Peter Nixon traded in his inner-city Sydney courtyard for a Sea-change paradise.
Here he givces us six plants that make this central coast garden sing
Mina lobata
Also called Spanish flag this is a light twining climber that I grow as an annual, enjoying its lacy cover and flowers through summer, and tearing it all
down in autumn. The new year’s seedlings will pop up again in October.
Blue fountain bush
A better, longer flowering evergreen shrub to 3m would be hard to find! Rotheca serrata, a
clerodendron relative, sends up torches of pale amethyst in high summer.
a Rican bow tie vine
Dalechampia dioscoreifolia has striking rosy-purple metallic bracts on a fast-growing twining vine, and is especially good on a lattice or part
of a fence in full sun.
Tibouchina heteromalla
The soft grey felted foliage is a major charm of this tibouchina, which sends up purple flowers from late summer into May.
Bhamas frangipani
The brilliant white, high summer flowers of Plumeria bahamensis stand out against the foliage which forms a broad dome on a small tree to about
two metres.
'One Thousand Lights’
This China rose flowers all year in my cool subtropical climate and responds with a new flush of flowers after every trim through the warm months, with
the bonus of a rich fruity tea scent. Rosa x odorata ‘Bengal Crimson’ is another good subtropical performer.