Vertical Garden Plants for Perth

Scott Robinson

Updated on the 11th of December 2014

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The trouble with concepts imported verbatim, in a rush to cash in, is that performance is typically disappointing, vertical gardens, green walls and roofs are no exception. Here, new installations, lush and green, soon scorch, the margins of leaves turn brown and all the grooming and primping does not stem the decline, some, indoors or in especially sheltered sites, last longer but still require undue upkeep. Inappropriate plant choice rather than lack of technique is at the root of the problem.

More appropriate than green walls and roofs, and undoubtedly more successful and attractive long term would be grey, silver and sage walls, all colours linked with plant adaptations to dry heat, the very element that defines a Perth summer and which few cities, even those in other mediterranean climates, can do so well.

Rather than lush plants from summer rainfall or humid climes, typically raised speedily in greenhouses to be ill suited to life on a wind swept and perhaps sun scorched wall, more success will be had from those grown leanly in field conditions and selected for their adaptations to dry air. The same criteria that applies so successfully in-ground.

Below is a far from comprehensive list of plants I think stand a chance of performing well in vertical gardens outdoors in Perth, I've avoided any too rare, large, fast, slow or temperamental, weight may be an issue with larger succulents. Those more green and lush will likely be most successful in sheltered sites and the very mediterraneanesque will demand maximum exposure. There will need to be some experimentation and preferably trialling, if anybody is willing to invest the effort, though the passage of time will out. I expect some failures and I also know there are many more suitable plants that I have not listed and in time I may, when they have proven themselves, revisions are inevitable and suggestions are welcome.

I would like to see green walls and their ilk a permanent part of the West Australian landscape rather than written off because our climate is too "harsh" to succeed without reliance on huge supplies of cash and water. Indeed I think it would be entirely possible to have a green wall without irrigation if someone is up to the challenge.

• Aeonium
• Agave bracteosa
• Agave geminiflora
• Agave lophantha
• Agave potatorum
• Aloe arborescens
• Artemisia alba ‘Canescens’
• Arthropodium cirratum
• Asarum splendens
• Asparagus densiflorus
• Bergenia cordifolia
• Buddleja crispa
• Carex oshimensis
• Carex testacea
• Crassula pellucida
• Crassula perforata
• Crassula sarmentosa
• Crocosmia
• Cyrtanthus brachyscyphus
• Cyrtanthus elatus
• Dianthus
• Drimiopsis maculata
• Drimiopsis kirkii
• Dyckia
• Echeveria imbricata
• Erysimum scoparium
• Graptopetalum paraguayense
• Haemanthus albiflos
• Incarvillea arguta
• Iris albicans
• Iris kochii
• Iris unguicularis
• Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi
• Kalanchoe pumila
• Lomandra
• Myrsine africana
• Origanum dictamnus
• Origanum ‘Thumble's Variety’
• Pelargonium ionidiflorum
• Pelargonium reniforme
• Pelargonium ‘Madame Salleron’
• Portulacaria afra
• Puya
• Ruellia brittoniana
• Russelia equisetiformis
• Salvia cacaliifolia
• Salvia discolor
• Salvia roemeriana
• Scutellaria indica var. parviflora
• Sedum adolphii
• Teucrium marum
• Thymus serpyllum
• Thymus fragrantissimus
• Tradescantia pallida
• Tulbaghia violacea
• Verbena bonariensis
• Viola hederacea
• Zephyranthes candida
• Zephyranthes macrosiphon