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#1
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Help in establishing eco garden
I'm asking on behalf of friends of mine. They're hoping to establish a medium
density housing village on the outskirts of N'cle. The aim is to make it an eco-friendly place which makes the best attempt possible at planting native plant species and providing small habitat pockets for frogs, wetland birds (backs onto wetland areas), native reptiles and so on. One of the hopes is to have a sort of 'succession' area to show how one area can merge into another (eg. wetland into mangrove or wet sclerophyll) This would contain locally native species with just a few representatives of each. The *idea* is to have a sort of reference garden that local people can use as a model in establishing eco-friendly gardens for themselves. Now, while the overall desire to use indigenous-to-Newcastle species is strong, I can see a problem in that the end result is not going to be 'pretty' enough to make it attractive to a lot of people. Sooooo... my first question is: does anyone have any good ideas of ways to start a native garden and which species can really add that 'zing' to make people say 'Oh, that's noice, that's different, that's unusual, I loike that!' Secondly, *how* do I find out exactly *which* plant species are native to a very narrow habitat area on the banks of the Hunter River? Nearly everything you can see is simply RTA plantings, put there to 'restore' the native flora: it has very little to do with what was there originally! Hope some of you can help with ideas ... -- Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia |
#2
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Help in establishing eco garden
This website is a useful resource http://www.floraforfauna.com.au/ . Try
the "create a garden" tool on the top menu. As far as "what plants are suitable?" you can check out what grows well in other peoples gardens in the area, and get great advice from local plant suppliers. A plant supplier should be able to identify which plants really are local natives. "Trish Brown" wrote in message ... I'm asking on behalf of friends of mine. They're hoping to establish a medium density housing village on the outskirts of N'cle. The aim is to make it an eco-friendly place which makes the best attempt possible at planting native plant species and providing small habitat pockets for frogs, wetland birds (backs onto wetland areas), native reptiles and so on. One of the hopes is to have a sort of 'succession' area to show how one area can merge into another (eg. wetland into mangrove or wet sclerophyll) This would contain locally native species with just a few representatives of each. The *idea* is to have a sort of reference garden that local people can use as a model in establishing eco-friendly gardens for themselves. Now, while the overall desire to use indigenous-to-Newcastle species is strong, I can see a problem in that the end result is not going to be 'pretty' enough to make it attractive to a lot of people. Sooooo... my first question is: does anyone have any good ideas of ways to start a native garden and which species can really add that 'zing' to make people say 'Oh, that's noice, that's different, that's unusual, I loike that!' Secondly, *how* do I find out exactly *which* plant species are native to a very narrow habitat area on the banks of the Hunter River? Nearly everything you can see is simply RTA plantings, put there to 'restore' the native flora: it has very little to do with what was there originally! Hope some of you can help with ideas ... -- Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia |
#3
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Help in establishing eco garden
Trish Brown wrote:
....snip..... Secondly, *how* do I find out exactly *which* plant species are native to a very narrow habitat area on the banks of the Hunter River? Nearly everything you can see is simply RTA plantings, put there to 'restore' the native flora: it has very little to do with what was there originally! You are going to have to go to references to find out what grew there originally as just about all the vegetation along the lower Hunter has been cleared . Then you could try and get sources as close to the area as possible. If this is a commercial development with time constraints, the best you could hope for is to buy the same species from local nursery. I'm thinking the Forestry Commission nursery at Muswellbrook (?) might be worth a visit. However, if you want to maximise birds, etc, then you might have to introduce other species from the region to get variety. The real secret to attracting birds, etc is no chemicals, variety, no cats or other predators, and being prepared to have dead trees for borers, etc. Most people just go for the grevilleas, etc, which are great for honey eaters, but don't get insectivors. Also, try for native grass patches and be prepared NOT to mow. As I was explaining to someone, I don't mow under the orange tree in summer because a certain grass grows there that produces seeds that finches like. They come into our yard only when this grass is seeding. Oh, went my wife, "well I had better stop weeding it out then" {:-) However, by far the best tree in our suburban block is the very large deep soil tree, which gets all sorts of bird continuously. what the others get is just a trifle. Just my 2c. |
#4
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Help in establishing eco garden
In article ,
Trish Brown wrote: I'm asking on behalf of friends of mine. They're hoping to establish a medium density housing village on the outskirts of N'cle. The aim is to make it an eco-friendly place which makes the best attempt possible at planting native plant species and providing small habitat pockets for frogs, wetland birds (backs onto wetland areas), native reptiles and so on. snip Now, while the overall desire to use indigenous-to-Newcastle species is strong, I can see a problem in that the end result is not going to be 'pretty' enough to make it attractive to a lot of people. Sooooo... my first question is: does anyone have any good ideas of ways to start a native garden and which species can really add that 'zing' to make people say 'Oh, that's noice, that's different, that's unusual, I loike that!' I'd be hiring a garden designer with a good reputation for using native species, rather than attempting it myself. It's not usually the plants, but the arrangement, that is important, and for a (we hope) profitable development, you want a professional handling that, not an amateur. Secondly, *how* do I find out exactly *which* plant species are native to a very narrow habitat area on the banks of the Hunter River? Contact the local council, Landcare, and any local environmental groups you can find. That sort of information will only be found locally, and may not even be in published form. Check with the local library, too, and the historical society. -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) "Life is like a cigarette -- smoke it to the butt." -- Harvie Krumpet |
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