Interactive reference
Plant finder
Filter 73 plants commonly grown in Australian gardens by climate zone, light, soil, water need and plant type. Compare up to three side by side, or save a shortlist to come back to.
Dataset last reviewed 12 March 2027
Every figure here is a mature size in open ground in average conditions. A plant in a container, in shade, or in compacted soil will finish smaller. Water need describes what a plant requires after roughly two years in the ground; almost everything needs regular water through its first two summers regardless of what the tag says.
73 of 73 plants match
Sizes are height × width at maturity
No plants match that combination.
This dataset is a reference sample, not a catalogue of everything that grows in Australia. An empty result means the combination is uncommon, not that nothing exists.
My list
How to use the filters
Start with your climate zone and nothing else. That gives you the honest field of options for your conditions. Then add soil, because it is the constraint you cannot easily change: if your beds hold water for a day or more after rain, do not tick needs free drainage and hope. Add light last. Most people over-estimate how much sun a bed gets in winter, when the sun is low and fences cast long shadows; check the bed at 10am and again at 3pm in June before you decide.
Water need is the filter that most changes a garden's ongoing workload. A bed planted entirely with low-water species can generally be left alone after the second summer except in extreme heat. Mixing low-water and regular-water plants in the same irrigation zone is the most common design mistake in Australian gardens: whichever way you set the controller, half the bed is wrong. Group by water need first, then by appearance.
Frost tolerance in this dataset means the plant survives light to moderate frost without protection in an average winter. It does not mean it survives a severe frost in an open valley floor, and it does not tell you when your last frost falls. That varies street by street; local observation over a couple of winters beats any published date.
What the fields mean
Mature height and width are the dimensions to plan the bed around. Width matters more than height in most suburban gardens, because it decides whether a plant crowds a path, a window or its neighbour. If a plant is listed at 2 m wide, it needs 2 m; annual hard pruning to keep it at half that produces a woody, sparse shrub within a decade.
Soil lists the soil types a plant will accept. Needs free drainage is a warning, not a preference — those species die in ground that stays saturated, and no amount of compost changes that in heavy clay. Raise the bed instead, as set out in working with clay soil.
Foliage in the comparison table distinguishes evergreen plants from those that drop leaves or die back over winter. Deciduous plants are not a lesser option: a deciduous tree on the northern side of a house gives summer shade and winter sun, which no evergreen can do.
Check the mature width against a tape measure in the actual bed, and check that the plant is not a declared weed in your state or region. Biosecurity restrictions also apply to moving plants, seed, soil and cuttings between states and regions — check current requirements with your state or territory biosecurity service before transporting anything.
Saving and comparing
The compare tray holds up to three plants at a time and lines them up characteristic by characteristic, which is the quickest way to settle a choice between similar options. My list is longer-term: use it to build a planting list for a bed and come back to it. Both are stored only in this browser, on this device, and never sent anywhere. Clearing your browser's site data removes them. See the privacy policy for details.