Low Maintenance Plants

What low maintenance actually means

No plant is no maintenance. Everything in this collection still needs regular water while it establishes, which takes one to two summers in the ground. What earns a plant its place here is what happens afterwards: it holds its shape without constant clipping, copes with dry spells without theatrics, does not demand a spraying program, and forgives the odd missed weekend. Choose well for your climate and soil, and most of these plants will get by on rainfall plus one feed a year.

How to choose from 1,500 easy care plants

Start with the job you need done, because low maintenance plants exist in every category.

• Privacy and hedging. Modern selections like Lilly Pilly 'Resilience' resist psyllid, so the foliage stays clean without spraying. See the full lilly pilly range or the wider hedging and screening collection.
• Structure and greenery. Olives, pencil pines and compact magnolias such as Little Gem and Teddy Bear give a garden formal bones on one prune a year. Most of our evergreen trees qualify.
• Colour without effort. Crepe myrtles flower for months on a single early spring feed. Lavender, rosemary and westringia flower on close to nothing.
• Groundcovers. Native violet for shade, Silver Falls dichondra to spill over walls and pots, and no mow grass where lawn is more work than it is worth.
• Bold foliage. Giant bird of paradise, Xanadu philodendron, giant taro and elephants ear carry a lush tropical look on water alone in the right climate.

Match the plant to your climate, not the label

Low maintenance is local. A frangipani is effortless in Brisbane and a battle in Hobart. Lavender is bulletproof in Adelaide and sulky through a wet tropical summer.

• Tropical and subtropical gardens. Frangipani, foxtail palms, giant taro, native gardenia and lilly pillies thrive on the humidity that troubles Mediterranean herbs.
• Warm temperate coastal gardens. The widest choice in the country: natives, olives, crepe myrtles, star jasmine and mock orange all qualify.
• Cool temperate and frost prone gardens. Crepe myrtles, olives, pencil pines, rosemary and most magnolias shrug off frost. The tropical foliage plants do not, so keep them in pots you can shelter.
• Dry Mediterranean and inland gardens. This is where Australian native plants, olives, lavender and rosemary do their best work on the least water.

The establishment period is the only real work

The difference between a tough plant and a dead one is nearly always the first summer. Dig each hole twice as wide as the pot and no deeper, so the plant sits at its original soil level. Water in heavily on day one, then deeply twice a week through the first summer. A deep soak twice a week builds deep roots; a light daily sprinkle trains shallow ones that fail in the first heatwave. Mulch 75mm deep, kept clear of stems, roughly halves the watering and smothers most weeds. From the second year, the majority of this collection needs a drink only in extended dry spells.

Ongoing care in numbers

One application of controlled release fertiliser in early spring covers almost everything here. Use a low phosphorus native formulation for banksias, grevilleas and other phosphorus sensitive natives. Prune once a year, straight after flowering, to keep shrubs compact. Top up mulch each spring. That is the entire program.

Common questions

What is the lowest maintenance hedge?

One that stops near the height you want. Westringia held at 1m to 1.5m or a compact lilly pilly kept at 2m to 3m each need one or two clips a year. Asking a fast 6m plant to stay at 2m is where hedge maintenance blows out.

Are natives always lower maintenance than exotics?

No. A native planted in the wrong soil or climate is harder work than a well matched exotic. Olives, rosemary and crepe myrtles are among the toughest plants on this page. Match conditions first, origin second.

Which plants cope with being ignored over holidays?

Once established, olives, westringia, lavender, rosemary, frangipani, grass trees and most succulents will hold through two or three weeks of summer neglect. Anything in a pot is the exception: pots dry out in days, so group them in shade and water deeply before you leave.

Do low maintenance plants still need fertiliser?

They survive without it, but one spring feed keeps foliage dense and flowering strong. Skip it and the garden slowly fades rather than fails.

How does delivery work for a big order?

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.