Urban Wildlife Gardens members and friends enjoyed an informative and interesting morning at Coolum Nursery, a not-for-profit nursery which specialises in local native plants, including the salt tolerant species that are iconic to the Sunshine Coast. Tim spoke about the need to increase biodiversity and stressed the importance of propagating locally sourced native species which are the best plants to provide valuable food and habitat for local wildlife.
Coolum Nursery staff and volunteers collect wild seeds and cuttings, with permission from Sunshine Coast and Noosa Councils, from a large number of individual plants and from different areas of the coast. This ensures local genetic characteristics and greater genetic diversity and they carefully document the provenance of all the plants they propagate. We were reminded that no plant matter can be taken from Queensland National Parks and that it is not recommended for individuals to collect seeds in the wild without permission from the landowner.
Many exotic plants, including Singapore Daisy, were deliberately introduced as ornamental garden plants before it was realised that they spread rapidly, out compete native plants and become significant environmental weeds. By growing local natives in our gardens, rather than exotics, we can avoid contributing to this problem.
Over the years there has also been much clearing of native vegetation in the region, so the ‘active propagation’ done by the nursery increases the success rate of producing new plants compared with direct sowing of seeds or natural regeneration. Each year they supply approximately 50,000 to 70,000 plants to both private gardens and natural area revegetation projects, helping to restore native habitat and increase biodiversity on the Sunshine Coast.
The nursery sells mainly tubestock and Tim showed us how the tubes are designed to promote good root development. Tubestock also has a higher survival rate than plants in bigger pots and will soon catch up in size with larger specimens.
Our tour of the nursery allowed us to see each step in the process of propagating the 170 species they sell. With Tim’s background in horticulture, we picked up many valuable tips about how to select the best plants for our own gardens and learned what to do when planting to maximise success. One top tip for planting was to put a thin layer of soil on the top of the ‘soil plug’ in tubestock to protect the young, fragile roots and help to conserve moisture. He encouraged regular hand watering while the seedlings are small to enable close observation of the plant, soil conditions, moisture and any potential problems.
The workshop provided all participants with a greater understanding of gardening with natives and more confidence in choosing the right plants. Inspired by Tim’s passion for local native species, many of us took the opportunity while at the nursery to purchase some plants to increase the biodiversity in our own gardens.
Urban Wildlife Gardens would like to thank Tim and all the volunteers for the amazing work done at this productive nursery.
Vanessa Presling
