Flowering Plants

How to choose flowering plants for your garden

Start with when you want the colour, not just how much of it. Most gardens are planted in a single spring weekend, which is why they peak in October and sit quietly green for the other eleven months. Check the flowering season on each product page and aim to have two or three different plants opening in any given month. Camellias and grevilleas carry autumn and winter, azaleas and roses own spring, and gardenias, hydrangeas and tibouchinas run right through summer.

Then match the plant to the job. Gardenias and other fragrant plants earn their spot beside paths, doors and windows, where the scent is actually part of daily life. Taller growers such as camellias and lilly pillies double as flowering hedges and screens. Compact performers such as dwarf callistemons, hebes and lavender hold the front of a border at under a metre. If you need real height along with the colour, step up to our flowering trees instead.

Where flowering plants work across Australia

Climate decides more than catalogue photos do, and this range covers every zone in the country.

• Tropical and subtropical gardens. Gardenias, ixoras, hibiscus, tibouchinas and the gingers thrive on the same humidity that makes roses sulk. Flowering here runs longer, often eight or nine months of the year.
• Temperate gardens from Sydney through Melbourne and Adelaide. Camellias, azaleas, roses and hydrangeas are the backbone, with hydrangeas asking for protection from hot afternoon sun.
• Cold and frost prone districts. Choose proven hardy shrubs: may bush, buddleja, lavender and most grevilleas shrug off frost once established, while gardenias and ixoras need a warm microclimate or a pot you can move.
• Dry and Mediterranean climates around Perth, Adelaide and inland. Rosemary, westringia, callistemons and banksias flower heavily on very little irrigation once their roots are down.

Planting and care basics

Dig each hole twice as wide as the pot and no deeper, so the plant sits at its original soil level. Water in well, then mulch 75mm deep, keeping mulch clear of the stems. Through the first summer, water deeply twice a week rather than lightly every day; after that, most established flowering shrubs need water only through extended dry spells.

Space shrubs at roughly two thirds of their mature width for a full border, or at half their width for a solid flowering hedge. Feed once in early spring with a controlled release fertiliser, switching to a low phosphorus native formula for grevilleas, banksias and other Australian natives. The single most common pruning mistake is timing: prune immediately after flowering finishes, because many shrubs, camellias and azaleas among them, set next year's buds within weeks of the old flowers fading.

Common questions

How do I keep something flowering all year?

Plan in seasons, not species. A workable starting mix for most temperate gardens is a camellia for winter, azaleas and a rose for spring, gardenias or hydrangeas for summer, and a grevillea or salvia to bridge autumn. Check the flowering months listed on each product page and fill the gaps you find.

Which flowering shrubs handle full sun?

Roses, callistemons, grevilleas, lavender, westringia, hibiscus and tibouchinas all want six hours of direct sun or more and flower harder for it. Azaleas, hydrangeas and gardenias prefer morning sun with afternoon protection, especially north of Sydney.

Why has my shrub stopped flowering?

The usual suspects, in order: it was pruned at the wrong time and the flower buds went in the green bin, it is getting more shade than it used to as surrounding trees grow, or it is being fed a high nitrogen fertiliser that buys leaves at the expense of blooms. Fix the timing first, it is the most common cause by far.

What size do the plants arrive at?

Most shrubs here are offered in several sizes, from affordable tubestock through 200mm and 300mm pots, and the product page shows what each size looks like on arrival. Everything is delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95 and every plant covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.