By Sue Montgomery | Horticulturalist
Lots of people want to know what to grow in courtyards and balconies.
Many people are downsizing to apartments, granny flats and villas and so don’t have a lot of space. There are quite a range of plants you can use. If you have a hot dry area Australian natives are perfect for balconies and courtyards and so are Mediterranean style plants. Bottle brush and grevilleas are some of my favourites for hot dry areas.
In shady areas you can use camellias and magnolias and gardenias all which have beautiful perfumes. If you have a hot balcony it will get a lot of reflective plants from the paving so you need plants that will tolerate those hot dry conditions.
Listed below are plants perfect for particular areas and conditions.
PLANTS FOR HOT DRY AREAS
TREES:
• Corymbia cultivars – Summer Red Flowering Gum
• Banksia integrifolia – Coast Banksia
• Callistemon Harkness – Gawler Hybrid
• Silky Oak – Grevillea Robusta
• Snow in Summer – Melaleuca linariifolia
• Kurrajong – Brachychiton populneus
• Norfolk Island Hibiscus – Lagunaria Patersonia
SHRUBS:
• Correa reflexa – Native Fuchsia
• Grevillea lanigera – Wooly Grevillea
• Lavandula stoechas – Spanish Lavender
• Philtheca myoporoides – Eriostemon
• Callistemon Little John – Bottle Brush
“Little John”
• Choisya ternate – Mexican Orange
PLANTS FOR SHADE
SHRUBS:
• Alyogyne hugelii – Hibiscus
• Boronia megastigma – Brown Boronia
• Callistemon “Little John”
• Gardenia Augusta Magnifica
• Pieris floribunda – Lily of the valley
• Westringia “Morning Light”
TREES:
• Agonis flexuosa – Willow Peppermint
• Albizia lophantha Cape Wattle
• Grevillea “Pink Parfait
• Leptospermun petersonii Lemon scented Tea tree”
GROUNDCOVERS:
• Ajuga Australis – Austral Bugle
• Dichondra repens – Kidney weed
• Lamium maculatum “White Nancy
• Trachelospermum FLAT MAT-Star Jasmine
• Vinca major_Periwinkle
