Not everyone has the time to constantly water, prune and maintain a garden. Fortunately, many plants are naturally hardy and require very little care once established. These low-maintenance plants thrive across a wide range of conditions while still looking good all year, not just for one flush in spring.
Choosing plants that practically take care of themselves is the easiest way to create a garden that looks great without demanding constant attention. This guide covers the best low-maintenance plants for Australian gardens, grouped by the role they play in a planting scheme.
What makes a plant low maintenance?
Plants that require minimal care usually share several key traits:
- Drought tolerance once established
- Strong resistance to pests and disease
- The ability to grow in a range of soils
- Minimal pruning requirements
- Reliable, predictable growth habits
- A neat appearance without constant attention
These plants often thrive even when conditions are not perfect, which is precisely the point.
Hardy structural plants
Structural plants give a garden shape and presence while requiring very little upkeep.
Agave
Agaves are incredibly tough plants that thrive in hot, dry conditions. Their architectural rosettes make them perfect feature plants for modern gardens.
Best for: dry gardens and sunny positions.
Cordyline
Cordylines add height and colour with very little maintenance, tolerating heat, wind and coastal conditions, and they grow happily in pots as well as garden beds.
Best for: tropical and contemporary gardens, patios and balconies.
Yucca
Yucca plants are extremely resilient and tolerate drought, poor soil and strong sun without complaint.
Best for: low-water landscapes and architectural planting.
Tough shrubs that thrive with little care
Westringia (coastal rosemary)
Westringia is one of the easiest shrubs to grow in Australia. It tolerates wind, coastal exposure and pruning while maintaining a neat appearance, and it also looks good left to grow naturally. It loves poor soil and salt spray, and our westringia care guide covers clipping it into a low hedge.
Best for: low hedges, borders, coastal zones and hot garden beds.
Viburnum
Viburnum is a fast-growing shrub that quickly creates dense greenery and fills out garden beds. Once established, it requires minimal care beyond a trim.
Best for: privacy screening and boundary planting.
Lilly pilly
Lilly pilly varieties are hardy, evergreen and widely used for hedging because they respond so well to pruning.
Best for: evergreen screens and formal hedges.
Native plants that thrive naturally
Australian native plants are often the most resilient choice because they are adapted to local climates and soils. Our step-by-step guide to a low-maintenance native garden puts the following plants into a complete planting plan.
Grevillea
Grevilleas flower for long periods and attract birds while tolerating dry conditions and asking for very little water once established.
Best for: native and wildlife-friendly gardens.
Lomandra
Lomandra longifolia, the spiny-headed mat-rush, is one of the toughest plants available. It thrives in heat, drought and poor soil, copes with full sun or part shade, reaches 60cm to 90cm, and needs almost no watering once established. Our lomandra care guide covers the occasional hard cut back that keeps clumps fresh.
Best for: garden borders, driveways, dry zones and mass planting.
Agapanthus
Agapanthus is hardy, beautiful and almost impossible to kill. These strappy-leaved clump-formers produce stunning flower heads on 50cm to 120cm stems and thrive in almost all conditions in full sun, needing minimal water once established. Our agapanthus guide explains deadheading and dividing.
Best for: mass planting, coastal gardens and rental properties.
Kangaroo paw
Kangaroo paws add colour and require relatively little care when planted in sunny positions with good drainage.
Best for: native garden beds.
Hibbertia scandens (snake vine)
Snake vine is a fast-growing native groundcover or climber with bright yellow flowers. Tough as nails and drought-tolerant, it spreads up to 5m and copes with full sun to part shade.
Best for: slopes, low fences, banks and native gardens.
Groundcovers that grow with little effort
Myoporum
Creeping boobialla is a spreading groundcover that handles difficult conditions and requires minimal attention once it knits together.
Dichondra 'Silver Falls'
Silver Falls dichondra produces beautiful cascading silver foliage and thrives in sunny positions, spilling over walls and pot rims.
Pigface (Carpobrotus)
Pigface is a coastal groundcover that tolerates heat, salt, wind and sandy soil, and it flowers brilliantly with no help at all.
Trees that require minimal maintenance
Frangipani
Frangipanis thrive in warm climates and require little watering once established, dropping their leaves in winter and asking for nothing in return.
Olive tree
Olive trees are highly drought tolerant and thrive in poor soils while maintaining a beautiful silvery structure.
Crepe myrtle
Crepe myrtles provide seasonal colour, attractive bark and reliable summer flowers while requiring minimal care once established.
Starting your first garden? Begin here
If this is your first garden, the fastest route to a result you will not resent is to plant fewer things and pick forgiving ones. Three or four of the plants above, repeated, will look better and ask less of you than a dozen singles.
The most forgiving starting five from this list: lomandra for structure that survives anything, westringia for a shrub that takes a bad haircut and recovers, grevillea for flowers and birds without feeding, agave or yucca for a sculptural feature that wants nothing but drainage, and myoporum or dichondra to cover the ground so weeds have nowhere to go. Get those established before adding anything fussier.
The two mistakes that undo a beginner's garden are planting too closely, because everything above will reach its listed mature size sooner than you expect, and watering little and often instead of deeply and occasionally. If you would rather start indoors, our indoor plants for beginners range is the equivalent shortlist for inside the house.
Tips for creating a low-maintenance garden
Even the toughest plants perform better with a little planning.
Choose plants suited to your climate. Plants adapted to local conditions require less care, full stop.
Group plants with similar water needs. This simplifies irrigation and stops one thirsty plant dictating the schedule for the whole bed.
Use mulch generously. Mulch retains moisture and reduces weeds, and it is the cheapest labour saving in gardening.
Plant densely. Dense planting shades the soil and prevents weeds from establishing in the gaps.
Start with larger plants. Advanced plants establish faster and need less time and attention to fill out.
Use slow-release fertiliser at planting time. One application at planting gives new plants a full season of steady feeding.
Plant choice matters, but so do bed preparation, mulch depth and spacing. Low-maintenance garden ideas for Australian gardens covers the design decisions behind the plant list.
Ready to plant?
Low-maintenance gardening does not mean boring. With the right plant choices and a little preparation, you can enjoy a thriving, beautiful garden without breaking a sweat, and if your beds are in full sun, our list of 15 low-maintenance plants that thrive in full sun narrows the field further.
We have handpicked a range of tough, beautiful plants in our low-maintenance plants collection, with hardy natives in the Australian natives range and spreading options in groundcovers. Let your garden work for you, not the other way around.
