What to Plant in Cool & Regional Australia - Month by Month

January is safe from frost and often hot and dry. Planting works with irrigation, especially natives and tough evergreens, but establishment care is real work. In Tasmania, this is prime planting weather; on the inland slopes, water is the limit. Mulch deeply either way, and keep new hedges damp through any heat spikes.

February is a genuine planting month in cool zones: warm soil, easing heat, and a long mild autumn ahead. Evergreen hedges and conifers planted now establish well before the frosts. It's the last comfortable month for anything marginally tender, camellias, some natives, so they harden before winter. Price autumn hedge runs in the calculator now.

March is the cold-climate equivalent of spring: the year's best planting month. Warm soil, cool air and months before hard frost make it ideal for hedges, photinia above all, plus conifers, deciduous trees and natives. Autumn colour planting happens now too, maples and ornamental pears chosen in leaf.

April continues the golden window with a deadline attached: get evergreens in early enough to root before the first hard frost, generally four to six weeks. Deciduous trees are entering their perfect planting season as leaves fall. On the tablelands, this is the last month to plant a hedge with full confidence until spring.

May belongs to the deciduous: bare-root season opens for fruit trees, roses and ornamentals, planted into cooling soil to wake in spring. Evergreen planting gets risky as frosts begin, hold lilly pillies and tender natives until October. Frost-flattened beds are next spring's opportunities: note them.

June is pure bare-root season. Fruit trees, roses and deciduous ornamentals plant happily into cold soil, dormant stock doesn't care about frost. Nothing tender goes near the ground. Prune deciduous trees for structure now while the branches are readable, and plan spring from beside the fire with the garden ideas pages.

July is for bare-root planting, pruning and patience. Minus mornings do useful work, killing pest cycles and earning the winter chill that stone fruit need. Keep planting dormant stock, keep off frozen or sodden beds, and use the leafless garden to plan screening honestly: winter is when privacy gaps show their worst.

August closes bare-root season, finish dormant planting early in the month. Late frosts remain certain, so tender stock stays in the nursery. Beds prepared now, weeded, composted, mulched thin, give October plantings a running start. Order spring hedging now: cold-climate demand concentrates into a short window and sizes sell through.

September's warm afternoons lie: the killer frosts of the year land on September and even October nights. Plant hardy evergreens and natives, hold anything tender, and keep frost cloth handy for surprises. Soil is warming though, and hedges planted late this month establish beautifully. Patience for four more weeks beats replanting.

October, after your district's last frost date, is the cold-climate planting festival. Everything goes: hedges, evergreens, natives, perennials, and the tender plants that waited all winter. Growth is explosive with the long days ahead. This is the month for an instant garden pack in the cool zones, the whole palette establishes together.

November is a superb planting month: frost gone, soil warm, and usually decent spring rain. Hedges planted now still establish before summer with basic watering. Advanced sizes do especially well, cool-climate summers rarely punish big root balls the way the subtropics do. Stake against spring winds.

December in the cool zones is gentler than anywhere else in Australia, and planting continues with water. Tasmania's best planting weeks are now. Inland, watch for early heat and water accordingly. Otherwise enjoy the payoff month: everything planted since March is visibly becoming a garden.