So, ROMFT and I are now several dollars lighter having re-stocked our gardening equipment Lawnmower (petrol, of course), forks, hoes, rakes and importantly, gloves

This is our first foray into gardening down under so I may need assistance in identifying some plants later

I think I recognise the lemon tree though

ROMFT before and after

Honestly... after plants, I find the most expensive thing for an Aussie garden is water. Litres and litres of it.

I love Spring when the garden blooms but by the time Summer comes around I find it a real chore to keep up with the watering to keep things alive.

Hopefully where you are is a bit kinder with the weather. Or you have more energy than I do to keep everything green.

Hi rasen78,

I am going in the opposite direction! (From Adelaide) I am fire selling some gardening stuff to put toward my UK fund. The move being done on a narrow budget!

I have immaculate (I mean immaculate) shears-2, one is a real sharpie for topiarising or whatever, and the other has extendable handles. If you have fruit trees, I have a telescopic fruit picker, in fact various bits and pieces. Oh and some plants.

Pm me if you have any interest in this stuff.

Two most important things you are going to need are copious amounts of weed killer and mulch.
I never used weed killers in the UK, but attempting to weed by hand here is nigh on impossible, the weeds grow faster than you can pull them up. So spray them and mulch to stop them coming up in the first place.

Your planting the 'wrong' plants. If you don't want to water, plant things that can survive, as much as possible, on rain water alone.

I don't water anything, if it won't grow in crap shale like soil & be drought tolerant I don't plant it. Bromeliads flourish as do fruit trees & native Grevilleas. I do fertilise the trees a couple of times a year though. I have a Passion Fruit that has taken over the front of the house this year. Never watered it once after its initial planting

I don't water anything after planting either. We have hundreds of native trees and shrubs all planted by yours truly. Succulents are brilliant for colour and inhospitable areas. Only ever buy one of each type - they are so easy to propagate.

Go to secondhand bookshops or markets for gardening books.

The trees are ok... lots of minimal watering success with bottle brush, lilly pilly, buddleia, yuccas, dracaena, bougainvillea, frangipani... and yes, passionfruit, jasmine and even some amazingly hardy geraniums... but most other floral things just seem to wither in hotter weather.

I'd love some bulbs and annuals to brighten up some flower beds and the gardenia's and hydrangeas also need more tlc than I can muster time and water wise.

Identifying plants? I USED to say "If I can't eat it or smoke it I ain't interested...."

That was until Gorgeous brought his little project home from school that is

Rosemary. Can't kill that stuff. I had some in a pot at the old rental place and I forgot to water it. It was basically a bit of twig with almost no green on it when we planted it (figuring, WTH) at the new house. It came back and forms part of the hedge today.

We're the most inept gardeners ever. The lavender, rosemary, westringia, star jasmine...all are thriving, so they make our list of "plants that do well with almost no care."

Exactly. Some plants fall into the 'bullet proof' category and are damn difficult to kill off. Lavender isn't going to do well in places with high humidity, and Rosemary is the same, but they will sail through all but the toughest drought.

The stuff known as French lavender is fine in Qld.

For colour - bird of paradise, gazania, pigface (a succulent, Google it), Cuphea cigar plant, canna lilies, tibochina, yesterday today and tomorrow, loads of other succulents with flowers. Photos available.

Just around our house, taken yesterday.

You know I just had to google it to see who would call a plant pigface. The flowers are kinda pretty.

I love pig face. When our rental garden died next doors pig face spilled over onto my path so I picked about 10 pieces and stuck them in the soil in early spring and they all grew!