Indigenous is the way to go as far as possible, although some of the Australian aliens can be attractive and easy to grow and shouldn't be shunned purely for parentage. They are inclined to self-seed and pop up all over the place, so careful control should be exercised while enjoying their flowers and foliage. I've planted bauhinia and sutherlandia, geraniums and plectranthus. The central part of the lawn is to become a large bed of different varieties of agapanthus, both tall and miniature, pale to intense blue. Most of this will be a rearrangement of the existing garden, as the plants have multiplied over the years and need thinning anyway. The shade lovers, clivias and bromeliads, are now so abundant that I can double their existing coverage, which will take care of large portions of bare sand, which is all they have to grow in here next to the sea. It would be stretching it to call it soil.
Aloes also take up quite a few gaps and are very rewarding as they grow new plants all the time and make a spectacular show in winter when the rest of the garden is fifty shades of green.
Gardening is very therapeutic. You can solve the problems of the world while digging or watering, or let all the things that worry you play through your mind, and somehow it all seems totally insignificant as you take care of the simple things. And if you nurture your plants, feed and water them, encourage them to look their best and grow nicely into strong, healthy plants that will proliferate and reproduce themselves for future generations to admire and enjoy, it will give you the idea that perhaps this is how we should treat all living things, including our fellow man. Fancy that.
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