Our visit with Michelle from UWG more than met our expectations and even dashing in and out of the rain showers on the day did not dampen our spirits.
We didn’t want to attach the UWG garden sign unless we looked a little urban wildlife friendly so, before the visit,
we pruned and removed lots of weeds and other unwanted plants, including a rather large Pepper tree. On the plus side we had some long established Golden Pendas, Lillypillies, Bottlebrush and a Casuarina and we planted more Lillypillies, a Grevillea and a couple of Frazer Island Apples for screening.
During the visit from Michelle, we discovered the flourishing Banksia Serrata we’d planted turned out to be a Banksia Aemula. We also had a very large and healthy Staghorn which Michelle said would now need more water because our pruning had removed its shade.
Michelle demonstrated how pruning should be done at an angle to achieve the best result on our Alectryon Coriaceas (Beach bird’s eye) which had self seeded in the front garden. We had thought that it was a Tuckeroo. Learning that our vine with the delicate violet flowers was indeed native was great to hear and another vine that we were cultivating was identified as a Soap Vine.
After mentioning that we had rescued a blue tongued lizard and a couple of frogs from our pool, Michelle recommended inserting a long rope to allow any wildlife to make their escape, and this we have done.
Friar birds and mynas frequent the pool and we have many magpies and butcher birds singing to us each day, a real pleasure. Michelle suggested having bird baths at different heights and spots in the garden to provide water for our wildlife visitors.
As we have so much more to do, Michelle advised that we create a plan and consider layering the garden, with shrubs and groundcovers under the trees, water at ground level for the lizards and somewhere for our resident snake to hide.
Since the visit we have removed two rather attractive Bayliana Grevilleas which we learnt have a very invasive root system, can grow very large and are not native to our area. We have also removed an oleander and replaced it with a neighbour’s unwanted Banksia, but sadly it did not transplant well and is not looking healthy. We continue to fight the Nut Grass and are thinking of putting in some native grasses.
Now we just have to visit the Nursery to purchase some tube stock so watch this space.
Thanks so much to Michelle.
Kay and Derek – Sunrise Beach.
