.
Mexican Primrose, pink flowers that bloom nearly constantly through summer. plants are about 2 and 1/2 feet tall. can be invasive if given the right conditions.
-Allysium, the white form has longer roots and needs less water.
-Many of the native Med. plants are drought tolerant, allysium, lavender et cet.

Shrub;'Breath of Heaven' has a great scent, and can be grown as a fragrant hedge. Last year I decided that any plant in my garden was going to receive a minimal amount of water during our drought and those that lived could remain. This did, to my great delight.
Snow in summer' sorry I forgot the Latin name which begins with C... a low growing plant that spreads over an area of c. a yard. silvery green foliage and small white flowers.
Rose Campion, another med. native that has silvery gray leaves. a flower that has been growing in cottage gardens for hundreds of years. I have it growing beside 'Westside Road Cream Tea'
I do like herbs planted amongst my roses: smaller forms of rosemary, oregano, there's some fancy forms 'Kent Beauty ' is one of those, mother of thyme makes a deep green carpet and the flowers keep the bees happy. Lemon verbena near a path gives off a lovely and refreshing scent as one walks by and touches it.
Poets Jasmine, again on a north facing wall so the shade lessens its' need for water. I'd plant it by a pink remontant rose as the jasmine does not re-bloom.
Nasturtium. The hummingbirds love 'Empress of India', a red nasturtium.
Forget-me-nots, I plant them on the sides of rosebushes where they only get half a days sun, and need less water that way.

Average water: Scabiosa, there's a mauve form and a purple form that are very pretty.
Violets and Parma violets give winter interest, Parma violets are water wise plants when grown in partial shade.
Pelagoniums, I grew up calling them Geraniums, I have 'Roxanne' and 'Electric Blue'.
Lilys. I prefer the scented Oriental lilys to the scentless Asian hybrids. I had to move all my 'Casablanca' lilies to a pot on a pedestal because snails ate an entire bed of my lilies.

Water Wise, (Not quite drought tolerant, need to be watered twice a month in summer here)
Lavender.
I water French Lavender 2-3 times during a summer and Spanish lavender once a month. I find the shorter forms of lavender need watering more often so I don't grow them anymore.

I plant any of my largest rosebushes which don't need support furthest out from the faucet, because they get watered only once a month in summer, and rarely in the other seasons because we do get some rain (usually) the rest of the year.
Large self-supporting rosebushes:
spray 'Cecille Brunner' I've seen this grown so it has one large basal cane and been pruned:
-Into a large balloon shaped shrub.
-into a hedge. Each plant makes a wonderfully fragrant hedge with good re-bloom, c. 8 feet long, by 3-4 feet tall, depending on how tall the person wanted it. My neighbor grows hers on the side of a shed.
Mme. Alfred Carriere, this is drought tolerant when mature, in our climate. I only watered it twice this summer. I keep it to c. 6 feet tall by c. 5 feet wide, by shearing it 2-3 times back, each summer.
Monsieur Tillier, can reach 10 feet tall by nearly as wide. In general the larger the canopy of a large rosebush, the deeper the roots grow, and are able to access levels of water that shorter rosebushes cannot.
Susan Louise' a marvelous Hybrid Gigantea that blooms from February through December locally. Produces large roses in profusion that are a fresh hue of pink. Can be grown as a self supporting shrub, c. 18' tall by 9' across, which has the sillouette of an apple tree if limbed, I've also seen it grown as a 25 foot long climber on a 4 foot tall fence. A nice but light fragrance.
- since your sister loves Lady Hillingdon, perhaps she'd like 'Anna Olivier' a shapely honey hued Tea rose with an intense fragrance, it's more richly hued sport is called 'Lady Roberts' and I envy her having such a sublime rose given her name.
-Mrs. B.R.Cant' big pink roses on a big plant. I water this only half as often as I do my smaller rosebushes, such as my Hybrid Teas, and it doesn't seem to mind.
Clematis; I plant them on the North side of the house so they get shade, and therefore need less watering. c. jackmanni is easy to grow.

Best wishes
Luxrosa

As Luxrosa mentioned, snails can be a serious problem. They are literally the bane of my garden and have an uncanny knack for knowing exactly what I’m looking forward to see in flower and destroying the buds just before they bloom. I use an iron-based pellet and collect them by hand on damp mornings for my bantam hens but they must come from the neighbours or something because there are always hoards of them.

The best thing your sister can do is look around the neighbourhood and see what’s performing well. Big hardware nurseries sell a lot of insipid plants that just fail to grow or get hammered by pests. tahts why swap meets are such a good plant source because tehy are suited to backyard conditions. A lady I work with loves Plectranthus a filler, and yesterday I saw it used as a good groundcover in a church garden. Another really nice, hardy ‘cotagey’ plant is the African nutmeg bush or Iboza (Tetradenia riparia). It has very fragrant foliage and flowers and strikes readily from cuttings.

On our soils mulching or just covering the soil is really important. If you leave it bare the nutrients just leach out and it becomes water repellent, so use mulch or ground covering plants to protect the soil from the heat. Dense planting also stops the hot winds drying it out so quickly. When I bought my garden I inherited a very hardy, tall and beautiful variety of orange canna which I leave to march through the garden beds. I literally jut hack at it with a machete when it encroaches other plants but I like the lushness of it and the honeyeaters get into the flowers. I also have lots of purple Tradescantia that just grows everywhere. It’s a good dirt-coverer but can smother less vigorous plants, but you can easily pull it up.

Adam, your garden is so beautiful! The cannas give a very lush, green look . It looks like a wonderful place.

luxrosa, I've always thought that I live in a Mediterranean climate, but my conditions are so much harsher than yours. There's nothing that would survive here without water, not even Mexican sage, and our dry period is more like eight months. Since muscovyduck states that Perth is very windy that would tend to dry out plants quite a bit. It seems that every gardener has to go through some experimentation to find what works in their particular climate. It can be frustrating but also educational and fun, and in the end you do find out what really works for your location.

Ingrid

Muscoveyduckling, you could get 'Jamie Durie" to do a 'Gary garden" for you.
Only joking.
Regards David.

Bahahaha David, you are such a clown :) I bet I couldn't afford him, even if I wanted to!

Everything in this segment is applicable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening Australia

Thanks to everyone for the excellent tips! Now I will have to look up all the things I've never heard of.. Hah.

Poisonous plants, snail pellets, and plants that irritate the skin are definitely not an option, as she has a dog, and wants to have kids in the future. So that means no oleander or tradescantia (Adam, you say snails are the bane of your life, well in the hills outside of Melbourne tradescantia is the bane of MY life! Haha. And you should see my poor dogs' bellies if I miss a patch of it). But the three plants I noticed a lot recently in the area that were doing amazingly with no care were frangipani, jacaranda, and Cottonwood hibiscus (which I LOVE, but a plant costs $120 in Melbourne and has to be cut to the ground every year due to our cold winters). So I will look into these.

Adam, your garden looks so lush and cool compared to the rest of Perth, which was brown and dry even in October. Well done :) Those lillies are great, and I really like that African nutmeg bush you suggested. And almond trees! I don't know why I didn't think of that. We had almonds, apricots and peaches in Perth growing up, they were fantastic! (Although we never got a single almond off the tee, because the black cockies would swoop in a big noisy flock and eat them all before they ripened. It didn't matter, we would rather have the cockies than the almonds any day).

Lux, pomegranate is an AWESOME idea, thanks! I bet she'll be into it :) The 'Breath of Heaven' shrub is ridiculously over-used in Australia and I think everyone's a bit sick of it - it's planted all round shopping centre car parks and commercial premises. But that 'Snow in Summer' looks so so fabulous! I wonder if it would grow for me.... Hehe.

Thanks again everyone :)

Muscovy, why not put Adam in contact with your sister as they are in the same "sort" of area, just a thought.

David, she's a bit shy. I think if she had to talk to strangers about what to do with her garden, she wouldn't do anything to it. So she asked me to help her with that.

I'm sure as she gets more addicted to it, she'll open up a bit :)

I've had decent luck with Boronia crenulata 'Shark Bay' here, but that means having one shrub die a horrible death and another do well enough that it's still with me. I have a hard time describing it, but the foliage's aroma is like a mix between a cigar humidor and citrus. Very interesting and enjoyable to my nose.

For more foliage interest, perhaps Coprosmas or Lophomyrtus? I tend to like most varieties of the latter and quite a few of the former. The repens and kirkii varieties/hybrids appeal to me more amongst Coprosmas. Does Clianthus stand a chance there? Or is it even available? I got my hands on a white flowering Clianthus puniceus that I'm excited about.

Though South African, Leucodendron and Protea can be beautiful, shorter-lived landscape shrubs in Mediterranean climates. I don't know what their availability is there, but it's not too bad here.

Jay