Enjoying our garden is the best part of our day. All the hard work we put in decoration and designing always pays off. There are many ways how to organise your backyard garden, from a simple and minimalistic look to lush greenhouses. All those parties, barbeque gatherings and relaxing will be splendid in a well-designed garden. No matter how you like your backyard, there are some things that you must have there. Plants! It’s impossible to think of all plants out there. But you can always search for what would best suit your garden.
To help you pick, here are 17 type of plants your garden needs:
Table of Contents
Shrubs
They can be either evergreen or deciduous, such as boxwood, holly, barberry, and azaleas, or deciduous, such as lilacs, viburnum, forsythia, and spirea. Shrubs are fantastic for foundation planting around your home because of their diminutive height. But they’re also great for adding colour to hedges and borders, as well as anchoring garden areas. Almost all shrubs will benefit from a trim now and then to help them maintain their shape and encourage new growth. But only after the season’s flowers have faded.
Groundcovers
If you have a steep bank in your yard or bare places under trees where grass won’t grow. A tough groundcover might be the answer to your landscaping issues. These slow-growing plants develop a thick mat that is resistant to weeds as they creep along the ground. With so many options, the goal is to match the plant to its environment. Whether it’s in the sun or the shade. Creeping phlox, gold moss sedum, ice plant, plumbago, creeping juniper, and lemon thyme are also terrific alternatives for sunny regions. Try periwinkle, euonymus wintercreeper, or English ivy for shade.
Aquatic Plants
Aquatic plants are worth considering if you have a pond or water garden in your yard. Not just for their beauty but also for the function they play in cleaning and oxygenating the water. But also while providing a shaded habitat for resident fish like koi. Although water lilies are the most well-known, there are hundreds of aquatic plants. Some float on the water’s surface, such as lotus and water hyacinth. While others are completely submerged, rooted to the pond’s bottom. Or even grow along the water’s edge, such as cattails, reeds, and rushes.
Evergreens
Evergreens, which are defined as plants that keep their leaves all year, give a splash of colour to a winter scene. When we think of evergreens, we usually think of conifers like pine, spruce, cedar, and fir, but magnolia, hollies, and eucalyptus trees are all evergreens. Many flowering shrubs, such as laurels, azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, and gardenias, maintain their leaves all year. Depending on your planting zone, making them excellent foundation plants.
Grasses, Sedges And Rushes
Although grasses, rushes, and sedges are commonly referred to as decorative grasses. They are actually members of various plant families with varied light and moisture requirements. The form of the stems is the easiest way to tell them apart. Grass stems are normally round or hollow, sedge stems are typically triangular. And rush stems are typically round or flat. In terms of maintenance, grasses (like pampas grass, seen below) enjoy full sun and well-drained soil, sedges prefer shady, moist conditions, and rushes need the wettest conditions of all – they’re commonly found growing along water’s edge.
Perennials
Perennials, which are technically defined as plants that live for more than two years, are the foundation of any landscape, with colourful annuals adding variety. Some perennials may hold their leaves through the winter, depending on your environment, but the majority lose them and die back to the ground, returning in the spring. Clematis, daisies, hardy ferns, hellebore, hibiscus, hostas, lavender, certain ornamental grasses, peonies, periwinkle, phlox, roses, salvia, sedum, violets, and yarrow are all popular perennials.
Annuals
Annuals, as the name indicates, are plants that have just one season to complete their life cycle. These prolific bloomers, which are commonly used to give seasonal colour to flowerbeds and containers, die back after flowering. Annuals will produce more stunning blossoms if spent blooms are removed. Marigold, vinca, begonia, coleus, zinnia, impatiens, petunia, nasturtium, and pentas are all common annuals. In warm areas, however, daisies, geranium, lantana, Mandevilla, pansies, and verbena are perennials, while certain types of daisies, geranium, lantana, Mandevilla, pansies, and verbena are perennials.
Cacti And Succulents
Succulents (which include cacti) have managed to flourish in the most hostile conditions because of a clever system for storing water in their roots, stems, and leaves. This durability also makes them very easy to maintain, making them excellent for arid environments. The growing popularity of xeriscaping, or landscaping that requires little or no irrigation, has resurrected interest in these water-saving plants, but their habitat requirements (sandy, loose soil, rare rain, and year-round mild temperatures) confine their usage to the Southwest. The prickly pear cactus, which has been reported to live as far north as Canada, is the most well-known exception.
Vines
Climbing plants, known as the acrobats of the plant world, elevate your landscape to new heights when supported by a trellis, arbour, wall, or fence. Although certain vines, such as morning glory and nasturtium, are annuals, the majority of vines are perennials that return year after year to completely cover their supporting structure with blossoms, fruit, or leaves. Clematis is a popular climber due to the wide range of colours available. Bougainvillea, blackberry, gloriosa lily, honeysuckle, jasmine, Mandevilla, trumpet vine, and native wisteria are other nice alternatives.
Deciduous
The kaleidoscope of orange, crimson, and golden leaves we enjoy each fall may be attributed to deciduous trees and bushes. Unlike evergreens, deciduous plants shed their leaves each year before going dormant in the winter, then sprout a new canopy of leaves in the spring.
Tropicals
With a warm environment all year and plenty of rain, it’s no surprise that the tropics are home to some of the coolest and most beautiful flora on the planet. It’s understandable that those of us who live in less tropical climates want to include these exotics in our gardens, but the harsh fact is that many tropical plants aren’t hardy beyond USDA Zone 8. Container gardening is always a safe idea; you can bring the potted plant inside for the winter and then restore it to its natural habitat once the fear of frost has gone.
Bulbs
Bulbs are one of the most simple plants to cultivate, and they provide a lot of eye-catching colour year after year with very little work. The best part is that bulbs self-produce, which means they grow and spread swiftly to cover a tiny area with blossoms. Several people identify bulbs with spring because of tulips and daffodils, although many types of lilies, such as canna, Asiatic, and Oriental, bloom throughout the summer. Because they develop in the same way, a few additional plant kinds are frequently mistaken for real bulbs. Rhizomes are rhizomes, corms are crocus and gladiolus, and tubers are dahlias and elephant’s ears.
Biennials
Biennials, which are far less common than annuals and perennials, survive for two years, producing leaves the first year and blooms the second. Hollyhocks, foxglove, dianthus, and Canterbury bells are examples of flowering biennials. Beets, cauliflower, celery, chard, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, collards, endive, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, onions, parsley, parsnip, and rutabaga are examples of biennials that provide food the first year but don’t finish their growth cycle and drop seed until the second.
Delphinium
Delphiniums require special attention, including frequent fertilization when they are first planted – usually in the spring – and then again during the flowering season. When it comes to extreme temperature variations, Delphiniums are finicky. Give them a nice spot where they can get some early sun. In the summer, they should be deadheaded often to ensure abundant blooms. While this may be the last appearance of these lovely perennials, the stunning blossoms are well worth the wait. Remember to stake the taller variety!
Pansies
A milder environment is especially appealing to pansies. March all the way to July is the best time to grow them. They will blossom in the autumn months if you plant them later. You can have beautiful flowers blooming throughout July if you plant them in March. They go dormant in the spring and generally only endure one or two seasons. Pansies in hot climates, such as Sydney, require sun protection. However, they still require approximately half a day of sunshine to blossom effectively!
Cyclamen
These lovely plants, which originated in the Mediterranean, adore the Mediterranean atmosphere of Perth and Adelaide. They are distinguished by their upturned petals and nodding blooms. Cyclamen are lovely blooms that persist for a long time and come in a variety of colours including pink, purple, red, and white. They produce a magnificent plant with their beautiful patterned leaves. This aromatic flower blooms in the winter before turning dormant in the summer.
Forget-Me-Knots
Forget-Me-Knots bloom in most climes throughout the spring and summer, but they also bloom magnificently in Adelaide and Perth during the winter. These lovely 5-petaled blooms grow in clusters and are modest. They like moist soil and look great around ponds and water features.