City & Nature

How to choose plants for a city garden

Small spaces punish poor choices, so every plant has to do more than one job. The test worth applying: does it screen, feed, flower or shelter something while staying inside its allotted footprint? That is why this grid is heavy with columnar screeners, compact flowering trees, potted fruit and nectar rich natives rather than sprawling shrubs. Everything here carries our small gardens and low maintenance tags.

Work vertically first. A Straight and Narrow lilly pilly holds about 1m wide at up to 5m tall, so a row of them screens a two storey neighbour from a bed barely wider than a path. Compact crepe myrtles like 'Acoma' and 'Zuni' give a small tree, three months of summer flower and handsome bark in a 3m footprint. For pots, citrus, bay laurel and dwarf olives take clipping and cropping in their stride.

Bringing nature back in

The nature half of the name is deliberate. Urban gardens have become the corridors that keep honeyeaters, insect eating birds and native bees moving through the suburbs, and small nectar plants punch far above their weight. Bottlebrush, melaleuca and tea tree flower heavily enough to feed birds for weeks, native violet carpets shaded corners while flowering most of the year, and a single grass tree gives lizards and insects the cover a paved courtyard never will. Plant even three natives among the exotics and you will notice the traffic change within a season.

Where these plants work across Australia

Compact does not mean fragile, but climate still matters. In the frost prone southern cities, Canberra through to Hobart, lean on crepe myrtles, box, bay and bottlebrush, all of which shrug off cold snaps. In the humid subtropics, lilly pillies, melaleucas and citrus power along with little help. Perth and Adelaide gardeners get the best from westringia, olives and grass trees, which hold their looks through hot dry summers on modest water. Coastal balconies cop wind and salt, so favour tough, leathery foliage; the plants for balconies collection filters for exactly that situation.

Planting and care in tight spaces

In beds, the numbers are the same as any planting: a hole twice the width of the pot, a deep watering twice a week through the first summer, and 75mm of mulch kept off stems. Pots change the arithmetic. A small tree or screening plant wants at least a 45cm to 50cm pot and a premium potting mix, then water two to three times a week in summer, because pots dry from every side. Feed potted plants with controlled release fertiliser in early spring and again in late summer, and refresh the top 5cm of mix each spring. Clip hedges and topiary lightly two or three times a year rather than hard once: small spaces show every rough haircut.

Common questions

What screens a fence without swallowing the yard?

Columnar lilly pillies planted 60cm to 80cm apart give a dense 3m to 5m screen about a metre deep. If you have more room to play with, the full hedging and screening range sorts by mature width so you can match the screen to the space.

Can I do all of this in pots?

Almost. Citrus, bay, dwarf olives, compact crepe myrtles, native violet and most of the screeners here live happily in containers for years. The trade is water and feed: a potted plant relies on you for both.

Which plants bring birds to a small garden?

Bottlebrush, melaleuca and tea tree are the reliable trio, flowering hard and holding nectar for honeyeaters. Grass trees and dense screening plants add the shelter that convinces birds to stay rather than pass through.

What has safe roots near paving and pipes?

Crepe myrtles are the standout small tree for tight spots; the crepe myrtle collection runs from 3m courtyard forms to 7m avenue trees, none of them paving lifters. Lilly pillies and westringia are also well mannered.

How does delivery work for courtyard and balcony orders?

Everything here is delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95 and no minimum order. Advanced and large stock is freighted at cost, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.