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Colourful plants

See also...

• Growing bromeliads in Brisbane
• Fragrant plants
• Climbers and creepers
• Shade loving plants
• Plants for screening and dividing

Bring your garden to life with splashes of colour. Brisbane's subtropical climate supports an amazing array of colourful flowering and foliage plants to suit all tastes. Individual flowering times may be brief but with careful selection and placement of species (including foliage plants) you can create a "year-round colour" effect in your garden.

	Common Name (Botanical Name)	Features	Growing Preferences	Fauna support
	croton (Codiaeum variegatum)	Striking foliage plant; many cultivars available from low growing to tall shrubs offering splashes and spots of colours in red, purple, green and yellow	Full sun and semi-shade; well drained soils
	flame tree (Brachychiton acerifolius)	Medium to tall tree 10-12m; brilliant red flowers in summer follow spring leaf-drop; large glossy leaves	Full sun, deep, well drained soils	birds, butterflies
	Colville's glory (Colvillea racemosa)	Tall deciduous tree to 15m; colourful display of bright orange flowers in winter	Full sun, well drained and composted soils.	birds
	flat stemmed wattle (Acacia complanata)	Showy, fast growing wattle to 3m; rounded shape; large yellow ball-like flowers over extended periods	Full sun and semi shade; sandy soils	birds, possums
	bottlebrush (Callistemon spp.)	Popular native shrubs or trees with showy bottlebrush flowers in many colours; often flower over extended periods; many species and cultivars	Full sun; hardy in most situations.	birds, micro-bats, possums

Flat stemmed wattle photo courtesy of Queensland Museum

Green Choice Guide references and recommended reading

The recommended plants in this section have been sourced from the guide
Green Choice Gardening in Brisbane, which is copyright Brisbane City
Council 2005.

Hardcopy versions of the guide may be obtained by contacting the Brisbane City Council call centre on (07) 3403 8888.

Following are the references used in preparing the guide.

Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries - search on ‘Fruits in the Home Garden’.

Greig, D. 1996, Flowering Natives for Home Gardens, HarperCollins, NSW.

Hauser, J. & Blok, J. 1998, Fragments of Green - An Identification
Field Guide for Rainforest Plants of the Greater Brisbane Region to the
Border Ranges, 2nd edn, Australian Rainforest Conservation Society,
Qld.

Hirschfeld, J. 1991, What to Plant and Where in Brisbane and the Coasts, 2nd edn, Albion Press, Qld.

Jones, D. L. 1986, Ornamental Rainforest Plants in Australia, Reed Books, NSW.

Nicholson, N. & H., 1985-1994, Australian Rainforest Plants, vol.1-4, Terania Rainforest Publishing, The Channon, NSW.

Oakman, H. 1995, Harry Oakman’s What Flowers When, University of Qld Press, Qld.

Queensland Museum 2003, Wild Plants of Greater Brisbane, Queensland Museum, Qld.

Wrigley, J. W. and Fagg, M. 1996, Australian Native Plants –
propagation, cultivation and use in landscaping, 4th edn, Reed Books,
Melbourne.

Acknowledgements Sustainable Gardening Australia