A garden that flowers for most of the year is not luck, and it does not come from coaxing one plant to flower longer. It comes from choosing plants that flower for months, staggering them so one takes over as another finishes, and three habits: deadheading, pruning at the right time and feeding for flowers and not leaves. This guide covers the plants and the habits.
Plants that flower for months in Australia
| Plant | Flowering period | Climate |
|---|---|---|
| Gaura | Spring to autumn | Every capital |
| Salvia | Spring to autumn | Every capital |
| Dietes | Through the warm months | Every capital |
| Society garlic | Months of mauve | Warm and temperate |
| Crepe myrtle | Months through summer | Every capital |
| Grevillea | Much of the year | Nationwide; buy grafted plants of western species in the east |
| Repeat flowering roses such as Iceberg | Spring to autumn, in flushes | Best where summers are not humid |
| Evergreen frangipani | Spring to autumn | Brisbane, coastal NSW, Perth, Darwin |
| Bougainvillea | Long, in warm climates | Brisbane, Perth, Darwin |
| Correa | Autumn and winter | Southern Australia |
Native shrubs are often the longest performers of all, as our guide to native plants with red flowers shows, and the native shrubs range has the choices. For a single plant that flowers for months, see our guides to the white crepe myrtle and to agapanthus.
Cover the lean season
The gap in most Australian gardens runs from late autumn through winter. Correa, many grevilleas, banksias, sasanqua camellias, tibouchina in autumn and Plectranthus Mona Lavender all flower then. Two or three of these beside the long flowering summer plants keep something in flower nearly all year, and they feed honeyeaters at the hardest time.
The three things that extend flowering
- Deadhead. Once a plant sets seed it has done its job and stops flowering. Removing spent flowers before seed forms keeps many plants going for months longer. It also stops plants such as seaside daisy and agapanthus seeding themselves around, which matters near bushland.
- Prune at the right time. Plants that flower on new growth, such as crepe myrtle, hibiscus and bougainvillea, respond to a prune in late winter. Plants that flower on older wood, such as camellia, gardenia, tibouchina and wattle, must be pruned straight after flowering, or you cut off next season's buds.
- Feed for flowers. High nitrogen gives leaves at the expense of flowers. Use a fertiliser made for flowering plants, higher in potassium, and a low phosphorus native fertiliser on natives. Our guide to the science behind fertilisers explains what the three numbers on the bag do.
Two common causes of poor flowering
Not enough winter chill. Wisteria, deciduous fruit trees and many bulbs need a number of cold hours to flower. In Brisbane and further north that does not happen, so the plant grows well and flowers poorly. No fertiliser fixes a climate mismatch: choose low chill varieties or subtropical species.
Lawn fertiliser drifting into beds. It pushes leafy growth at the expense of flowers on gardenias, frangipani, hibiscus and citrus, and it damages any natives in the same bed. Scented shrubs have their own troubles as well, and our gardenia guide covers the ones to watch for.
Bougainvillea is the exception
Bougainvillea flowers in response to stress, not to good treatment. A well watered, well fed plant makes green growth and almost no colour. Less water and less nitrogen is the fix.
Protect the display from heat
A heatwave can strip a flowering display in an afternoon. Water deeply the evening before a forecast hot day, mulch 75 mm deep, and shelter soft plants from hot, dry wind, which damages flowers faster than heat alone.
Common questions
Which plants flower the longest in Australia?
Gaura, salvia, dietes, grevilleas and repeat flowering roses flower for most of the warm months, and correas carry autumn and winter.
Does deadheading really bring more flowers?
On most repeat flowering plants, yes. A plant that is stopped from setting seed keeps producing flowers.
Why does my plant have leaves but no flowers?
Too much nitrogen, too little sun, pruning at the wrong time, or a plant that needs more winter cold than your climate gives.
Ready to plant?
Colour for months comes from staggering flowering times, not from planting more of the same thing. Browse our flowering plants and choose one strong performer for each season.
