Regions: south

The fruit of the dry west, cropping where irrigation is impossible.

Passion flower — intricate blooms and the host plant of tawny coster butterflies.

A relentless nectar plant — and an invasive that must be kept in a pot.

Flat clusters of small stars that butterflies can actually land on.

Yellow bells almost all year on a shrub that survives a forgotten terrace.

A spiny yellow-flowered shrub of dry scrub, unbothered by heat or thin soil.

The flame tree of Indian summers; fast, spectacular and shallow-rooted.

Huge red cups in February that feed every bird in the neighbourhood at once.

Scarlet flowers on bare branches in spring; grows from a stuck-in cutting.

The national flower — a big tub, full sun and patience is all it takes.