While we all dream of the perfect garden filled with beautiful, exotic flowering plants, the reality is that plants in many gardens don’t perform and often drop dead. Even worse, they don’t die quickly, but linger on for years looking half dead. What to do? Well, having green thumbs is not the answer. The key is correct plant selection in the first place. There are some plants that are just so tough, even mugs couldn’t kill them.
Landscapers regard these hardy plants as their ‘bread and butter’, and use them in difficult situations such as street plantings, roundabouts, median strips and industrial sites. These are the plants you should choose to create an unkillable framework for your garden, which you can then supplement with more delicate or unusual plants.
Mug’s list
Below is the Burke’s Backyard list of tough plants, and most of them will grow in most parts of Australia. Each plant has been given a number, which corresponds to a climate zone. To find plants suitable for your area, simply look for your climate number in the key below or on the map, then choose plants from the list with the same number.
Key to climate zones
1. Tropics
2. Subtropics (Brisbane)
3. Temperate and coastal (Perth and Sydney)
4. Mediterranean (Adelaide and western NSW)
5. Cool to cold (Melbourne, Hobart, Mts)
6. Inland (Central Australia)
Plant list
Very Big Shrubs or Small Trees (3m+)
Banksia integrifolia (coast banksia) – all
Bottlebrush (Callistemon spp.) – all
Camellias (including sasanqua camellias & japonica camellias) – 2, 3, 4, 5
Lilly pilly (Acmena smithii, Syzygium leuhmannii and Syzygium australe ‘Select Form’) – all
Big Tough Shrubs (1-3m)
Abelia (A. x grandiflora) – all
Baeckea virgata ‘Howie’s Sweet Midget’ – 2, 3, 4, 5
Camellias (most camellias) – 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Cordyline (C. australis) – all
Grevillea ‘Robyn Gordon’ and ‘Superb’ – all
Indian hawthorn (Raphiolepis indica) – 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Japanese flowering quince (Chaenomeles) – 3, 4, 5
Oleander (Nerium oleander) -1, 2, 3, 4, 6
Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata ‘Royal Cape’) – 1, 2, 3, 4
Winter honeysuckle (Lonicera) -2, 3, 4, 5
Small Tough Shrubs (less than 1m)
Daisies (especially Osteospermum) – all
Hebe, veronica (eg Hebe ‘Inspiration’ ) – all
Rusellia equisetiformis – 1, 2, 3, 4
Sacred bamboo (Nandina domestica & N. domestica ‘Nana’) – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Shore juniper (Juniperus conferta) – 2, 3, 4, 5
Climbers & ground cover plants
Native violet (Viola hederacea) – all
Star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) – all
Wisteria – 2, 3, 4, 5
Soft Leafy Plants and Bulbs
Agapanthus – all
Arum lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica) – all
Canna – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Clivia – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Crucifix orchids – all
Dietes – 2, 3, 4, 5
Erigeron (E. karvinskianus) – 2, 3, 4, 5
Freesias (Freesia refracta var. alba) – 2, 3, 4, 5
Gazania – 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Gymea lily (Doryanthes excelsa) – all
Mondo grass – all
Native Violet (Viola hederacea) – all
New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) – all
Impatiens, busy lizzie – all
Jonquils & narcissus – 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Liriope – all
Lomandra (Lomandra confertifolia) – all
Pigface, ice plant (Lampranthus spp.) – all
Red hot pokers (Kniphofia spp.) – 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Strelitzia (Strelitzia reginae) – 1, 2, 3, 4, 6
Succulents – agaves, sedums, aloes – all
