Top 10 Plants for Creating an Instant Garden Transformation
Are you looking for plants to create an instant garden? Or maybe you have a large, blank canvas of an outdoor space and you have no idea where to start in filling it. In this article we have a few quick tips and tricks for instantly filling out your garden space.
The first key aspect of achieving an instant garden transformation is using some fast growing, easy to maintain plants. These are placed to create barriers, borders and edging or, in some cases, shelter or wind breaks to make way for future plantings.
This is where our Top 10 plants for creating an instant garden transformation come in! These carefully selected plants can easily and quickly transform your garden space into a beautiful garden.
When asked for a fast growing box border or medium hedge that doesn’t flower, we always go for the hardy Box Leaf Privet. This tough shrub grows incredibly fast and in almost any soil type. In just one year you can have a 1 metre tall hedge or a 2m tall hedge in 2 years! It’s also very affordable, so you can give yourself a head start by buying larger plants that are already well on their way to becoming a hedge at the time of planting.
Robinia ‘Mop Top’ are the perfect feature tree for an instant garden make-over. The soft, delicate foliage creates ample shade during the summer and forms a big, beautiful mop, hence its name! As it is a little bush grafted to the strong trunk of a Robinia, they maintain their moppish shape without becoming overly huge. In just 12-18 months you’ll have a fully established beautiful feature or avenue tree!
For instant hedging, look no further than the ‘Leighton Green’ conifer! This hardy hedging plant can be trimmed and trained into a 1.5-2m hedge in just under 2 years. ‘Leightons Green’ are evergreen and non-flowering so they create very little mess. They are also very good at blocking out sound, pollution and wind.
The Glauca ‘Pencil Pine’ is a traditional Mediterranean or Formal style garden plant that grows 1.5m in a year. They can be used to frame an entrance, as neatly trimmed topiary in pots or containers, as a tall, narrow, low maintenance screen in a tight space or to line an avenue or driveway. Due to their natural tall narrow shape, Glauca ‘Pencil Pine’s draw the eye and can lead someone’s attention to a focal point.
If you’re after a versatile, fast growing climber or groundcover, ‘Canary Island Ivy’ has got you covered! It is a dense, evergreen climbing plant that is often used as a neat, dense groundcover under trees. ‘Canary Island Ivy’ can transform a dull fence, arbour or patch of ground within 2 years!
These low growing rose bushes flower for almost 8 months of the year, flooding your garden with gorgeous colours of white, pink and even ambers, golds and reds! Carpet Roses are semi-evergreen, and only losing their leaves in extremely cold climates (that makes us safe here in Melbourne). They are relatively self-shaping and require very little maintenance once established. Often seen in council plantings due to their hardiness.
‘Butterfly Grass’ are beautifully hardy clumping grasses that are widely used in council plantings, landscaping and rural gardens due to their neatness and durability. They produce gorgeous white flowers with a splash of purple and yellow on the inside of the petals. Dietes flower for long periods and will fully establish within 1.5 years. They’re wonderful for pots & containers, borders and edging or as garden fillers.
Of all the Ornamental Pears, the ‘Everscreen’ or ‘Winter Glow’ is the only one to not lose its leaves in winter, in warmer climates. So in the suburbs of Melbourne these handsome trees maintain their gorgeous glossy foliage throughout the year and produce minimal flowers during spring. ‘Everscreen’ make wonderful avenue and driveway plants as well as screening from the neighbours. Plus their roots are non-invasive.
A beautiful native groundcover and incredibly tough. ‘Fine Leaf’ Myoporum is a dense growing groundcover that is used to retain soil on embankments, help suppress weeds or can even be used as a lawn replacement. It produces tiny white star-shaped flowers during the warmer months and can grow in almost any soil type, including really hard clay!
Don’t let the delicate flowers of the ‘Seaside Daisy’ fool you. This Cottage Perennial can grow in most soil and climatic conditions, and require very little maintenance. ‘Seaside Daisy’ will grow to its full size in just 1 year in the right conditions and will flower for 8-9 months. They’re also good for pots, containers, garden fillers and borders.
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If you want fast screening on a large property, look no further! These are incredibly hardy, tall growing trees that can reach 7m tall in just 2 years! ‘Crows Nest’ Poplars are narrow growing but are good at screening out eye-sores as well as blocking high winds.
For hardy screening plants, ‘Evergreen Alders’ are the best in the business. These tough trees handle horrible soils such as hard clay or even soggy, water-logged areas as well as full sun and frost. But for their best performance plant in a loose, well draining soil, water well, and you could have a 5m tall screen in just one year! Their delicate green leaves are similar to that of a Silver Birch, just without the white trunk.
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This is where our Top 10 plants for creating an instant garden transformation come in! These carefully selected plants can easily and quickly transform your garden space into a beautiful garden.
Top 10 Plants for Creating an Instant Garden Transformation!
- Ligustrum ‘Box Leaf Privet’
- Robinia ‘Mop Top’
- Cupressus ‘Leighton Green’ Conifer
- Glauca Pencil Pine
- Canary Island Ivy
- Carpet Rose Pink or White
- Dietes ‘Butterfly Grass’
- Pyrus ‘Everscreen’ Ornamental Pear
- Myoporum ‘Fine Leaf’ Creeping Boobialla
- Erigeron ‘Seaside Daisy’
Honourbale Mentions
How to use plants in a new garden for an instant effect
Here are some quick tips and tricks for instantly filling out your garden space without waiting years and years to see results.- For larger spaces such as rural properties and acre blocks, it is easier start by breaking up the area into smaller spaces, just like building outdoor “rooms”. This is done with hedges, screening trees or avenue style plantings of trees to create green leafy walls. Decide on the garden zones and how they will be used before worrying about the intricacies of individual garden beds. In some cases, you will need established plants around each area first to shelter your more precious varieties from direct winds, hot sun, or extreme weather.
- In smaller gardens you may want an instant, fast growing hedge. It can also be worth investing in a feature plant or tree with great shape and colour that is already semi-advanced when you buy it. You can balance the budget by surrounding it with smaller but faster growing plants that will still look fantastic themselves in sometimes less than half a year. This makes make the yard instantly more inviting, rather than a blank space of dirt or grass.
If you have questions about which plants will create the best effect in the shortest possible time in YOUR space, region and conditions and within your budget, try our Garden Design Service. Chris can assist and guide you in your garden make-over, finding the right style of garden as well as the perfect plants with the right maintenance level for your personal backyard space.
1. Ligustrum ‘Box Leaf Privet’
When asked for a fast growing box border or medium hedge that doesn’t flower, we always go for the hardy Box Leaf Privet. This tough shrub grows incredibly fast and in almost any soil type. In just one year you can have a 1 metre tall hedge or a 2m tall hedge in 2 years! It’s also very affordable, so you can give yourself a head start by buying larger plants that are already well on their way to becoming a hedge at the time of planting.
Back to list: Top 10 Quick Transformation Plants
2. Robinia ‘Mop Top‘
Robinia ‘Mop Top’ are the perfect feature tree for an instant garden make-over. The soft, delicate foliage creates ample shade during the summer and forms a big, beautiful mop, hence its name! As it is a little bush grafted to the strong trunk of a Robinia, they maintain their moppish shape without becoming overly huge. In just 12-18 months you’ll have a fully established beautiful feature or avenue tree! 
Back to list: Top 10 Quick Transformation Plants
3. Cupressus ‘Leighton Green’ Conifer
For instant hedging, look no further than the ‘Leighton Green’ conifer! This hardy hedging plant can be trimmed and trained into a 1.5-2m hedge in just under 2 years. ‘Leightons Green’ are evergreen and non-flowering so they create very little mess. They are also very good at blocking out sound, pollution and wind.
Back to list: Top 10 Quick Transformation Plants
4. Glauca Pencil Pine
The Glauca ‘Pencil Pine’ is a traditional Mediterranean or Formal style garden plant that grows 1.5m in a year. They can be used to frame an entrance, as neatly trimmed topiary in pots or containers, as a tall, narrow, low maintenance screen in a tight space or to line an avenue or driveway. Due to their natural tall narrow shape, Glauca ‘Pencil Pine’s draw the eye and can lead someone’s attention to a focal point.
Back to list: Top 10 Quick Transformation Plants
5. Canary Island Ivy
If you’re after a versatile, fast growing climber or groundcover, ‘Canary Island Ivy’ has got you covered! It is a dense, evergreen climbing plant that is often used as a neat, dense groundcover under trees. ‘Canary Island Ivy’ can transform a dull fence, arbour or patch of ground within 2 years!
Back to list: Top 10 Quick Transformation Plants
6. Carpet Rose Pink or White
These low growing rose bushes flower for almost 8 months of the year, flooding your garden with gorgeous colours of white, pink and even ambers, golds and reds! Carpet Roses are semi-evergreen, and only losing their leaves in extremely cold climates (that makes us safe here in Melbourne). They are relatively self-shaping and require very little maintenance once established. Often seen in council plantings due to their hardiness.
Back to list: Top 10 Quick Transformation Plants
7. Dietes ‘Butterfly Grass’
‘Butterfly Grass’ are beautifully hardy clumping grasses that are widely used in council plantings, landscaping and rural gardens due to their neatness and durability. They produce gorgeous white flowers with a splash of purple and yellow on the inside of the petals. Dietes flower for long periods and will fully establish within 1.5 years. They’re wonderful for pots & containers, borders and edging or as garden fillers.
Back to list: Top 10 Quick Transformation Plants
8. Pyrus ‘Everscreen’ Ornamental Pear
Of all the Ornamental Pears, the ‘Everscreen’ or ‘Winter Glow’ is the only one to not lose its leaves in winter, in warmer climates. So in the suburbs of Melbourne these handsome trees maintain their gorgeous glossy foliage throughout the year and produce minimal flowers during spring. ‘Everscreen’ make wonderful avenue and driveway plants as well as screening from the neighbours. Plus their roots are non-invasive.
Back to list: Top 10 Quick Transformation Plants
9. Myoporum ‘Fine Leaf’ Creeping Bobbialla
A beautiful native groundcover and incredibly tough. ‘Fine Leaf’ Myoporum is a dense growing groundcover that is used to retain soil on embankments, help suppress weeds or can even be used as a lawn replacement. It produces tiny white star-shaped flowers during the warmer months and can grow in almost any soil type, including really hard clay!
Back to list: Top 10 Quick Transformation Plants
10. Erigeron ‘Seaside Daisy’
Don’t let the delicate flowers of the ‘Seaside Daisy’ fool you. This Cottage Perennial can grow in most soil and climatic conditions, and require very little maintenance. ‘Seaside Daisy’ will grow to its full size in just 1 year in the right conditions and will flower for 8-9 months. They’re also good for pots, containers, garden fillers and borders.
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Back to list: Top 10 Quick Transformation Plants
Honourable Mentions for Instant Garden Transformations:
Populus ‘Crows Nest’ Poplar
If you want fast screening on a large property, look no further! These are incredibly hardy, tall growing trees that can reach 7m tall in just 2 years! ‘Crows Nest’ Poplars are narrow growing but are good at screening out eye-sores as well as blocking high winds.
Back to list: Top 10 Quick Transformation Plants
Alnus ‘Evergreen Alder’
For hardy screening plants, ‘Evergreen Alders’ are the best in the business. These tough trees handle horrible soils such as hard clay or even soggy, water-logged areas as well as full sun and frost. But for their best performance plant in a loose, well draining soil, water well, and you could have a 5m tall screen in just one year! Their delicate green leaves are similar to that of a Silver Birch, just without the white trunk.
Back to list: Top 10 Quick Transformation Plants
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Do you enjoy these garden tips? Be first to know when we publish new articles on plants & gardening, tailored for people in Melbourne and regional Victoria.
We will send you gardening tips, great deals, and exclusive giveaways. Happy Gardening!
