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A waterwise garden is not a gravel yard with three succulents in it. The best examples are dense, layered and green, and they use a fraction of the water of a conventional garden because of decisions made below ground. Soil improved with compost holds moisture, deep mulch stops evaporation, plants grouped by water need stop the thirsty ones dictating the schedule, and irrigation delivers water slowly at the root zone rather than spraying it into the air.

Soil comes first. Break up compaction, add organic matter generously, and create planting beds deep enough for roots to go looking for moisture instead of sitting in the top few centimetres. Then mulch — 75 millimetres of coarse bark, gravel or crushed stone depending on the look you want. Gravel mulch suits Mediterranean and native schemes, keeps foliage dry, reflects heat away from the soil surface and never needs topping up the way bark does.

Plant in blocks and repeat. Three to five species massed together read as a designed garden and shade the soil between them, which is itself a water saving. Reliable performers include ornamental grasses, westringia, agave and other architectural succulents, lavender and rosemary, salvias, dianella, kangaroo paw and olive or crepe myrtle for canopy. One well placed tree does more for water use than any other single plant, because everything beneath it loses less to evaporation.