We have noticed a shift in the last five years that the climate data confirms: Sydney summers are running hotter for longer, with sharper dry runs broken by heavier rain. The plant palettes that worked reliably in residential gardens fifteen years ago — particularly the soft European perennials — are now under stress for too many weeks of the year.
On Planting
We still use them, but we use them differently. Mass plantings of salvia, nepeta and erigeron now sit only in the parts of a garden that can be drip-irrigated and lightly shaded by canopy. The exposed mid-ground of a garden — the part that will be in full sun from eleven until four — is increasingly being given over to a tighter palette of evergreen species that can take the heat without sulking.
“Sydney summers are getting longer and drier. A working list of the species we now lean on for residential gardens that need to look intentional through February.”
Our current working list for that exposed mid-ground: westringia (especially "Smokie" and "Wynyabbie Gem"), correa alba, lomandra "Tanika", dianella revoluta, themeda triandra, pittosporum tenuifolium for screening, and any of the silver-leaved mediterranean shrubs that have already adapted to a long dry summer in their home range.
This is not a move toward all-native gardens. It is a move toward planting palettes that admit what the climate is, rather than fighting it.
