What to Plant in Adelaide - Month by Month

January in Adelaide is about defence: deep weekly soaks for young plants, mulch against 40 degree northerlies, shade cloth for anything planted in spring optimism. Established olives, westringia and natives won't blink. Planting waits, planning doesn't, the garden pricer queue is shortest right now.

February stays dry and hot. The only sensible plantings are hard natives with irrigation. Use the month to audit the garden summer just stress-tested: which screens thinned, where shade is missing, what died honestly. Price the fixes now, autumn stock of popular hedging moves quickly once March rain threatens.

March breaks the summer siege. Soil is warm, first rains are close, and tough evergreens start going in: olives, viburnum, westringia, rosemary types. By late March, with rain on the forecast, full hedge planting begins. Photinia is a superb Adelaide hedge, handling both frost nights and hot summers.

April is the premium window: warm soil, cooling air, opening rains. Everything establishes now, hedges, feature trees, natives, fruit trees. Plant generously this month and your summer losses drop to almost nothing. It's also the smart month for advanced sizes, the big root balls settle before winter and stride through spring.

May's rains make planting almost foolproof. Citrus in frost-safe spots, olive and bay trees, screening runs, camellias in the shade, all go in. On heavy Adelaide clay, mound plantings slightly for drainage; on sandy coastal soils add organic matter. Either way, the sky handles establishment from here to October.

June opens bare-root season: roses, apples, stone fruit and ornamental trees at the best prices of the year. Adelaide winters are mild enough that evergreen hedges keep establishing too, plant them early in the month and they'll be moving by September. Frost-tender species wait for October in the hills, September on the plains.

July is peak bare-root value and quiet, steady establishment weather. Structural work happens now: hedges plant, deciduous trees plant, and winter reveals exactly where privacy fails when the light is low and the trees are bare. Measure the gap, run it through the calculator, and fix it while roots have months of moisture ahead.

August plantings wake up in front. Rain is still reliable, soil is starting to stir, and anything in the ground now beats spring plantings to the growth flush. Finish bare-root work early in the month, then favour evergreens and natives. Order spring stock now, September demand cleans out popular sizes fast.

September is glorious and brief. Everything plants well, but Adelaide's dry season starts earlier than the east coast's, so the establishment clock runs faster. Natives, westringia and waterwise species are the safest bets; thirstier choices need honest irrigation plans. Kangaroo paw planted now gives instant colour, see the native garden look.

October is the final easy planting month. Early in the month, tough species still establish before the heat; by late October, planting means adopting a watering roster. Prioritise anything structural, screens, shade trees, and let ornamental gap-filling wait for autumn. From November, protection beats ambition.

November's job is armouring the garden: mulch topped to 75mm, wetting agents where water beads, drip lines checked before the first heatwave rather than during it. Planting narrows to irrigated natives and emergency advanced screening. Everything else goes on the autumn list.

December in Adelaide is for evenings under whatever shade you planted in better months. Water young plants deeply twice a week, harvest early stone fruit, and resist planting into the heat. The best December gardening is a cold drink and the garden ideas pages, building next autumn's plan.