As the weather warms up, gardens often begin to look worse for wear and in need of a little make over!
When adding new plants to your garden, it is best to opt for long-lasting, weatherproof perennials such as salvia, daylily or even bromelaids. These plants thrive in our standard summer conditions, adding colour and variety.
The ‘feather flower’, or ptilotus, is a native plant that loves our hot, dry conditions. It has bright pink, tufty flowers around 10cm long. It comes from Central Australia, so this plant really knows what hot and dry means, and flowers for a long period in the garden or in a pot.
For a dash of colour you can also rely on tried and true summer annuals such as petunia, vinca and zinnia. Mass floral planting for colour will take up too much water and too much time. Instead, opt for pockets of colour as focal points.
If you are looking for plants to give your garden a lift, add some bold white flowers that glow in the dark or perfume the evening air. Floral scents intensify during summer evenings, so are a big plus in summer gardens. Try gardenia, summer jasmine (Jasminum azoricum) or nicotiana.
Not all colour in summer comes from flowers, grasses and other clumping plants such as dwarf flax, dianella and lomandra add foliage colour to summer gardens.
Source: perthnow.com.au