Your Plants as Advocates

Flowers make your neighbours and others more likely to accept and enjoy the garden. You don't need a constant display, occasional surprises that change with the seasons are good. I call them little bursts of joy.

Westringia is a favourite - small flowers most of the year for the pollinators especially native bees. If you are in a neighbourhood with lots of neat hedges, trimming westringia into balls helps your garden fit in and builds acceptance.

Flowers - both old-fashioned exotics that people recognise from their youth, or bright and cheerful natives will please both people and bugs.

Grown as annuals, they will fill the gaps while your tubestock shrubs grow and can then self-seed for ongoing displays. Paper daisies are very popular.

I tell people they are welcome to pick the flowers as long as they leave a few for the bees. And they do!

This free article is part of the Understanding the Space section: bite-sized introductions to gardening in these small but wonderfully complex spaces.

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