Top 32 Summer Flowering Plants In My Queensland Garden

I hope you're ready for a beautiful flower overload! This is a roundup of all the gorgeous summer flowering plants in my garden in Queensland, Australia. After a huge amount of rain, these beauties are putting on a show!

1. Weeping Baeckea (B. frutescens)

This gorgeous native shrub started life as a scrawny little thing. There wasn't much to it at all, and when I bought it, I had no idea what it was. For about two years, it just sat there. It's a terrible spot for a garden, with even worse soil, so it's been tricky finding plants that don't mind growing there.

Over time, it grew taller and taller until one day I looked out from the veranda and it looked magical. Covered in tiny white flowers with beautiful weeping branches. These days, when it flowers in spring and summer, it's a talking point. Everyone loves this shrub and it's one of the easiest to look after.

2. Zinnia

I only recently discovered Zinnias and have fallen in love with them! I adore all the different flower colours, and this orange one, in particular, is a stand out. They're so easy to grow from seed (#ad), which means it's cheap. I've been getting my seeds (#ad) from the Seed (#ad) Collection, and they only cost $2.50 for a pack of 25 seeds (#ad). This variety is called Benary's Giant Orange.

3. Poinciana Tree

4. Mock Orange (Murraya paniculata)

This is one of my all-time favourite shrubs. Incredibly low maintenance, and once you smell the flowers, you'll know why I love it so much! I've planted a few around entryways and pathways so everyone can enjoy the scent as they walk past. This is an excellent hedging plant, too.

5. Red Tower Ginger (Costus comosus)

6. Ice Cream Bean (Inga edulis)

The ice cream bean’s powderpuff flowers are followed by the grooviest fruits ever. I haven’t had the chance to taste them yet, but the tree is producing a bunch now so I’ll update you on whether that really taste like vanilla ice cream or not.

7. Heliconia Tropics

8. Butterfly Pea (Clitoria ternata)

Yep, this climbing plant's Latin name gets a few giggles!

9. Lysimachia ‘Golden Bells'

An exceptional low-growing, low-maintenance ground cover for Queensland with gorgeous little yellow flowers.

10. Pinto Peanut (Arachis pintoi)

Pinto peanut is my all-time favourite ground cover. It's amazing for the soil, covers the ground enough to keep weeds down, and the flowers attract insects (and look great!). Very easy to grow in Queensland.

11. Hibiscus

12. Blackberry Jam Fruit (Randia formosa syn. Rosenbergiodendron formosum)

This little shrub was a little tricky to get established. It's in my food forest, in quite crappy soil and almost full shade. I didn't think it was the perfect spot for it, but it shone this year with gorgeous white flowers. It's native to eastern Australia and found in open forests, so maybe I didn't do too bad after all.

Once the white flowers are finished, it produces a yellow fruit with dark, jam-coloured pulp, which is where its common name comes from.

13. Bougainvillea

I'm working on better photos for this glorious flowering vine, as this one certainly doesn't do it justice! The whole plant is generally covered in huge clusters of coloured bracts. It creates a real show in summer!

14. Galangal Ginger (Alpinia galanga)

15. Impatiens

This little plant has been a constant performer for two years now. My daughter picked it at a local hardware shop, falling in love with the small white flowers. I have it growing in one of Aussie Gardener‘s large grow bags and it loves it there.

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16. Salvia

This red Salvia just keeps on flowering! It's a great border or edging plant as it doesn't grow very tall. Those red flowers really stand out amongst your other green plants!

17. Crossandra ‘Fireglow'

This is this plant's first flower, and I couldn't be more excited. It was badly damaged during the Bandicoot Blitz of 2025, but it recovered nicely after repotting. It should be smooth sailing for this plant from now on, and hopefully, next year, it will be covered in flowers. Originally purchased from Australian Plants Online in June 2025.

18. Bottlebrush

Another shrub with a tough start to life. Would you believe the horses ate it? Poor thing was nearly down to ground level, but as you can see, it's recovering nicely. Unfortunately, the tag disappeared when it got eaten, so I don't know the specific variety. We do know it's glorious and the birds love it!

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19. Night Blooming Jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum)

I swear no plant smells as good as this one. You can smell it from a hundred metres away! Around sunset, its scent fills the air, and it's divine. Please note that although it's not a declared weed as far as I know, Brisbane City Council advises:

Night jessamine (Cestrum nocturnum) has a negative impact on native ecosystems because it can form dense, shady thickets that outcompete the native flora and thus it prevents natural regeneration.

You can click the link above for full details.

20. Mussaenda ‘Marmelada'

This flowering shrub is a stunner! Mine is about 3m tall but it needs a good prune (#ad), which I’ll do once she finishes flowering.

21. Gardenia

Ultra glossy, deliciously scented, and easy to care for. What more could we want? Gardenias are a perfect flowering shrub for Queensland gardens.

22. King's Mantle (Thunbergia erecta)

23. Pentas

Another fairly new favourite! I've collected a few different flower colours, and this one is my favourite in lilac purplish pink. Easy to grow as long as you keep the water up. I keep them out of full sun, or at least out of full afternoon sun.

24. Brugmansia Buck's Fizz

I always get lots of comments on this large shrub with its giant, trumpet-shaped flowers. Purchased from El Arish Tropical Exotics in September 2019.

25. Ixora Red Malay

I adore Ixora flowers! It's hard to beat those huge clusters or incredible colour. I don't find Ixora to be super easy to grow, unfortunately. This one is in a tough spot, granted, but I've had issues with others, too. They get sooty mould, mealy bugs, scale – you name it, they get it.

26. Sunflowers

I've been going hard out with the sunflowers this year! It's been so lovely having all these giant yellow flowers around. The saddest thing is how hard it is to find sunflower seed that isn't F1 (meaning they're not suitable for seed saving). I love seed saving and growing tons of new plants for free. I grow one variety, sunflower ‘Giant Single‘, which suitable for seed saving. I'm planning on trying ‘Evening Sun‘ next. All my other sunflowers are F1!

27. Bean ‘Purple King'

This is a wild card! It's a vegetable, not so much a flower, but I felt it deserved a place in this list. The little purple flowers, purple tinged foliage, and purple beans make it a really cool plant to grow.

28. Grevillea ‘Honey Gem'

This is Australia's best Grevillea. Hands down. Yes, it's my opinion, but the birds certainly agree with me. Those flowers! This poor tree fell down after the recent floods. We've popped her back up, and I have everything crossed she makes it through!

29. Coleus

Coleus isn't traditionally grown for its flowers, but I think it should be. They're quite impressive with their long stalks and tons of small, purple flowers. My Coleus brings all the bees to the yard! These plants are seed-grown from Seed Collection's ‘Rainbow Mix'.

30. Cinnamon Myrtle (Backhousia myrtifolia)

This is a glorious tree. Graceful arching branches with little white flowers that attract bees and other insects. You can use the leaves in cooking, but even if you don't want to eat the cinnamon myrtle, it is worth growing for its looks, shade, and easy care.

31. Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet)

These flowers are so beautiful. They are big, around 30cm long, with beautiful pinks, yellows, and whites. I find Alpinias one of the easiest gingers/tropical plants to grow here in Queensland, and they're absolutely worth it for the flowers.

32. Jaboticaba

The Jaboticaba is such an unusual tree. The flowers and fruits grow straight on the trunks. These lovely little flowers are followed by tasty berries that are perfect for making jam. Or just eat them fresh!

This is my final summer flowering plant for this round-up. Let me know your favourite, and which flowers you have blooming in your garden this summer!

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