Eastern Australia mulga shrublands

Uma paleta colorida de tela e cerca-viva para jardins com geadas leves: arbustos floridos, cor trepadeira, néctar para fauna e estrutura de estação seca.

The Canterbury-Otago tussock grasslands cover the dry eastern plains and inland basins of New Zealand's South Island, stretching between the Pacific coast and the Southern Alps across the Canterbury and Otago regions, taking in the Canterbury Plains, the Mackenzie Basin and the Maniototo. Lying in the rain shadow of the Alps, the ecoregion has a dry climate with warm summers and cold winters, and its highland basins are the driest ground of all, receiving less than 500mm of rain a year. Where coastal broadleaf and kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) forests once grew, fire and clearance have left open communities of drought- and fire-hardy native tussock grasses such as hard tussock (Festuca novae-zelandiae), silver tussock (Poa cita) and tall snow tussocks (Chionochloa). The grasslands shelter endemic reptiles including the Otago skink and grand skink, whose range has shrunk by roughly 90 percent through land modification, overgrazing, weeds and recurring fires. For gardeners, the region is home to ornamentally useful native genera such as the cypress-like shrub Hebe cupressoides and the spiky alpine herbs Aciphylla.

The Southeast Australia temperate savanna is a belt of eucalyptus-dotted grassland that runs north to south across central New South Wales and into Victoria, Australia, taking in the Riverina in the south and the Darling River basin in the north. Its characteristic cover is grassy open woodland: coolibah and box eucalypts on the plains, river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) lining the rivers, and native tussock grasses such as Mitchell grass, with scattered Acacia, Callitris, and Casuarina. As a transition zone between the moist eastern coast and the arid interior, it receives low and irregular rainfall of roughly 300 to 500 mm a year that thins westward until the vegetation grades into shrub-steppe. The bridled nailtail wallaby is the ecoregion's flagship species, though most of the landscape has been heavily altered by wheat farming and livestock grazing, with remnants protected in reserves such as Barmah and Warrumbungle National Parks. For gardeners, several native genera here, including river red gum, Acacia (wattles), and the cypress-pine Callitris, are valued ornamental and shade plants well suited to dry, semi-arid conditions.

The Al-Hajar foothill xeric woodlands and shrublands wrap around the lower flanks of Arabia's Hajar Mountains, spanning Oman and the United Arab Emirates from Jalan Bani Buhassan in southern Oman north to Khasab and the area south of the Musandam peninsula. Below the cooler montane belt, this is a hot, hyper-arid country of rocky slopes and gravel plains, where Acacia tortilis is the dominant tree and the Al Saleel area holds one of the largest tracts of Acacia in Arabia. Wadis that hold a little more moisture support ghaf, wild almond, Wonderboom fig, and Christ's thorn jujube. Despite the harsh conditions the ecoregion carries a high proportion of rare and endemic species and remains a stronghold for the Arabian tahr, its flagship animal, alongside Arabian gazelle, caracal, and Blanford's fox. For gardeners in similar dry climates, its drought-hardy natives such as Acacia and jujube point to plants suited to heat and scarce rainfall.

The Al-Hajar montane woodlands and shrublands cover the highest reaches of the Hajar Mountains in eastern Arabia, spanning portions of northern Oman and the United Arab Emirates above roughly 1,200 metres, including the summit area around Jebel Shams. Vegetation shifts with elevation: olive and Sideroxylon (Monotheca) woodlands occupy the lower montane belt, while open woodlands of Zeravschan juniper (Juniperus seravschanica) characterize the high peaks, often mixed with wild olive and watered by acacias and figs along seasonal watercourses. Despite being wetter than the surrounding foothills, it remains a mountain desert with low annual rainfall, hot summers, and cool winters that bring occasional rain, hail, and snow to the highest ground. The juniper woodlands are a botanical stronghold, holding a large share of Oman's total flora along with a number of endemic plant taxa, and the range shelters the endemic Arabian tahr (Arabitragus jayakari) plus several endemic lizards; overgrazing by goats and camels and climate-driven juniper decline are leading conservation concerns. For gardeners, the native flora here illustrates how junipers and olives can anchor a drought-tolerant, cold-snap-resilient mountain planting.

The Alai–Western Tian Shan steppe stretches across the lowland and loess plains at the western foot of the Tien Shan and Alay mountains in Central Asia, spanning parts of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. It belongs to the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, where ephemeroid herb and grass vegetation dominates alongside coniferous Juniperus woodlands and relict fruit and nut forests; characteristic steppe plants include bulbous meadow-grass (Poa bulbosa), sedges (Carex), wormwoods (Artemisia), and wild ryes (Elymus). The climate is sharply continental, with hot, dry summers, mild winters, a wide annual temperature swing, and only modest precipitation. The region is botanically rich, with more than 2,000 recorded plant species, and it serves as a recognized centre of crop diversity holding important wild relatives of cultivated plants; the critically endangered Saiga antelope is its flagship animal. For gardeners, the area's native junipers and its wealth of wild fruit and nut relatives reflect a flora long tied to cultivation.

The Altai steppe and semi-desert spans parts of Kazakhstan, China, and Russia, forming a transition zone between the conifer forests of the Altai Mountains and the drier Kazakh plains, with the upper Irtysh River and the Tarbagatay Mountains as landmarks. Grasslands dominate, characterized by fescue and feather-grass (Stipa) along with hardy shrubs, while poplar and willow line the watercourses. The climate is sharply continental, with short warm summers and long, cold, dry winters (a humid continental, warm-summer Dfb type). The region's dry grasslands support birds of prey, including endangered steppe eagles, saker falcons, and eastern imperial eagles, alongside the demoiselle crane and mammals such as Altai marmots and the elusive Pallas's cat. Much of the ecoregion remains lightly developed and used mainly for livestock grazing, though overgrazing and agricultural pressure are the main threats, with formal protection still limited.