Plants can often be at their most useful and attractive when grouped together; you can form them into virtually any shapes or patterns you like. With careful plant selection, you can have masses of different flowers out at the same time, or a continuous succession of blooms over the year.
Annual flowers will give you months of colour, but when the flowers have faded the plants will have to be pulled out and replaced.
Perennials can likewise flower for months and, where the climate suits them, don’t need to be replaced. They usually die back to the ground for a time each year (commonly in winter, but some species are summer dormant) before a new growth cycle commences. Cool-climate perennials are usually grown as annuals where winters are mild.
Small shrubs are the easiest plants to care for, and the most permanent for a flower garden. They usually need only an annual pruning to remain compact and floriferous, though some, such as daisy bushes, are the best started anew every three or four years.
Always try to create pleasing colour combinations and remember that large drifts of individual colours generally look better than lots of different colours in small areas.
The following lists are choices of plants that would make a good combination to each other:
Annuals
Calendula
Californian poppy
Cosmos
English daisy (Bellis)
Helichrysum
Perennials
African lily (Agapanthus)
Canna
Chrysanthemum
Coreopsis
Fleabane (Erigeron)
Gazania
Gerbera
Golden marguerite (Anthemis)
Goldenrid (Solidago)
Kangaroo paw
Snow-in-summer (Cerastium)
Yarrow (Achillea)
Small Shrubs
Bottlebrush
Browallia (Steptosolen)
Choisya ternata
Diosma (Coleonema pulcbrum)
Euryops Pectinatus
Grevillea ‘Robyn Gordon’
Lavender
Pelargonium
Pentas
Plants for pool surrounds
The most important consideration for plants around pools is that the root system is not extensive or invasive. Many pool owners prefer to plant deciduous trees as they only ahbe to deal with leaves for about four werks each year as opposed to the regular leaf-shedding habits of evergreens.
Plants for seaside gardens
These are salt and wind resistant plants that can stand up to very harsh conditions. They are suitable for planting as a natural protective barrier for less-tolerant plants.
Creepers and groundcovers: Coastal Jack bean (Canavalia maritima); Coastal noonflower (Carpobrotus glaucescens); Coast fescue (Festuca littoralis); Snake vine (Hibbertia scandens); Creeping boobialla (Myoporum parvifolium); Dune fanflower (Scaevola calendulacea); Goat foot convolvous (Ipomoea pes-caprae); Hairy spinifex (Spinifex hirsutus).
Shurbs and tress: Western coastal wattle (Acacia cyclops); Coastal wattle (A. sophorae); Dropping she-oak (Akkicasuarina verticillata); Sea box (Alyxia buxifolia); Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla); Health banksia (Banksia ericifolia); Coast banksia (B. integrifolia); Cushion bush (Calocephalus brownii); Horsetail she-oak (Casuarina equisetifolia); White correa (Correa alba); Cottonwood (Hibiscus tiliaceus); Norfolk island hibiscus (Lagunaria patersonia); Coast tea-tree (Leptospermum laevigatum); Bracelet honey myrtle (Melaleuca armillaris); Cape wattle (Paraserianthes lophantha)