Ornamental Plants

How to choose an ornamental shrub

Decide first whether the job is flowers or foliage. Flowering shrubs give a season of colour and eleven months of green: think hydrangeas in summer, gaura from spring to autumn, and camellias holding the winter shift. Foliage shrubs work every single day: loropetalum in burgundy, nandina colouring through red and lime, heuchera in caramel and plum, photinia with its glossy red new growth. The strongest borders run both, an evergreen foliage backbone with flowering plants threaded through it. Then check mature size honestly. This collection spans 30cm heuchera mounds to 4m photinia and camellias, and a shrub in the wrong size class becomes a pruning job forever.

Building a border with no off season

Succession is the trick professionals use and home gardeners skip. Aim for something opening in every quarter: camellias from autumn through winter, loropetalum and polygala in spring, hydrangeas, gaura and society garlic through summer, then nandina and heuchera foliage carrying autumn into winter. Repeat each variety in groups of three or five rather than planting one of everything. A border of eight varieties repeated reads as designed; a border of twenty singles reads as a trolley dash.

Matching shrubs to your climate

• Tropical and subtropical gardens lean on cordylines, crotons, ficus and society garlic, with hydrangeas performing well in shaded, sheltered beds.
• Warm temperate gardens grow nearly the whole collection, with camellias and hydrangeas preferring morning sun or dappled shade and the silver leafed Mediterranean plants wanting full sun.
• Cool temperate gardens are heuchera, camellia, hydrangea and rose country, and loropetalum and nandina colour beautifully in the cold.
• Mediterranean and dry inland gardens should start with rosemary, westringia, cushion bush and gaura, which hold their looks through hot dry summers on minimal water.

Planting and care basics

Space shrubs at about two thirds of their mature width, which usually means 60cm to 1m apart, so they knit together without strangling each other. Improve the bed with compost before planting, water in well, and give 5 litres per plant twice a week through the first two to three months. Mulch 75mm deep, kept clear of stems. Feed once in early spring with a complete fertiliser, adding a camellia and azalea food for the acid lovers. Prune flowering shrubs straight after their season ends, never before it starts, and give foliage shrubs a light shape in spring. Most of this collection also takes happily to pots of 300mm and larger, where heuchera, nandina and dwarf loropetalum make long lived, low fuss displays.

Common questions

Which ornamental shrubs handle shade?

Hydrangeas, camellias, heuchera and fatsia are the dependable shade set, all happiest with morning light or bright dappled cover and protection from harsh western sun. True deep shade under a dense canopy suits fatsia and little else here.

Why did my hydrangea change colour?

Soil pH controls it. Acid soil below about pH 5.5 gives blue flowers, alkaline soil gives pink, and white varieties stay white regardless. Aluminium sulphate nudges blooms blue; garden lime nudges them pink. Expect the shift to take a season.

What are the lowest maintenance choices?

Nandina, westringia, rosemary and coprosma barely notice neglect once established. They hold their shape on one light prune a year and cope with missed watering far better than the large leafed flowering shrubs.

Can I keep a 4m shrub small?

Within reason. Photinia and camellia both take hard pruning and can be held at half their natural size with two trims a year. But if you want a permanent 1m plant, buy a naturally compact variety like dwarf loropetalum instead and save yourself the fight, or choose from the structured foliage range for plants that hold a form on their own.

How does delivery work?

Every plant here is delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95 and a minimum order of $300 before delivery, and all stock is covered by the 30 day healthy plant guarantee.