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Plants in the Backyard Garden help to define spaces and provide shade, screening and privacy. Choosing plants for the backyard should be based around plants that are attractive, durable and have multiple features. These plants were selected to be suitable for gardens in eastern and southern Australia.
A savewater!® Backyard Garden is designed to reduce water by using plants that have low water needs. This means selecting plants from low rainfall climates or those with special water conservation features. Some of the major plant groups used in a Backyard Garden include small trees, screening shrubs, small shrubs, ornamental grasses and lawn grasses.
This plant list and text was prepared by Burnley Campus, School of Resource Management, University of Melbourne.
Small trees are essential elements in a Backyard Garden. They can provide shade and shelter, be used for climbing, have attractive form, flowers and leaves and produce edible fruit. Small trees grow anywhere form 5 to 10 metres in height and have single or multiple trunks. Because trees are large and long-lasting their selection needs careful consideration.
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Crepe Myrtle Lagerstroemia indica
A deciduous tree growing to 8 m in height with attractive peeling bark and colourful autumn foliage. White, pink, or crimson flowers form over late summer. There are a number of varieties of this outstanding small tree. Pruning through biennial pollarding can assist in managing height and flowers.
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Medlar Mespilus germanica
A small deciduous tree to 6 m with good autumn foliage, spring flowers and a useful rounded shape. The small edible fruits must be ‘bletted’* before they can be eaten. Several different fruiting cultivars are available. (* Allowed to over-ripen, becoming soft to the touch).
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Quince Cydonia oblonga
One of the toughest and most delightful small trees is the Quince. This small tree can grow to 5 m and has beautiful white-pink flowers in spring. The edible fruits form over summer and can be harvested in Autumn. Some light pruning and removal of basal suckers is needed.
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Swamp Mallet Eucalyptus spathulata subsp. spathulata
Originating from the south-west of Western Australia, this small, evergreen tree tolerates the toughest and most difficult garden sites. Fast growing, it has a useful rounded shape and attractive flaky-orange bark. It is also a great tree for children, for climbing and the interesting buds, flowers and fruits.
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Willow Bottlebrush Callistemon salignus
Larger than most Callistemon, this small tree to 7 m in height produces small creamy-yellow bottlebrush flowers in late winter, followed by bright pink new growth in spring. It tolerates waterlogged and compacted soils and produces an excellent weeping form when mature. Responds readily to pruning
as needed.
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Screening shrubs grow from 3 to 4 metres in height, are evergreen and have good density of stems and leaves. They respond well to pruning, which means they can be grown as a hedge or left in a more naturalistic, open form. Plant spacings can be from 75 cm to 1.5 m, depending on how quickly you need a screen to grow.
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Feijoa or Pineapple Guava Acca sellowiana
Growing to 4 m and spreading to 3 m, this native of South America produces a rounded, evergreen shrub. Once established it is a useful drought-tolerant shrub and produces green, oblong, edible fruits. A number of different fruiting varieties are available.
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Escallonia Escallonia rubra
A dense, flowering shrub growing to 3 m in height. It produces dark pink to red flowers over summer and makes an excellent hedge and screening plant, particularly in coastal areas. Light pruning after flowering will maintain its form and flowers.
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Common Myrtle Myrtus communis
A shrub of Mediterranean origin, this grows to 4 m and has fragrant small, white flowers and dark, shiny green leaves. Small black berries are produced over autumn. Can be a very useful hedging plant, but needs regular pruning.
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Hillock Bush Melaleuca hypericifolia
This shrub from New South Wales grows to 4 m and produces red bottlebrush flowers from late spring to summer. Best used for lower shrub screening, it is also highly attractive to native birds when in flower.
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In many gardens it is often the smaller plants at or below eye-level that attract the most attention, such as this group - shrubs growing from 0.5 to 2 metres in height. Plants can provide attraction from features such as form and flowering, but small shrubs also can also be used to provide low screening, to focus direction or frame part of a larger planting.
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Gold Dust Wattle Acacia acinacea
A native of south-eastern Australia this tough and durable shrub can grow up to 2 m in height. It produces masses of globular, yellow flowers during winter-spring. Light pruning can further promote a dense, suckering habit if desired.
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Sage-leaf Rock Rose Cistus salviifolius
A small shrub growing to 1 m high by 1 m spread it has small, grey-green leaves and produces masses of white-pink flowers during spring. Tolerating a range of soil conditions, this is best sited where there is good drainage and full sun.
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Native Fuchsia Correa reflexa
One of the most useful genera of Australian shrubs is the genus Correa. This species is quite variable, with different forms growing anywhere from 0.5 to 1.5 m in height. Small green - red tubular flowers are produced over winter and spring.
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Ornamental grasses and relatives |
Ornamental grasses and relatives produce clumps of foliage that are excellent plants for the Backyard Garden. They provide accent and contrast through their form, texture through their foliage and many have the added bonus of attractive flowers. Used as specimen plants, or in mixed plantings with shrubs and other plants, they can also be mass planted for effect.
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Feather Reed Grass Calamagrostis X acutiflora
An upright, clumping sterile hybrid from Germany, this can grow up to 2 m in height when in flower over summer. Produces a dramatic upright form and can also be used for screening when mass planted. Needs pruning back to the base in winter, it performs best in good quality soils and some summer rainfall.
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Spiny-headed Mat Rush Lomandra longifolia
A tough and durable species, widely used in urban landscape plantings, it produces a soft, rhizome at its base and an upright clump of green foliage. Once established it will tolerate a range of conditions, including dry shade and waterlogged soils.
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Turf Lily Lirope muscari
The Turf Lily grows into an upright clump of dark, green leaves and purple spikes of flowers that form over summer. It is best grown in shade and is moderately drought tolerant once established. Can be used to great effect as garden edging or as a highlight in shade.
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New Zealand Flax Phormium tenax
New Zealand Flax is a clumping perennial with large, linear, sword-like leaves growing from 2 to 4 m in height. Many of the newer hybrid varieties are much smaller in height and there is a wide range of leaf colour forms available. Moderately drought tolerant once established.
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In a savewater!® Backyard Garden lawns should be small in size and established during the season when natural rainfall is most readily available. Virtually all lawn grass species need some supplementary water to survive drought, although some can rejuvenate quickly after these conditions. This is an important consideration in choosing a lawn grass, along with toughness, wear-capacity and suitability for the site conditions.
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Common Couch Cynodon dactylon
Couch is one of the easiest turf species to grow but like many spreading grasses it can be very invasive. Best in sunny locations, it produces vigorous runners over warmer months and has good tolerance to drought once established. In cooler climates Couch will often die back over winter but recover once the warmer weather begins.
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Buffalo Grass Stenophyllum secundatum
Buffalo Grass is a warm season turf grass that produces vigorous, fleshy runners and dense, coarse foliage. It is best used in warm, sunny locations with good drainage and has reasonable tolerance to drought once established.
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Weeping Grass Microlaena stipoides
Many Australian native grasses are being tried as lawns and Weeping Grass is one of the best. Good preparation and establishment are needed to successfully grow this tufting, fine bladed grass as it grows into a soft, compact lawn. Weed control is important and the grass is best cut to a taller height than exotic lawn grasses (25 to 30 mm). It tolerates a range of conditions, even deep shade.
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