Planting plan and plant schedule
Species, quantity, pot size, spacing and mature dimensions, drawn to scale at mature size — not at nursery size. The schedule is what you take to the wholesaler and what stops you buying forty of something you needed twelve of.
A planting plan is not a picture of a garden. It is a purchase order with a drawing attached. Everything on it has to survive contact with a nursery that sells by botanical name and container size, and with a delivery truck that turns up on a date.
Two mistakes account for almost every failed planting plan in Perth. The first is drawing plants at the size they come out of the pot, which produces a plan that looks full, a quantity three times too high, and a garden that strangles itself in year three. The second is specifying a species nobody in WA grows in the size you wrote down, which you discover after the design is signed off.
Both are fixed in the same afternoon, and this lesson is that afternoon.
What a professional does at this stage
A designer draws the circle at mature spread first, then counts, then prices, then rings a wholesaler — in that order — before the plan leaves the office.
The reason is that the schedule is the document that gets quoted, ordered, delivered and checked off a truck. Nobody plants from the drawing. So the schedule has to be correct in the terms a nursery understands: botanical name, container size, quantity, delivery month.
The availability call is what separates a plan from a wish. A professional will substitute a species at concept stage without regret and refuse to substitute one at delivery stage, because by then the spacing, the quantities and the irrigation zoning were all set by the plant that is no longer coming.
Drawing at mature spread
Each plant is a circle whose radius is half its mature spread, with a cross or a dot at the centre marking where it goes in the ground. The centre is what gets set out on site; the circle is only there to prove the plants fit.
The common convention, set out clearly by Ross Uebergang, is to draw trees at around 80% of mature spread so the plan stays readable where canopies overlap. Use one figure for the whole drawing and put it in the legend.
Then apply the overlap rules:
| Layer | How the circles should sit at maturity |
|---|---|
| Trees | Canopies clear of each other and clear of the house, unless you are deliberately building a grove |
| Shrubs | Circles just touching — that is a closed mass with no bare sand and no shearing |
| Groundcovers | Circles overlapping by roughly 20%, so the bed closes in two seasons |
| Feature or specimen plants | Circles standing alone with clear space around them, or they stop being features |
You are renovating, so there is one more layer: the plants you decided to KEEP in your existing garden audit. Draw those at their current spread plus five to ten years of growth. An established lemon-scented gum or a mature olive will take more room and cast more shade than it does now, and everything under it inherits that shade. This is the most common way a renovation planting plan goes wrong: new plants sized for the sun that reaches that spot today.
Turning spacing into quantity
Spacing is a decision you make from mature width, and quantity falls out of it arithmetically. Do not count circles by eye.
- Square grid: plants per square metre = 1 ÷ (spacing in metres)²
- Triangular (staggered) grid: plants per square metre = 1.155 ÷ (spacing in metres)²
Triangular is what you want for mass planting — same spacing between every neighbour, better coverage, about 15% more plants. A 24 m² bed at 600 mm centres, triangular, is 1.155 ÷ 0.36 = 3.2 plants per square metre, so 77 plants. Add about 5% for losses in transit and planting, and order 81.
One rule that saves rework: set the outer row half a spacing in from the edge, not on it, or the plants flop over the edging and into the paving within a year.
The schedule columns, and what each one is really for
| Column | Rule |
|---|---|
| Code | Two to four characters, tying the symbol on the plan to the row. A single uppercase letter for the genus plus three lowercase for the species reads well: Afl for Agonis flexuosa |
| Botanical name | The only unambiguous identifier. Cultivars in single quotes: Agonis flexuosa ‘Burgundy’. Nurseries order by this and nothing else |
| Common name | For your client and yourself. Never for the order |
| Quantity | From the spacing arithmetic, not from counting circles |
| Pot size | Trade size, e.g. tube, 140 mm, 200 mm, 25 L, 45 L, 100 L. These are trade names, not exact volumes — for anything above 45 L, state the height and stem calliper you expect as well |
| Spacing | In millimetres, centre to centre. Blank means the planter guesses |
| Mature height × width | From the grower’s label or an authoritative list, not from memory |
| Hydrozone | Carried straight from your hydrozone plan |
| Aspect | Full sun, part shade, shade — plus which wall, in Perth |
| Rate and total | Ex GST, with a separate delivery line |
The Water Corporation’s Selecting the right tree list fills several of these columns for you for trees: it gives a mature size band (small 4–8 m, medium 8–16 m, and larger), a water rating scored as no supplementary water, once a week, or twice a week once established, and a root invasiveness rating of low, moderate or high.
Then run two checks on the finished schedule. Sort by hydrozone — any plant whose water rating disagrees with its zone is a fault, and it is cheaper to fix here than in the irrigation plan. Sort by aspect — a part-shade plant on the western wall of a Perth house is a plant you will replace in February.
Checking availability before you commit
Start on the Water Corporation’s waterwise plant search, the only Perth database with an availability filter built in. That removes species no WA grower produces at all, but it will not tell you whether one is available in the size you specified, in the month you need it. For that:
- Email your schedule — botanical name, container size, quantity, delivery month — to two or three wholesalers and ask for availability and price. Greenlife Industry WA’s member list is how you find the right ones: local native tubestock, advanced trees and volume shrub production are three different businesses.
- Expect a wall on pricing. Benara, the state’s largest trade nursery, says “sign in for pricing” and only approved trade accounts get in. Without one, ask a garden centre to order in, or price the retail equivalent and accept the margin.
- Add a substitute column and nominate one yourself for every line. Leave it blank and the nursery substitutes for you — on availability, not on mature width.
- Order advanced trees early. Anything in a 100 L bag or larger is a two-person or machine lift, which is a delivery and placement cost that belongs on the schedule as a note before it surprises you on site.
Four legal checks before you sign it off
These are quick and they are not optional.
Polyphagous shot-hole borer. The entire Perth metropolitan area is inside the Quarantine Area, and the national response has shifted from eradication to long-term management. Do not specify the top reproductive hosts — maple, black locust, coral tree, plane tree, fig, poinciana, mirror bush and castor oil plant. Box elder maple (Acer negundo) is the worst of them. The movement rules bite on the demolition side too: green waste must travel in a fully sealed, covered bin or trailer, and living plant material over 2 cm in diameter cannot leave the Management Zone.
Declared plants. Check anything ornamental but vigorous against the Western Australian Organism List. Specifying a declared pest creates a legal control obligation for the owner of the land.
Tree locations, underground. Under the Utility Providers Code of Practice WA, trees must be planted 2.7 m from the property boundary line and at least 0.5 m from water assets, and damage to a Water Corporation asset can be charged back to you. Check every tree centre against the services you plotted in locating services.
Tree locations, overhead. Take the mature height column and hold it against the overhead service line to your house. Western Power makes homeowners and occupiers responsible for keeping trees on their property clear of powerlines all year round, and once vegetation is close to a line the trimming is qualified work — not yours. Specifying a 12 m tree under a service line is committing yourself to a lifetime of paid pruning, or a vegetation notice.
Totalling a real plant budget
Extend every row — quantity × rate — and total it, then add:
- Delivery, which is a real line, not a rounding error, especially for bags
- 5% contingency on quantities for losses
- GST, because wholesale quotes come ex GST
- A note that soil amendment, mulch, stakes and ties are not in this total. They belong in quantity take-offs, but say so here so nobody reads the plant total as the planting total.
The anchor price worth knowing is the bottom of the range: WA native tubestock from a community grower runs a couple of dollars a plant — the Trillion Trees 2025 catalogue listed $2.10 to $2.60 each ex GST. An advanced tree in a bag is orders of magnitude above that. The mix of pot sizes in your schedule, more than the species list, is what decides the number at the bottom.
Then claim your Treebate: $150 back for every WA resident over 18, on one native tree reaching at least three metres of canopy at maturity — a figure you now have in a column. Confirm the current round is open first.
What happens next
The next lesson lays the lighting plan over this drawing. It needs your tree positions and mature spreads fixed, because uplighting is aimed at a canopy that does not exist yet, and the cable runs have to miss root balls you have just located. After that, the schedule goes into the specification and the totals into Phase 7 costing.
Do this on your own block
Field journal entry
Planting plan and schedule
Draw every plant at its mature spread, and produce a schedule listing botanical name, common name, quantity, pot size, spacing, mature height and width, hydrozone, and sun requirement. Total the plant cost.
Saved to your workbook
Sign in to write this straight into your project workbook — or just keep it in a notebook.
Checklist
- Plants are drawn at mature size, not planting size
- Every species suits its hydrozone and aspect
- Species are available from WA nurseries at the size you specified
- Schedule totals give you a real plant budget
Where to go deeper
Every link below was fetched and checked before it shipped. Nothing here is a guess.
- Freetool30 minPerth / WA
Waterwise plant search
Water Corporation
Why this oneThe only Perth plant database that carries a nursery availability field alongside the horticulture. You search by suburb or by plant name and filter on availability (readily available, limited availability, no availability), origin (WA native, Australian native, exotic), garden type and growth habit, and each record carries a water rating. Doing your availability check here first kills the species that no WA grower produces before you have drawn them on a plan.
Change this for PerthIt does not filter by mature height or by aspect, so it narrows your list but does not size or place anything. It also treats 'readily available' loosely — availability of a species is not availability of that species in a 45 litre bag in the month you want it. Confirm the size with a grower.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment20 minPerth / WA
Selecting the right tree
Water Corporation
Why this oneThe linked PDF tree list is the single most useful document in this lesson, because it is organised the way a schedule is. Every tree is scored by specialist tree consultants into a mature size band (small 4-8 m, medium 8-16 m, and larger), a water rating (needs no supplementary water once established, once a week, or twice a week), and a root invasiveness rating of low, moderate or high, with origin and evergreen or deciduous alongside. That is four schedule columns filled in from one authoritative WA source.
Change this for PerthIt is a water utility's list, so it is biased toward protecting sewer and water mains. Moderate and high root ratings are a warning about pipes, not a horticultural verdict — a moderate-rated tree can be entirely correct in the middle of a lawn away from services.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freetool15 minPerth / WA
Suburb Selector
APACE WA
Why this onePick your Perth suburb from a list of more than 400 and it returns the local native species for the vegetation complex under your block, drawn from APACE's revegetation catalogues. It is the fastest way to build a genuinely local, low-water section of your palette rather than a generic 'Australian natives' list, and APACE is a North Fremantle production and retail nursery that actually grows what it lists.
Change this for PerthThese are revegetation species chosen for local provenance, not ornamental performance. Many are tubestock-only and will not be available at 200 mm or in bags. Treat the output as a shortlist to test against your hydrozones, not a planting plan.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freesupplier20 minPerth / WA
Native Plant Nursery price list (2025 catalogue)
Trillion Trees Australia
Why this oneA real, published WA plant price list, which is rarer than it should be — most wholesalers hide pricing behind a trade login. It is laid out as a schedule: plant name, common name, height in metres, flower colour, flowering time, habitat and soil notes, and price each excluding GST. Seedlings run $2.10 to $2.60 each ex GST in this edition, which gives you a hard number to anchor the tubestock lines in your own budget instead of guessing.
Change this for PerthThis is the 2025 edition and a 2026 catalogue has since been published, so confirm current prices with the nursery before you total anything. Trillion Trees (formerly Men of the Trees) is at Hazelmere and grows tubestock only — it will not solve your advanced tree lines. Retail sales are Thursdays and Fridays, 9am to 2pm.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- PaidsupplierPerth / WA
Benara Nurseries
Benara Nurseries
Why this oneWA's largest trade and wholesale nursery, growing at Carabooda and Forrestdale since 1963, and the supplier most Perth landscapers actually price against. Worth visiting even without an account because it shows you how the trade organises stock — a seedling list, a highlights list of premium stock currently available, and an advanced stock list with current availability, all filterable by pot size. It is the reference point for what 'available in WA at that size' really means.
Change this for PerthTrade and wholesale only. The site says 'sign in for pricing' — you cannot see a dollar figure without an approved credit account, and homeowners will not get one. Use it to check what exists and in what sizes, then get the price through a landscaper, a garden centre that will order in, or a retail equivalent.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- FreedirectoryPerth / WA
Find a Member
Greenlife Industry WA
Why this oneThe WA nursery industry's own member list, run by the state peak body that has represented growers and retailers since 1939. It covers production nurseries, garden centres and allied suppliers together, so it is how you find the specialists — APACE for local natives, Arborwest for mature and advanced trees, Benara for volume — rather than driving to whichever garden centre is closest. Each entry says what the business actually grows.
Change this for PerthMembership is a trade association, not an accreditation of plant health or quality. Being listed here does not mean a nursery is NIASA accredited or dieback-free; ask that question separately.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freearticle25 minAustralian
Planting plans: symbols, tags, legends and schedules
Ross Uebergang Landscape Design
Why this oneThe clearest free explanation of the drawing conventions this deliverable needs, from an Australian landscape designer working to Australian nursery practice. It covers the circle-and-cross symbol for a plant centre, the abbreviation system that ties a symbol to a schedule row (one uppercase letter for the genus, three lowercase for the species), which columns a schedule must carry versus which are optional, line weights that separate trees from shrubs from groundcovers, and the convention of drawing trees at a percentage of mature spread rather than full spread.
Change this for PerthWritten from a Victorian practice, so the example species and the seasonal timing are wrong for Perth. The drafting method transfers unchanged; the plants do not.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freearticle20 minAustralian
Tree Stock Standard project
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University
Why this oneThe free way to understand what AS 2303 actually measures before deciding whether to buy the standard. This is the research group whose work drove the 2018 revision, after they found the 2015 edition did not reflect the size index parameters of trees in real Australian nurseries. It explains the parameters that matter when you specify an advanced tree — container volume, root ball diameter, stem calliper, stem taper, height and crown volume — and links free brochure and summary-card PDFs plus the underlying published research.
Change this for PerthNational research, not WA-specific. It says nothing about which species suit Perth sand; it is about whether the tree you are handed is a well-grown specimen for its container size.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Paid · $154.97 incl GST (single-user PDF)standardAustralian
AS 2303:2018 Tree stock for landscape use
Standards Australia (via Intertek Inform)
Why this oneThe document your schedule should reference if you are specifying trees above about 45 litres, and the only defensible way to reject a poor tree on delivery. Published 21 December 2018, it sets criteria for container-grown, containerised, bare-rooted and ex-ground stock at all stages of growth, covering both above-ground and below-ground characteristics, and explicitly excludes palms and stock grown for topiary, espalier, bonsai, pollarding or coppicing.
Change this for PerthOverkill for a suburban garden of shrubs and tubestock. If you are buying one or two advanced trees, read the free Western Sydney University material listed above and inspect the root ball yourself instead. Buy the standard only if a supplier is disputing a rejection.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freegovernment10 minPerth / WA
Treebate
Department of Water and Environmental Regulation
Why this oneA $150 rebate that lands directly in the plant budget line you are about to total, and one of the very few WA schemes aimed at homeowners rather than councils. Every Western Australian aged 18 and over can claim one native tree, provided the species reaches a canopy at least three metres high at maturity — which is exactly the mature-dimension figure this lesson makes you record. Claims go through the ServiceWA app or a paper form with a tax invoice and a photo of the plant label.
Change this for PerthChecked on 2 August 2026: the first round opened 28 July 2025, the funding counter showed roughly 90% allocated by June 2026, and the page flagged a second round as coming. The scheme is capped at around 10,000 claims a year across four years and allocations run out, so confirm the round is open before you rely on the $150.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
- Freearticle45 minPerth / WA
Josh's House plans and drawings
Josh Byrne & Associates / Curtin University
Why this oneSeven free downloadable PDF plans for a real, monitored, water-sensitive Perth project, including a Landscaping Design described as the definitive guide to the garden's plant palette, a separate Landscape Concept, and an Integrated Water System Design that shows hydrozoning and bore water alongside the planting. Seeing a full Perth documentation set — concept, planting, irrigation and water — drawn by a Fremantle practice is worth more than any amount of generic advice about what a planting plan should look like.
Change this for PerthA new-build on a small Fremantle lot, so the scale and the soil are specific to that site and the plans are free to use and share with attribution. Read it for structure and palette logic, not to copy species onto a different soil type.
Link checked 2 Aug 2026
The rules, with sources
WA regulation changes. Each point below names its primary source and the date it was last checked — always confirm with your own council before you build.
The whole Perth metropolitan area sits inside the polyphagous shot-hole borer Quarantine Area. Within the Management Zone you must not move untreated or unseasoned wood outside the zone unless it is chipped to pieces 2.5 cm or less in diameter, must not move plant material including living plants greater than 2 cm in diameter outside the zone, must clean machinery that has handled wood or plant material before moving it out, and must transport green waste in a fully sealed and covered skip bin, trailer or truck. The national response transitioned from eradication to long-term management, with the Quarantine Area Notice updated 12 November 2025.
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
The top reproductive hosts of polyphagous shot-hole borer in WA are maple (Acer), black locust (Robinia), coral tree (Erythrina), plane tree (Platanus), fig (Ficus), poinciana (Delonix), mirror bush (Coprosma) and castor oil plant (Ricinus). Box elder maple (Acer negundo) is the most susceptible and DPIRD asks that trees of this species be reported.
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Under the Utility Providers Code of Practice Western Australia, trees must be planted 2.7 m from the property boundary line and a minimum of 0.5 m from water assets. Damage to or interference with a Water Corporation underground asset may result in fines or a claim for the cost of repair.
Water Corporation ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
If a plant is declared under the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act 2007, landholders and other people are obliged to control that plant on their properties. Control categories are C1 exclusion, C2 eradication and C3 management, and the status of any species can be checked on the Western Australian Organism List.
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Homeowners and occupiers are responsible for ensuring trees on their property stay clear of powerlines all year round. Vegetation that has grown too close to a line must not be trimmed by the owner and should be left to someone qualified to do the work; Western Power issues a vegetation notice where trees encroach.
Western Power ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026
Treebate pays a $150 rebate to Western Australians aged 18 and over for one native tree, which must be a species reaching a canopy of at least three metres in height at maturity. A tax invoice and a photo of the plant label showing the scientific or common name are required, claimed through the ServiceWA app or a paper form. The scheme is capped at up to 10,000 claims a year over four years; the first round opened 28 July 2025 and was around 90% allocated by June 2026.
Department of Water and Environmental Regulation ↗ · checked 2 Aug 2026