Australian native plants for every kind of dry garden
A dry garden can have multiple different challenges, each with a distinct cause and a different set of plant solutions. The sections below work through each dry-garden situation in turn, with plant suggestions suited to each. All the species are adapted to this continent's specific combination of soil chemistry, rainfall patterns and seasonal heat in ways that no imported plant fully replicates.
Shop Tools for Australian Gardeners
Everything you need in your garden.
What makes a plant genuinely drought tolerant
Drought tolerance in plants is a cluster of adaptations that allow it to keep functioning, or to pause, when water becomes scarce. Understanding which adaptations a plant relies on helps you predict how it will behave in your specific dry-garden situation.
Leaf modifications
Small, narrow, leathery or hairy leaves all reduce the surface area through which water is lost. Silver and grey foliage reflects heat rather than absorbing it. Vertical leaf orientation reduces direct sun exposure during the hottest part of the day. Plants with any of these traits are managing water loss actively rather than simply waiting for rain.
Root architecture
Plants that develop deep tap roots or extensive lateral root networks access moisture that surface-watered plants never reach. This is why many Australian natives appear to need almost no water once established — they have extended their root systems into soil layers that maintain moisture long after the surface has dried.
Dormancy
Some plants slow growth almost completely during hot, dry periods and resume quickly when moisture returns. This can look like failure in the first year — a plant that does very little through summer — but it is often a sign that the plant is doing exactly what it evolved to do.
1. Sandy or free-draining soil in full sun
This is the classic dry-garden challenge: soil that drains almost instantly after rain, holds very little moisture and heats up quickly on the surface. The temptation is to add water frequently, but shallow watering in fast-draining soil encourages shallow roots that become more vulnerable to heat and drought over time. The right response is to choose plants adapted to these exact conditions and water deeply but infrequently during establishment.
Emu bush (Eremophila species)
No genus handles the full sun, sandy soil combination better than eremophilas. With over 200 species adapted to arid and semi-arid Australia, there is an emu bush for almost every dry-garden situation. They produce tubular flowers in red, pink, purple, white and yellow and their foliage ranges from grey-silver to dark green depending on species.
Eremophila glabra (spreading emu bush) is one of the most reliable for hot, exposed positions. Eremophila maculata (spotted emu bush) handles a range of soils including poor ones. Eremophila nivea (silver emu bush) provides extraordinary silver-grey foliage value even when not in flower. Use a hori-hori or planting knife to open planting pockets cleanly in sandy soil without over-disturbing surrounding ground.
Small-leaved grevillea (Grevillea species)
Not all grevilleas handle dry conditions equally, but small-leaved grevilleas are adapted to exactly the lean, free-draining conditions that sandy soil provides. The fine foliage loses less moisture through transpiration and the plants develop extensive root systems that access moisture from below the dry surface layer.
Christer T Johansson, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Grevillea lanigera (woolly grevillea) produces pink-cream flowers almost year-round on a compact shrub. Grevillea juniperina is exceptionally tough in dry positions. For a full guide to choosing the right grevillea for your climate, see our grevillea growing guide.
Kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos species)
Kangaroo paws are native to the sandy heathlands and woodlands of south-west WA, which shapes their needs exactly. They want full sun, excellent drainage, low nutrients and dry summers. In these conditions they are remarkably tough and long-lived.
In heavy soil or humid climates they are prone to ink disease — a black fungal infection on leaves and stems — and decline quickly. The key to success is matching them to the right conditions rather than fighting their preferences. Cut spent flower stems to the base with hand pruners after flowering and divide congested clumps every few years to maintain vigour.
The establishment trap
Every plant on this page will fail if planted in summer without adequate establishment watering. Drought tolerance is a description of what plants can do once their root systems are developed. Plant in autumn where possible, water deeply twice a week for the first twelve weeks, then taper off. A terracotta olla buried beside a new plant delivers water slowly and deeply to the root zone without surface evaporation. See our guide on why native plants fail in the first year.
2. Hot reflected heat and hard surfaces (urban dry)
Gardens hemmed in by paving, concrete, rendered walls and corrugated fencing face a different version of dry. There may be reasonable rainfall, but the heat load is so intense that soil dries within hours of rain and plants bake from both the sun above and the heat radiating from surrounding surfaces. This is genuinely one of the most challenging garden environments in urban Australia. See our guide to building a water-wise garden for complementary strategies.
Pigface (Carpobrotus and Disphyma species)
Pigface stores water directly in its succulent leaves, giving it a reserve that sustains it through periods of intense heat and zero rainfall. It reflects heat rather than absorbing it. Its low growth shades the soil surface and it spreads steadily to cover bare ground that would otherwise radiate even more heat. Few plants are as well-designed for hard, hot, urban dry conditions as pigface.
It produces vivid magenta to pink flowers in spring and summer and is genuinely tough once established. Carpobrotus glaucescens handles coastal and urban conditions across eastern Australia. Disphyma crassifolium (rounded noon-flower) is similarly reliable in hot, exposed positions. Both spread well on their own and require almost no maintenance once established.
Westringia (Westringia species)
Coastal rosemary is one of the most reliable shrubs for hot, exposed urban positions. It handles reflected heat, salt spray, poor soils and drought with almost equal indifference. The fine, grey-green foliage keeps it looking presentable through conditions that would see most plants wilt dramatically.
Westringia fruticosa is the most widely available species. Compact cultivars such as 'Smoky' and 'Grey Box' are better suited to small gardens. It can be clipped into a hedge with hedging shears or left informal. It is one of the few drought-tolerant natives that also accepts moderate shade, making it unusually versatile.
Mat rush (Lomandra species)
Lomandra is the most thoroughly tested drought-tolerant native in Australian landscape practice because it survives conditions that defeat almost everything else. Heat, drought, clay, sand, poor drainage, reflected light, root competition from established trees: lomandra is bulletproof.
Lomandra longifolia and its cultivars are the most widely available. 'Tanika' and 'LM300' are compact forms suited to smaller spaces. A tough hand fork works well to divide congested clumps when they need refreshing every four or five years.
3. Shallow rocky soil
Shallow soil over rock presents a different dry-garden problem. There may be water in the landscape but there is nowhere for it to go except to drain away through cracks and channels in the rock, or to evaporate rapidly from a thin soil layer. Plants that establish in these conditions do so by finding cracks and pockets in the rock itself, extending roots into fissures where a small amount of moisture persists long after the surface has baked dry.
Hakea (Hakea species)
Several hakea species are among the best plants available for shallow, rocky ground. Their roots are adapted to follow cracks and fissures in rock rather than relying on depth, which makes them remarkably successful in positions where other plants stall.
Hakea sericea establishes in shallow ground with limited soil. For a full guide to hakeas by climate zone, see our hakea growing guide. Plant with a slim trowel that can work into existing soil pockets without needing to dig where there is no soil to dig.
Native grasses (Themeda, Rytidosperma, Austrostipa species)
Native grasses are extraordinarily well-adapted to shallow soil over rock because they evolved in exactly these conditions across much of Australia. Their fine root systems explore every available crack and crevice and their growth slows rather than dies during dry periods, resuming when moisture returns.
Kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra) is the benchmark for ecological value and visual interest as its foliage shifts from green to copper-red through the seasons. Wallaby grass (Rytidosperma species) is one of the most drought-hardy of all native grasses and handles extremely shallow soils. For a full guide to selecting native grasses, see our native grasses guide.
Native succulents
The water-storage strategy of succulent natives makes them particularly suited to shallow rocky soil. In positions where there is almost no moisture reserve in the soil, the ability to store water in leaves becomes critically important.
Pigface and creeping saltbush (Atriplex semibaccata) handle shallow, exposed, rocky conditions that would defeat most other plants. They are also effective at stabilising the ground on sloping sites, reducing erosion where the thin soil layer would otherwise wash away.
4. Dry shade
Dry shade is the hardest dry-garden situation to solve. It combines the water-stress of drought with the energy-stress of low light — two pressures that most drought-tolerant plants are not designed to handle simultaneously. Under established trees, particularly eucalyptus trees, the combination of root competition, canopy interception of rain and deep shade creates conditions that defeat a very long list of otherwise reliable plants.
Flax lily (Dianella species)
Dianella is one of the very few plants that genuinely handles both dry conditions and deep shade. It evolved as an understorey plant in open forests and woodlands, which means shade is its natural context rather than a compromise.
Dianella caerulea is the most widely available and adaptable species. Dianella revoluta is particularly hardy in drier conditions. Both produce small blue to pale blue flowers and bright blue-purple berries that persist on the plant for months. Divide with a hand fork or knife in autumn to maintain vigour and expand plantings without purchasing additional plants.
Correa (Correa species)
Correa is one of the most useful shrubs for difficult dry shade positions. It evolved in sheltered gullies and forest margins — habitats that can be both shaded and seasonally dry. The pendulous bell-shaped flowers appear in autumn and winter, providing nectar for honeyeaters at a time when other food sources are scarce.
Correa reflexa and its cultivars are the most widely available for temperate gardens. Correa alba handles drier conditions particularly well. After flowering, light tip pruning keeps the plant compact and encourages the following season's flower buds.
Nodding saltbush (Einadia nutans)
Nodding saltbush is a low scrambling plant with small, arrowhead-shaped, semi-succulent grey-green leaves that spread to around a metre, clambering over logs and through low shrubs for support. In shade it leans into surrounding plants slightly filling gaps in the understorey rather than competing with them.
Clusters of small bright red fruit appear from summer through autumn and are taken readily by silvereyes, honeyeaters and small lizards. The berries have a sweet-salty flavour and can be eaten raw and the leaves can be cooked as greens, making it a productive as well as functional dry-shade plant. See our native herbs guide for more on edible natives.
5. Clay that bakes and cracks
Heavy clay presents a dry-garden paradox: it holds more water than any other soil type, but in summer it can become almost impenetrable, forming hard layers that exclude both water and air from the root zone. The plants that handle this best are those that are physiologically prepared for the cycle of wet and dry. For a full selection of natives suited to clay, see our guide to natives for clay soil.
Callistemon (Callistemon and Melaleuca species)
Bottlebrush species are among the most clay-tolerant flowering plants available to Australian gardeners, and once established they handle the wet-dry cycle of clay gardens better than almost any other genus. Many species grow naturally along creek lines and drainage channels — environments where soil is clay-based, seasonally waterlogged and then baked dry.
Callistemon citrinus and its cultivars are the most widely available. Callistemon viminalis (weeping bottlebrush) handles wet clay particularly well. Prune after flowering with loppers or sharp secateurs to shape and encourage the following season's growth.
Saltbush (Atriplex and Rhagodia species)
Saltbush species are among the toughest plants in the Australian flora, adapted to conditions — saline, clay-heavy, extremely dry — that few other plants can survive. Old man saltbush (Atriplex nummularia) develops a substantial root system that accesses moisture from deep within clay profiles — it features in our guide to deep-rooted natives for good reason. Its silvery foliage reflects heat and the plant maintains structure and colour through the most severe dry conditions.
Berry saltbush (Rhagodia spinescens) is a smaller, more spreading species suited to garden use. Both provide habitat and seed for birds and small reptiles, and old man saltbush leaves are edible and used in cooking — see our native herbs guide for more on this.
Mulch is your most important dry-garden tool
A 5–7cm layer of coarse organic mulch over a planted garden bed insulates the soil surface, dramatically slowing evaporation, moderates temperature swings that stress root systems and suppresses weeds that compete for available moisture. In clay gardens it also gradually improves soil structure as it breaks down. In sandy gardens it slows the movement of water through the profile long enough for roots to access it.
Building a dry garden that works
The single most common reason dry-garden plants fail is planting at the wrong time or without establishment care. Even the most drought-tolerant native needs water to develop the root system that will eventually make it drought tolerant. Plant in autumn where possible, which gives plants the cool months to establish before summer.
Water deeply and less frequently rather than shallowly and often — this trains roots to grow downward rather than concentrating at the surface. A terracotta olla buried beside each new plant during its first summer is one of the most effective establishment tools available for any dry-garden situation.
Once established, the maintenance requirements of a well-planted dry garden are genuinely low — which is the point. Our maintenance guide by climate zone covers what each season asks of a native planting. For a broader selection of drought-tolerant species beyond those covered here, see our guide to native plants for drought or low water.
keep reading
A Guide to Australian Native Gardening
How to plan, plant and care for a thriving native garden, whatever your experience level.
Read the guide →
