Episode: WA Garden Gurus Special - Summer Gardens
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane

When it comes to setting up a waterwise garden, most people think they have to compromise, but it is just not true.

Take for example, the magnificent Chinese Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis). It is incredibly beautiful at this time of year and what most people don?t know is that once you have these plants established after two or three years and they have a good root system, they require no summer watering at all.

Trevor visits the beautiful Congella Gardens and the key to the whole garden is the mulch that they spread around think and fast. It is absolutely essential if you want to have a beautiful garden in Perth.

One of the ways you can grow some of the more exotic species in a garden is to use some of the existing plants, like trees, to create the perfect microclimate. It means plants like variegated turf lily, bromeliads, birds nest ferns or even old mans whiskers and the classic Australian Rock/King Orchid (Thelychiton speciosus) will all grow really well.

A microclimate works by keeping a humid environment and the plants will grow with very little water.

Some waterwise plants that you can consider adding your garden is the Butia Palm (Butia capitata). They are gorgeous with their weeping blue grey foliage and succulent edible fruit.

Grass trees (Xanthorrhoea preissii) are not only a bush tucker food source, they are an architectural plant adding structure to a garden, require almost no maintenance and are almost indestructible once established.

One way to select waterwise plants is to choose plants that come from an environment that is dry and hot like ours.The Golden Jade (Crassula ovata veriegata) come from Africa and is considered lucky by the Chinese and you certainly would be lucky if you added it to your garden because it requires very little maintenance and very little water to survive.

If you are looking for something that is a little bit more of a native sort of look then it is hard to go past Tea-trees. White Tea-Tree (Leptospermum polygalifolium ?Cardwell?) is smothered in white flowers right through the spring.

It is just an example of what can be achieved in your backyard if you select plants from regions that get quite dry in the summer months.