Urban Wildlife Gardens

Spring has sprung and so many local native plants are flowering prolifically in Noosa at the moment. For Stephanie, it's tempting to believe that all the hot air, political nastiness and the horrors of Covid 19 is falling back to earth as a fertilizer.  Everything is flowering as if there is no tomorrow, or maybe just trying extra hard to encourage us to look at them and realise how important the natural environment is to the future of our species. Click through to see some of the lovely images of flowers from around the region.

From Tuesday 8th September, photographs and artwork will catch the eye of library-goers at Wallace Park, Noosaville as a new exhibition will focus on the delights of gardening with local native plants and the wildlife that visits them.  The theme will be:  "Begin with a Birdbath" and in this post, Stephanie Haslam invites UWG to visit the library to have a look, and to help promote the program to the wider community.

The Sunshine Coast Wildflower Walks have attracted many people and 2020 has been a bumper flowering year.  Thanks to all concerned for bringing this explosion of colour (not to mention brilliant weather) into this otherwise rather dismal year. In this post, Stephanie provides a link to maps of the walks which are all on public land, so why not take some time to experience this natural bounty for yourself!

The weed of the month for August is Asparagus fern (Asparagus aethiopicus), a ground cover that can be found growing from the dunes to the hinterland. It grows well in most types of soil and can form thick masses out-competing all other vegetation. In this post, Michelle explains how the plant grows from a woody centre that needs to be removed to kill it. Pulling up the whole root system causes soil loss and disturbance that allows more weeds to grow. Click through for more images showing how to remove this weed from your garden.

Urban Wildlife Garden members were treated to a highly informative propagation workshop in the sublime propagation shed of knowledgeable presenter Robert Price in Old Tewantin. In this post, Dalia Mikhail explains how Robert's detailed explanations showed members how to successfully propagate a range of native species, preparing the best soil mix and how to identify and treat differing seed pods of our local region.

Not sure where to go to buy native plants? In this post, Michelle lists a number of nurseries including addresses and phone numbers. So don't delay, get to your nearest nursery today and enjoy the beautiful spring weather in your garden!

Tony Haslam reflects on the landscape workshop delivered by prominent Landscape Architect Shaun Walsh which was an engaging day that suggested different ways of looking at the design inputs and influences that could be incorporated into urban wildlife gardens. The breadth of Shaun’s knowledge and his willingness to share his expertise was heartily appreciated by all who took part. Read more about the day in this post.

Stuart McKenzie from Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 know too well that snakes are a part of life here on the Sunshine Coast as development forces snakes to move from bushland areas into suburbia to try and survive. According to Stuart, snakes play a pivotal role in our ecosystems, whether we like them or not. In this post Stuart tells us more about the snakes of our region and why education is better than just being scared.

Have you noticed all the stamens dropping from the eucalypts? In nature, dead leaves, animal droppings, twigs, fallen flowers, fruit, branches etc all provide mulch naturally, but in our gardens, and particularly new ones, we need to help things along. Stephanie provides a couple of links to websites with good information about mulching.