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I’ve got a small garden and want to plant some low maintenance flowering plants in the next few weeks in readiness for spring and summer. I live in south eastern NSW so it doesn’t get too cold at night but gets pretty warm in summer so they have to be hardy. What plants do you recommend?

Your best ‘rule of thumb’ here is to look around locally and see what the council grows in their nature strips, parks etc. plus what plants schools have growing as well.

They always go for the toughest varieties because after all, they have to grow in rough conditions and don’t get regular watering. More often than not, plants that are used are of the native variety.

Some plants used are varieties of
bottle brush,
westringia,
grevillias,
gazanias,
kangaroo paw,
marigold,
plumbago,
geraniums,

There’s also many colourful varieties of grass plants suitable as well.

I’d suggest you have a look around town in council gardens etc. and if you aren’t sure what the plant is, take a digital photo along to your nursery. Failing that visit one and have a chat to them as they’ll be able to recommend what’s best.

Remember to mulch well in summer as this keeps moisture in plus never water in the middle of the day. Best times are first thing early in the morning or late afternoon/early evening. A good soaking is better than just a quick hosing.

Installing a dripper line system is also better as this will save water as well, plus you can put a timer on the tap to save you the trouble of having to go out and do it yourself.

Happy gardening!

My hobby is gardening but my knowledge about gardening is very poor. I want to enhance my knowledge regarding it.

Your local nurseries should have a supply of books about your local conditions. The price will be a bit high, comparatively, but theirs no substitute for exacting advice about your own garden conditions. And they usually have sections explaining the basics along with them. I can’t say I have any generalized favorite books. Too many plants in those books that won’t work for my conditions. It’s disheartening. Although, I do like some of the stylistic ideas in Beautiful Gardens Made Easy by Miracle Gro. And if you like Cacti at all, Terry Hewitt wrote an awesome one called Cacti and Succulents.

This is the situation, my neighbors from both sides hang their clothes in their backyard, which i think it looks very bad, specially when you have guest at home. I am planning to get plants to actually cover the entire view to my neighbors. Also i love flowers and want to get very colorful yet strong flowers that dont require much attention.
Forgot to mention that i live in miami, very humid and rains a lot. thanks

The question you need to ask yourself is if you are looking for a permanent or temporary solution.

The permanent solution is going to take longer to achieve, because you will be going for hedging material, probably evergreen, which will be purchased in a marketable size (in a pot) and so will take some time to get up to size. This solution also costs more initially.

Alternatively, one can put in beds of annuals that are tall-growing. The problem with this is that the plants are only as tall as they are advertised at in their full maturity, and will be much smaller while growing up to size. Sunflowers are an example.