November 22nd, 2025Beetham’s Botanicals

Well here I am penning another column for you, the reader, to enjoy…
This time I’ll be giving you an insight into special needs for special plants – trees and shrubs – a broad topic I know but the plant selections have been based on my experience of growing them and/or observing them in gardens all around the world.
Let’s start with some drought-tolerant plants that would fit nicely into a modern contemporary landscape style that has become important to lessen the overuse of watering those other thirsty species such as hydrangeas.
For example (in alphabetic order): albizia julibrissin (Persian silk tree), carpenteria californica (bush anemone), hakea francisiana (emu tree), leucospermum high gold (pincushion plant), melaleuca thymifolia (thyme honey myrtle), pinus patula (mexican weeping pine) and quercus suber (cork oak). And a special note here, all plants need some initial watering to get their roots established.
And now from the sublime to the ridiculous, plants for damp soils for long periods of time: betula nigra (water birch), metasequoia glyptostroboides (dawn redwood), nyssa sylvatica (tupelo) and taxodium distichum (swamp cypress). These four trees look great next to water features such as lakes and large ponds – they’re all deciduous and give a splendid autumnal show.
Many older gardens, both private and public, have developed areas of shade, from heavy shade to dappled light as a result of enlarging tree canopies or even shadows created by nearby buildings or perhaps your renovations to the existing house or outbuildings.
Here’s a smattering of choices: acer palmatum seiryu (upright dissectum Japanese maple), camellia spp. cuttsia viburnea (honey bush), daphne odora f. alba (white flowered winter daphne), dichroa x versicolor (evergreen hydrangea), fatsia japonica (Japanese aralia), fuchsia spp. hydrangea spp., rhododendron spp. and Tasmannia lanceolata (mountain pepper) and, of course, myriad ferns.
The controversial subject of global warming and climate change is very much to the fore and so I thought I’d have a crack at suggesting the following species that should have a high degree of climate resilience.
Arbutus x andrachnoides (hybrid strawberry tree), catalpa bignonioides (Indian bean tree), clethra arborea (lily-of-the-valley tree), elaeocarpus reticulatus Prima Donna (blueberry ash), grevillea robusta (silky oak), liquidambar formosana (formosan sweet gum) and quercus coccifera (kermes oak). A special note also here that a majority of Australian native plants in the botanical family of myrtaceae (e.g. angophora, corymbia and eucalyptus) should, depending on their natural distribution, fit into this category.
So, in summary, it’s worth continuing to plant some of your current faves, mindful of the fact that all gardens large or small contain microclimates that have been created by such things as ambient heat from walls, fences etc and frost-free zones as a result of merging tree canopies (mentioned earlier).
I’m afraid there’s no time (or space) for perennials but think hosta spp. for damp areas, helleborus spp. for dappled shade and ornamental grasses for drought tolerance.

Cheers John Beetham (Trees in Australia)

Next time: Showcasing summer flowering species

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