Perennials

Please note This is an Australian website

The perennials in my garden have all been selected to withstand a fair amount of shade. Now that the 'woodland/rainforest' effect is fully developed, some of the understory is in shade for most of the day and year, while under the deciduous trees, plants receive only winter sunshine.
Plants have also been selected to be fairly drought tolerant, or to withstand severe cutting back at the beginning of the heat of summer.

ACANTHUS
Large, tolerantof deep shade, and highly ornamental, this plant, it's leaves often depicted in ancient Greek frescos, is easy to grow. In spite of wilting severely in hot weather, this plant is a survivor, coming back from even the smallest section of root. I usually cut it right to the ground once the hot weather starts - it always returns in the winter.
This plant is a really good decoy for Woolly Bear Caterpillars - actually the larvae of the Native Glatygni's Tiger Moth. They prefer it to almost anything else in the garden, so grow an Acanthus or two rather than destroying this indigenous nuisance.
I have experimentally used the large soft leaves of Acanthus as spinach, without ill effect, though I have never found any evidence of it's use in culinary literature. If anyone has any further information I would like to have it.
The flowers suggest the plant belongs to the monkshood family, which is highly toxic! and I am not as easily affected by some plant toxins as other people, being able to eat, for instance, yellow-staining mushrooms without ill-effects.
The tall spiny flower spikes make a dramatic cut flower. They dry well, and so are also useful for dried arrangements.

ACHILLEA aka Yarrow

AGAPANTHUS
Unlike many other drought resistant bulbs, the bright green strap-like leaves of this heat and drought resistant summer flowering bulb last all year round. Consequently they keep my street flowerbeds looking lush.
They are also excellent snail traps - just collect the snails each morning from their hiding places at the base of the leaves.
The flowers last for a long while on the plant, and the seed-heads look good in both fresh and dried flower arrangements.

ALFALFA aka Lucerne
Alfalfa is not only attractive as a ground cover - it can be clipped or mown according to the height required - but fixes nitrogen in the soil. It's roots go deep into the subsoil, bringing up essential trace elements.
Even my few plants provide a rich addition to the mulch or compost.
The leaves can be used for tea, fresh or dried, and the fresh flower-heads are delicious in sandwiches or salads - if you can get to them before the bees!
Pure alfalfa honey comes close to clover honey for delicacy of flavour.

ALOES
I always try to keep an aloe plant or two, although the sunny spots they require for best results are hard to find in my garden.
I have used a slice of fresh aloe leaf on burns, rashes, and skin infections since first learning about it's virtues in the Pilbara in 1963 - but I use the common variety, which I have found just as effective as the expensive and less robust 'Aloe Vera'.

ARTHROPODIUMS - Grass-like flowering plants, commonly called "lilies"
Native to Australia & New Zealand, all these plants form tubererous roots which are more or less edible. They were certainly used by First Nations peoples as food. They have panicles of small delicate flowers on long slender stems which give them a most attractive appearance.
Dianella revoluta, an indigenous variety of the Flax Lily, has lilac/blue flowers with a bright yellow centre. The blue berries are also edible.
Dichopogon ssp. Known as the Chocolate Lily, the flowers are pink/lilac, and the plant is more delicate than the Dianella.
Arthropodium Candida - New Zealand Lily - this seems to be a cultivar of the RENGARENGA Arthropodium cirratum, a well-known Maori bush food. Much larger than Australian varieties, the Cultivar self-seeds prolifically, and in spite of it's apparent succulence, seems pretty drought-resistant. I haven't tried the tubers yet, but I intend to experiement with them once the plant colonies are well-established.

BASIL - PERENNIAL
This requires a sunny but sheltered spot with deep soil, to become established.
All the small plants I have put in previously died during the winter. In fact it wasn't until I 'rescued' a huge plant from a friend's garden while he was moving house that I had any success with it. The plant flowers prolifically over a long period, and the bees love it.
Like the annual variety, the leaves actually intensify in flavour when cooked, and make a delicious stimulating tea. I now have one large plant, grown in a large pot, which can be moved throughout the year so the plant gets sufficient sunshine. It is now four years old, and has continued to flower throughout the year.

CANNA EDULIS aka Queensland arrowroot
This tall member of the Canna family has small red flowers when grown in full sun, but tolerates a fair degree of shade while still producing the starch-rich tubers from which it derived it's name. Easily grown, it produces plenty of foliage for quick screening, and is good shredded in compost. Because it needs a lot of water during summer, I pull mine up each year. Somehow or other it always comes back!
The mature tubers can be roasted and eaten like potatoes. The starch is accessed most easily by grating the tubers into a bowl of water. Leave to soak for a while, then squeeze and wring; repeat until the starch has been extracted. Strain into another bowl and leave the starch to settle. You can then cook it just like ordinary arrowroot. It has no flavour, but thickens fruit sauces and puddings, or can be used as laundry starch.

DAISIES
What a woeful description! However, since I don't have the botanical information for all of them at my fingertips, and they tend to come and go, being cut back or pulled up, according to the season, and how rampant they become.
I like to have the more drought-resistant types in the garden both as cut flowers, and as butterfly fodder.
So I have several bushes of the single chrysanthemum in the front yard, while Gazanias bloom for much of the year almost out in the street. There is also a deep purple daisy, commonly used as a groundcover.

DANDELIONS
Dandelions grow as well in half-shade as in full sun, and are extraordinarily drought-resistant. Grown in semi-shade, they have larger, lusher leaves, which do not need blanching before you use them in salad. They are easier to grow than lettuce, require much less water, and in Adelaide provide delicious salad greens all year round. I never bother with lettuce any more.
If you have a field of dandelions - less common in these days of herbicides - you can use the flowers to make dandelion wine. (A peck of flowers is a heck of a lot!).
The roots can be scrubbed, roasted and ground for a beverage known as dandelion 'coffee', which is pleasant tasting and good for the kidneys and liver. But it doesn't taste much like coffee. You can also make a tea from the leaves.
For me, the 'lion' signifies courage, for Dandelions will grow in the most adverse circumstances, and regrow from the smallest piece of root. I love to see them colonising and beautifying dark crevices in our cities. Here is a beautiful, brave such specimen. Please don't spray dandelions - if you don't want then to spread, just remove the flowers before they seed. They are not weeds, but a true survival food, and one day we may be grateful for them.

FLAME FLOWER Photos Talinum Paniculatum
I discovered this tough little plant soon after we arrived in Australia. No-one was able to tell me it's name, in spite of the fact that it is a common garden plant, and very attractive. I nick-named it 'The Jewels of the Madonna', because of the brilliance and delicacy of the cluster of tiny rose pink and gold flowers on hair thin stems, nodding at the top of a long graceful main stem. The flowers are followed by tiny golden berries, much loved by mice and birds, and self-seeds prolifically, often popping up in odd corners and cracks.
The leaves are succulent and make an excellent addition to salads and sandwiches. They are especially valuable since they are available in hot dry weather when little other salading is to be had.
The seeds are tiny but nutritious, and could be a good source of Omega3 oils, as seeds of other Portulacca ssp. are avidly collected by indigenous peoples, and have recently been compared favourably with flaxseed.
After a long search, I finally identified it with the help of people through the internet.
This is another Survival Food.

FENNEL
Fennel is so versatile that every urban garden should have some. The bulbous type is as easy to grow as the wild herb, and comes in an attractive bronze, as well as bright green.
But don't sow it near new seedlings, for the roots exude a growth inhibitor.
The feathery foliage is chopped when young and fine and added to sauces for fish, while the fleshy stem is rather like celery, but with a faint aniseed flavour. It can be used fresh and crisp in salads, or cooked and served in a white sauce. The roots are used rather like parsnip, but are not so tasty. Let some plants flower and form seed-heads - the flowers are sweet and hot - individual flowers make a tasty snack or garnish, while sections of the juicy flower-stems can be chewed for their sweetness and flavour - the juice is reputed to be an appetite suppressant. The green seeds are hot and spicy, an unusual addition to rice dishes, sauces or curries, while the dried seeds make a lovely tea which aids the digestion.
Harvest the seed-heads when most of the seeds have ripened, but before they start to fall, or you will be overwhelmed with seedlings next year! Put the heads in a paper bag to complete ripening.
Keep the dry seeds in an airtight container, and keep the strong flexible flower stems to use as a natural substitute for dental floss. The dried large stems make good lolly sticks, while the green stems can be shredded and added to their brew by paper-makers - the long fibres make a strong fine product, while adding a faint green tint and a delicate scent to the paper.

GARLIC, & GARLIC CHIVES
True garlic is an annual, and requires much more space and sun than I can provide, but I find the odd one or two plants each year, presumably grown from discarded cloves in the mulch. Garlic chives - I have a white-flowered and a lilac-flowered variety - tolerate the conditions in my urban jungle very well. The leaves are available all year round to add a subtle garlic flavour to any dish. They also self-sow, so new plants are always coming up.

GERANIUMS
Those who live in the UK, Northern Europe and America, or Canada, will think of these as summer flowering annuals, or greenhouse specimens. Here, as in the Mediterranean, they grow like weeds! and are extraordinarily drought resistant.
I no longer grow the scented varieties - rose, peppermint, nutmeg, and lemon - as I need the few sunny spaces in my garden for more productive crops, but many 'zonals', which I grow as much for the colourful foliage as for the brilliance of the flowers, fill up odd corners, while others are in pots, so I can move them around according to the season. I also use climbing (or rather sprawling!) varieties outside my street fences, where they make a brave show of winter colour. (See vines.html) I never water them.

KENNEDIA PROSTRATA Running Postman
An indigenous groundcover, planted in April 2003 as part of the plan to reduce the water requirements of the garden. It doesn't actually cover much, but as I remember it from my days in the bush, it surprises with the brilliance of it's scarlet flowers.

LANTANA
Yes! But this is the prostrate lilac variety, beloved of butterflies, and very resistant to drought and insect attack. It grows outside the gate where the Rue used to be. I like to keep the entrance looking nice, and as covered with plants as I can.
When the Rue died, I decided I would like to complement the Sparrishoop Rose with a bed of purples, blues, and pinks. The Lantana helps to give a marvellous effect which lasts throughout the year.

LEEKS
I have a perennial variety of leek, which does well in some years, less well in others. The plants produce numerous offshoots or 'sets', which are planted out to form new clumps. Again, like garlic, they really require much more sunshine than is available in my garden, but still supply me with plenty of flavouring for winter soups.
The 'sets' supply plenty of material for potting up as gifts, goods for barter, or to sell on stalls.

MINTS
I have several varieties - now all grown in large pots. Eau-de-cologne mint turns ordinary tea into Earl Grey; Druid's Mint has a strong peppermint/spearmint flavour and is good for cooking with potatoes, peas, and spinach while Common or Horse Mint, is grown in a pot in the sun.
I no longer grow Apple Mint which is shallow-rooted and really water-hungry. Lemon Balm, or Melissa is also a mint, and grows well all year round. The refreshing and calming tea is one of my favourites. All the mints make excellent herb jellies, using either apples or choko as a base.
Mixed bunches of the various mints placed in vases around the house create a refreshingly scented and cooling atmosphere in summer.

OREGANO
This useful herb needs no introduction, and is an essential ingredient of soups, stews, and pasta sauces.
Like many herbs, it needs full sun to grow successfully, and I have just one spot where it thrives throughout the year.

SCENTED GRASS Cymbopogon Ambiguus
I planted this native lemongrass in April 2003. It doesn't really get sufficient sun to do well, but is struggling along, and some clumps flowered in 2004. It also needs rather more water than I had realised - I bought it because I thought it would withstand drought. I must admit I haven't given it much attention - maybe a little more TLC in the future will bring better results.

TRADESCANTIA aka wandering jew
This fresh-looking green plant is at once a curse and a blessing. Once established, it is hard to get rid of, as the brittle stems break off at the joints, and the tiniest piece will grow to form a new plant. Given the right conditions, you can almost see the most common varieties (the green ones) grow! But they are a useful groundcover, and don't need a great deal of water.
Less invasive are the variegated kinds, which come in a range of variations on a theme of purple, green, cream and crimson.
Some people find handling the leaves causes a contact dermatitis, and if you are one of these, I certainly wouldn't try using it, lightly steamed, as a green vegetable - a suggestion made by JACKIE FRENCH in her A - Z of Useful Plants. (1993 Aird Books) It is one of the commonest causes of dermatitis in dogs, who tend to lay on it's cool leaves in hot weather.
When I lived in a larger place and had ducks, they ate every scrap of the blue-flowered variety, which has small green leaves, but didn't touch the most common and invasive sort, with larger green leaves and white flowers.
I now have a variety with leaves striped in deep purple, green and silver, in the street flower beds. It grew quickly from some pieces thrown out by a neighbour, survives heat and drought, and keeps the entrance cool and attractive.
Obviously we need to know more about the potential of this species!

VIOLETS
I have clumps of both purple and white violets scattered through the garden. They pretty well look after themselves, dying out where there is too much shade and re-locating to sunnier spots. Many people are not aware that the violet has two types of flower- the coloured ones on long stems, and tiny green ones hidden under the foliage. Both are heavily scented.
Purple violets are prefered for herb jelly, or to candy in order to decorate cakes. But all violet flowers can be used to make violet cordial, or added to savoury or fruit salads. Less well-known is that the fresh leaves are high in vitamin C, and a few can be added to any green salad mix. Too many may act as a laxative!
In the past a strong tea of violet leaves was reputed to cure cancer if persevered with, but although tests have been carried out in the search for answers to this malady, no evidence has been found to support the belief.

NATIVE VIOLET Viola Hederacea
Another native groundcover. This well-known and attractive plant grows well in deep shade, and even if it seems to disappear when it dries out, always comes back with the first rain.

WARRIGAL GREENS aka NZ spinach
A staple green food of the early white settlers, this succulent groundcover will grow almost anywhere. It can be found growing wild behind many Australian beaches. It is now served regularly in Bush Food Restaurants.
To cook, strip the leaves from the stems, cover with water, bring to the boil and quickly drain. Then rinse in fresh water, and cook as for spinach, in the water clinging to the leaves. Just add a little more water while cooking if really necessary.

INDOOR & CONTAINER PLANTS - in addition to the plants in the garden, I have a large selection of indoor and indoor/outdoor pot plants. Most of these were gifts, or "rescued" plants. Research shows that indoor plants are effective in keeping a room healthy. A NASA STUDY shows common plants help reduce indoor air pollution....
Five climbing Philodendrons in various colours sprawl over the ceilings and parts of the walls in my living areas and passage, and a Spathiphylum, a small Parlour Palm, and a couple of 1.5 metre high 'trees' - a variegated Dracaena, and what I think is a 'Happy Plant', live permanently indoors. Several Aspidistras, a large leaved Philodendron, and a Hoya spend the winter outside, then come inside to be grouped around and on the hibernating pot-belly stove.
Since what is virtually a glass wall, overlooking the back garden, forms one wall of my living area, that portion of the garden is very much 'in your face.' This is where I originally placed a water feature, and although some of the trees and shrubs have changed, the area has always been shaded by lush greenery. What I see when I look due West is still pretty much what appears in the photo on the garden description page.
Containers of various ferns and other shade-loving ornamentals are grouped around the blue ceramic globe which has replaced the water garden, and I keep this area fresh and green using the absolute minimum of water.

Plant List - Trees ....... Vines & Shrubs.......Perennials .......Biennials and Annuals
Plants Grown in the past

Back to Garden Description

Welcome!.......Rough Guide to Site.......Site Map

- This is an Australian website - Contact Margaret RainbowWeb

URL - http://www.users.on.net/~arachne/perenn.html