Shrubs

Start with the job, not the plant

A page this size only makes sense once you name the task. For privacy and hedging, the heavy lifters are lilly pillies, murraya, viburnum and photinia: Lilly Pilly 'Resilience' reaches about 5m untrimmed and holds happily at 2m to 3m, while Mock Orange (Murraya paniculata) gives a fragrant 3m hedge in warm climates. For borders and low structure, look to Westringia 'Zena' at 1m, gardenias at 1.2m to 1.5m, and rosemary 'Tuscan Blue' at 1.5m. For seasonal colour, camellias carry autumn and winter, hydrangeas own the shaded summer bed, and Tibouchina 'Alstonville' brings purple through autumn at up to 4m. The privacy shrub collection and native shrub range are tighter shortlists if the job is already clear.

Use the filters to turn 700 into five

The sidebar filters run on the same data as these descriptions, so they are the fastest route to a shortlist. Filter by mature height band first, then climate zone, then the tolerance that defines your site: frost, drought, salt wind or wet feet. A feature filter such as Pet Friendly, Bird Attracting or Fragrant usually finishes the cut. Thirty seconds of filtering beats twenty minutes of scrolling every time.

Matching shrubs to climate

In tropical and subtropical gardens, murraya, gardenias, ixora and tibouchina thrive on the humidity that camellias and hydrangeas merely tolerate. In cooler southern gardens the roles reverse: camellias, photinia, westringia, viburnum and rosemary are all frost hardy, while murraya and gardenias struggle anywhere winters bite hard. Hydrangeas want afternoon shade in every warm region. If you garden inland, filter for frost hardy before anything else and save yourself a failed winter.

Planting and spacing rules of thumb

Hedge spacing follows mature width. As working numbers from this range: 'Resilience' and murraya at 1m, Camellia 'Pure Silk' at 1m, Gardenia 'Florida' at 60cm, Westringia 'Zena' at 60cm and rosemary at 60cm. Dig each hole twice the pot width and no deeper, water in hard, mulch 75mm and water deeply twice a week through the first summer. Tip prune from the start if you want density at the base, because no amount of later clipping fixes a leggy first year.

Common questions

What counts as a shrub rather than a tree?

Multiple stems from the base and a mature height usually under 5m. Plenty of plants here blur the line, and several larger lilly pillies can be grown either way depending on pruning.

Which shrubs suit pots?

Compact growers with modest root systems: dwarf gardenias, Murraya 'Min a Min' at about 1m, rosemary, and dwarf lilly pillies all do well in containers 40cm and up with quality mix and regular water.

Which shrubs are safe around pets?

Use the Pet Friendly filter rather than guessing. 'Resilience', Camellia 'Pure Silk' and rosemary all carry the flag; gardenias and hydrangeas do not, so keep those away from animals that chew the garden.

How long does a hedge take to join up?

Planted at the spacings above with proper watering, most hedging shrubs here touch within two to three growing seasons. Deciduous shrubs move faster in spring but rest bare in winter, which is worth knowing before you plant one as a screen.

How does delivery work?

Everything 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.