Just as we need to cover up for the long, hot summer days ahead, so too does the garden.
The heat draws the moisture and dries the soil out to the detriment of the growing trees and shrubs.
There are ways to avoid this, however.
One is by mulching, and the other more attractive way is to ‘cover-up’ with suitable ground hugging plants.
Jenny of Longreach sent me an e-mail this week asking if I could list some very hardy groundcovers that could be planted in Longreach before Christmas.
The plant that deserves the 15 plus rating is from the family of Compositae Daisy.
These are known as Gazanias, are easily grown, are full sun lovers and have a large range of brilliant colours and bi-colours.
Gazanias are native to South Africa and are herbaceous perennials.
Some grow in clumping formations while others have adventitious runners and trail over rocks or simply spread grass-like as a ground cover.
Gazanias seeds very easily, and many seedlings appear around the plants.
If these are collected and grown, you will soon have a variety of coloured hybrids.
Flowering from late Spring to Summer, they are a wonderful stand-by in dry, hot areas of the garden.
On that troublesome slope in the sun, try growing the trailing Gazanias.
They will cover your slope and hold and firm the soil.
They will grow even in moist soils as long as they have good drainage.
The following groundcovers all have specialised features to enable the plants to grow in those difficult positions in the garden.
Some are able to be successfully grown in gardens in the hot dry areas of the Central West.
Bauhinia corymbosa or Creeping Bauhinia is an evergreen groundcover or climber with small leaves and large clusters of pale pink flowers.
It is a hardy groundcover that will cover a large area that is ideal for trailing over rocks or retainer walls.
Callistemon Rocky Rambler is a groundcover hybrid form of the Blackdown Tablelands Bottlebrush.
With striking red brush flowers and golden tips in spring, this plant will always stand out as one of the most attractive new season colour plants in a dry garden.
This is one of the hardiest of the bottlebrushes for local gardens.
Convolvulus cneorum or Silver Bush is a silver foliaged groundcover that provides something different for the garden with masses of large white flowers produced during the warmer months.
It is excellent as a specimen plant and is ideal for borders and pots on patios. It handles sun or part shade, is salt- and drought-tolerant, and is frost-hardy.
Erigeron karvinskianus or Seaside Daisy is a hardy groundcover that produces a mass of small open-faced white daisy-type flowers with a yellow centre.
It flowers most of the year in warm sunny positions.
It can be invasive, however, and needs to be checked periodically, as it is a very fast grower.
Evolvulus pilosus or Blue Eyes is a popular species for roadside and other landscaping because of its toughness.
It produces prolific quantities of blue flowers, and there is also a white-flowering form.
It needs to be cut well back from time to time so as to keep it looking fresh, compact and healthy.
Myoporum parvifolium, or Creeping Boobialla, is a very vigorous groundcover that will even tolerate hot, dry banks, with prostrate stems covered by tiny dark green leaves and attractive white or pink flowers.
Osteospermum fruticosa or African Daisy it was known as Dimorphotheca fruiticosa and is a fast-growing sun-loving groundcover that will withstand adverse conditions.
It produces flowers ranging in shades of white, pink and purple and makes a great cut flower.
It grows to 30cm high, spreading to 60cm and can be grown with other annuals and perennials to create a truly colourful display.
Vitex ovata or Prostrate Vitex is a hardy ground cover with blue-grey foliage and clusters of lavender blue flowers in spring.
It will handle most sunny positions and even grow in exposed locations.
This would be one of the most under-utilised groundcovers available to local gardeners.
While many of these plants may not be available all year round in most local nurseries, they should be able to be ordered from specialist nurseries for your garden.
