Landscape: Plants in my Suburb and in my Garden.

Having just moved to the suburb Croydon I’ve discovered that a lot of the houses and gardens in my neighbourhood share a similar thing….they all have the same plants growing in their gardens. These plants that I’m talking about are plants such as Agapanthus praecox subsp. orientalis also known as Lily of the Nile, Anemone ×hybrida or Japanese Anemone, Hedychium greenii or Green’s Ginger Lily, Plumbago auriculata also known as Plumbago, Ulmus glabra or Wych Elm, Betula pendula also known as Silver Birch and many different kinds of roses.

Hedychium greenii
Green’s Ginger Lily

Anemone ×hybrida Japanese Anemone

Plumbago auriculata
Plumbago

To me, many of these plants, such as the roses and the Japanese Anemone, look like they would belong in an English garden with little cottages. Some of the other plants such as Green’s Ginger Lily, look as though they would suit quite nicely in a tropical garden, more in Queensland than in Victoria.

A tropical looking plant near a eucalyptus tree.

It saddens me a little to see people using plants from Japan, South Africa and the Himalayas, when I feel we should be using more of the Australian native plants in our gardens.

This is what I think we should see more of in residential gardens.

What has happened to the good old Australian backyard where children play under the eucalypts and run through the Australian grasses? This is an image that almost seems a memory of the past, if it weren’t for the landscape designers who are trying to bring it back to life again.

Overall, I believe that we should be celebrating our Australian native plants more in our gardens, rather than using plants that look like they don’t belong, because they don’t blend in with the surrounding environment.

References:

The University of Melbourne 2012, Agapanthus praecox subsp. orientalis, The university of Melbourne, viewed 22 April 2012,