Australian Plants for Adelaide Gardens - When to Plant

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When to Plant

Provided water is available, successful planting can be undertaken at almost any time of the year, although weather extremes such as summer heat-waves and very cold, wet spells in winter, are best avoided.

For the beginner the safest time to plant is in the autumn when the soil is still warm from summer heat, promoting strong root growth before the onset of winter. Autumn planting produces well established plants with less follow-up watering. For quicker growth, however, spring and summer planting is best, provided the plants can be artificially watered.

Where frosts, long cold periods or water logging are a problem, however, it is best to plant in late spring, so that the plant can become well established before meeting these conditions in the ensuing year.

Late spring-early summer is also the best time to plant species from the warmer, sub-tropical areas of Australia, such as the rainforest trees of the East Coast, some of which do well in Adelaide.