Can anyone name some of the most beautiful bright coloured
Drought Resistant flowers?
Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: Drought Resistant Flowers 3Nov 21, 2010 6:11 pm I went outside once. The graphics were alright, but the gameplay sucked! Settlement:22nd June Slab:27th August Frame:16th Sept Bricked:21st Oct Roof:24th Nov Linings HANDOVER23rd March! Re: Drought Resistant Flowers 8Nov 23, 2010 6:02 pm I went outside once. The graphics were alright, but the gameplay sucked! Settlement:22nd June Slab:27th August Frame:16th Sept Bricked:21st Oct Roof:24th Nov Linings HANDOVER23rd March! Re: Drought Resistant Flowers 11Nov 23, 2010 11:27 pm A native to Australia but introduced to Western Australia. Re: Drought Resistant Flowers 12Nov 24, 2010 4:55 am In Vic I have had good luck with Lavender, Hardenburgia Mini Haha as a ground cover, Geralton wax, Goodenia pinnatifida, Verticordia chrysantha, Scaevola Outback Purple Fan Flower, cut leaf daisy, Noon Flower (Pig face coastal), imported Pig Face (for salads), Curry Plant (for curries = Aromatic). Bacon and Eggs, Many WA pea flowers like Chocolate pea flower and its redder cousins and other WA stars Astartea fascicularis and Erimophelia. I have a few small paper barks and tea tree shrubs growing but I can't for the life of me remember their names or where I kept the labels. They are a bit like Thryptomene which itself grows very well and makes awesome cut flowers. A stranger is silvery grey dianthus which does well without water but goes insane when its present. As I stated in another thread, rocks + tall grevilia, Scaevola, cut leaf daisy, Verticordia all growing in big clumps = win! Mix it up with Geralton wax, Erimophelia, Astartia, candle stick bottle brush, grevilia bonfire, lomandra or kangaroo grass as a focal point and you can create islands of mixed spring colour, tonal contrasts and texture in both bloom and leaf. Most can easily be propagated so get one or a few on sale and start growing that massive swathe of bloom, you don't need a nursery most of the time if you have a range of plants that work. Nature strip, tough, soft, texture, vivid and full of contrast, never really has been watered. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Just below the Lavender is a massive clump of green and purple basil and Greek Oregano. Thyme is also used as a ground cover filling voids between shrubs. These grew through that fierce heat of 2009 and all survived but not in "great" condition. Hardenburgia Mini Haha mixed with Geralton Wax (purple frills) and deep orange pig face. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I think the best part is the pig face. Most of the year this garden lays reasonable quiet, texture and contrast is there, spikey, leafy, silver, reddish green then in winter the Prickly Moses sends out a soft fluffy yellow like spurts of bright yellow racing away from the middle of the garden. Within a few weeks everything blooms and you have the deep purple of the pea flower slap bang against bright orange pig face, behind it is the space for bins on the curb and a clump of geralton wax. Spring is here but come too early and too late and you will miss it. That's the best part. Tufts of deliberately cut thryptomene jut out from clumps of lavender and scrambling Hardenbergia mini haha. The pink confetti like prays of thryptomene against clusters of purple with a silvery green backdrop trail off with yellow button flowers, cut leaf daisy and lime green lomandra justing for light. As above the deep magenta pigface contrasts the silver of the lavender bush and its deep purple flowers and the silver of the curry plant with its yellow clusters. Button flowers and herbs along with temporary gazania fill the voids. The kangaroo grass frames the picture of the eye adding a darker green backdrop or pillar. The garden is largely silver with tufts of lime green and the deep greens of many plants. Some shrubs have a reddish hue. Mostly its silver as the tree that was there before I came was a young tough silvery hackea. (its going nuts) Its a tough garden sitting between a road and a footpath but its contrasts are catching. It has order and it has sporadic craziness all in a space 9 meters by 1.8 meters. Most of all it has something people can sense, eyes, touch and scents. Fresh basil and curry, soft long strips with hardened tough cardboard like grevilia. Splashes of yellow, orange and deep purples with sprays of white, yellow, pink and stripes of red and bulging purple set against deep greens. Its not just for me, its for everyone to enjoy on their way to or from somewhere. Next year when it matures I will cover the whole garden (nature strip) in spring and post it here. Ps, never been watered other than to power feed and establish youngons. All of these plants are tough, even the basil will grow without much water or any other than sporadic rains. Re: Drought Resistant Flowers 13Nov 25, 2010 6:25 pm That is amazing and an indescribable amount of improvement on the stupid plain grass the councils seem to want. What is the thing with bright red flowers in the first picture? From what you said it sounded like it might have been pigface but the leaves look too small in the pic. Cos if not a pigface, I want one. And a curry bush, if that's the silver thing behind it. Hell, I want your whole verge strip Re: Drought Resistant Flowers 14Nov 26, 2010 4:22 am Its magenta pigface. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ RE: Curry bush, yeah get one, the scent is powerful and its tough as nails. Its really soft and kids can fall on it and it bounces back most times. Its quite a contrast. Hack it back after flowering. Put some Thyme, basil, Greek oregano around it and all will be happy regardless of rainfall. If it gets oven hot the basil and Oregano will die back but it springs back again. Re: Drought Resistant Flowers 15Jan 22, 2011 3:59 am Piig face will last about 5 years before it gets ratty. Solution is to propagate after 3 years and start a few off. Just take a snip of 2 leaves and a small section of stem. Place this into seed raising mix and keep it moist. Within weeks it should be doing fine. After 2 years in a 12 inch pot its ready to plant out replacing the ratty parent plant. If you have space you can create great islands of vibrant reds, yellows, magenta in colours so striking that people can only stop and wonder. Not only is the colour so rich it also with most pigface forms a unbroken carpet. Place lomandra or other textures to break any lines in the background and you will have the best "lawn" in the street. With the extra pigface, if you don't have room or don't want them give them to friends. They make hanging plants and will love the extremes of almost any weather you can throw at them. A really simply soft but tough, easy to manage and easy to grow plant. Even if you grab a clump and shove it in the ground chances are it will grow anyway. Spread it around an experiment with colours, tones and textures. Don't be afraid to change it. The nature strip is only a "bit of fun" and change can lead to new ideas elswhere. Get on your knees and look at it from different views too. Enjoy it, put away that lawn mower and "show off"... Drought Resistant Flowers 16Jan 22, 2011 11:24 am Being a West Aussie you are in the greatest gold mine of flowering plants in the world! Spoilt for choice in fact. APACE is one nursery to check out on line and also Zanthorrea. If you choose plants throughout the year, you'll end up with some of the toughest plants going offering flowers all year somewhere in the garden. Eg. Verticordia nitens and monodelpha are chucking out flowers right now! Beautiful |