Top Aussie Water Savers
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Episode: #2 09/09/2006
Presenter: Melissa King
Imagine, plants that look great without you needing to pamper them with lots of water. Thankfully these plants aren't hard to find, especially if you make the trip to Cranbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens.
The Native Hibiscus is top of the list for exceptional dry hardy plants. A variety called'West Coast Gem' which has stunning mauve hibiscus-like flowers, appear in succession from spring right through to summer. With regular pruning you can keep it to around a metre high and wide. It can be grown in full sun or part shade, but needs good drainage. It is a great one for the perennial or shrub border.
Kangaroo paws put on a show stopping display and once established you can get away with watering t hem very little. Good resistance to disease sets the bush gem Kangaroo paws apart from the rest. They are also naturally branching so they throw up multiple flower heads over summer, and come in striking colours and forms including the vibrant yellow'Bush Gold and'Bush Emerald' with striking red and green flowers.
The Silky Eremophila (Eremophila nivea) is perfectly adapted to dry gardens and beautiful too. The silvery leaves and purple flowers are a stunning contrast, with blooms appearing throughout spring and summer. It is happiest in a dry, sunny position, with perfect drainage. Once it's established you need only water very sparingly, if at all.
You can not get a more bold exotic looking dry garden plant than Doryanthes (D. palmeri) Apart from these giant leaves, which are great in flower arrangements, it throws up enormous crimson flowers on stems which can be up to 4-5 metres tall during spring and summer. You can see it growing wild in the sandstone country around Sydney, where it thrives on mimimal rainfall. Used on mass it is an incredibly eye-catching plant.
For beauty and dry tolerance you can't beat the native daisies. Xerochrysum bracteatum or'Dargon Hill Monarch' is one of the best. It displays deep golden yellow paper daisies, which last for ages. It looks gorgeous in cottage style gardens and perennial borders or even pots and containers.
If you haven't experienced the new Australian Garden at Cranbourne Botanic Gardens then you are really missing out. It showcases the best that Australian plants have to offer with innovative design, beautiful dry climate plants and tonnes of water wise ideas.
The Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne
1000 Ballarto Road , Cranbourne
The Australian Garden is open every day except Christmas Day, from 9am to 5pm.
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