Our inaugural Native Garden Clinic was held this month at Station Place, Pomona and was a joint initiative between Urban Wildlife Gardens and Noosa and District Landcare. There were four information stations, staffed with experts from both organisations, covering Native Garden Design, Native Plant Identification and Cultivation, Wildlife Habitat Creation and Weed Identification and Management.
The weather was perfect, if a little brisk, for our Garden Clinic. The beautiful garden area at the front of the HinterHub provided an ideal location to showcase how landscape gardening can be achieved successfully with local native species. Landscape architect, Shaun, was responsible for designing the HinterHub gardens, and was attending one of the stations at the clinic to discuss native garden design.
Shaun was kept busy all morning sharing information and ideas with people keen to start or enhance their native gardens. Discussions included how to understand your garden site and create a design vision, how to choose appropriate plants and use a variety of plant forms from small trees to groundcovers. Visitors were keen to implement ideas to create their own biodiverse native garden. Lorin was able to help and advise those who wanted to check out the many plants available in the HinterHub nursery.
One of the important issues for those establishing a native garden is distinguishing between local native plants and weeds. A number of people came to the clinic to have cuttings or plant images identified. Michelle, our bush regeneration expert, was able to identify problem plants and give people information about weed management methods and whether or not to use chemical control. She also answered questions about how to maintain fencelines, where weeds and even potentially invasive natives are encroaching from a neighbouring garden, and what flowers to plant to attract bees to the garden.
Other experts volunteering on the day were John Birbeck, from Backyards for Biodiversity, who has wide experience in environmental protection and Paul Sprecher, from Noosa and District Landcare, who also assesses potential Land for Wildlife properties and has a background in environmental planning. Their Wildlife Habitat Creation discussions included whether it is better to revegetate degraded or cleared areas or allow natural regeneration to occur. They also answered questions about weed management and how to attract wildlife to an urban block.
Sarah Lawson, former Noosa Landcare Project Officer, helped many of the visitors identify plants from their garden. This process included examining cuttings, their leaves, flowers and fruit or seeds, crushing the leaves to smell their scent and looking at photos which showed the height and form of the plant. She discussed appropriate plants for different areas of the garden such as around a water tank or a newly constructed pond.
This was the first time UWG has helped organise a native garden clinic and we hope it is something we can undertake annually. Thank you to all the UWG and Landcare people who helped run the clinic. A huge thanks to Shaun Walsh, Sarah Lawson, Michelle Newall, Paul Sprecher, John Birbeck and Lorin Burns who willinging shared their knowledge and expertise with visitors. Thanks also to everyone, including UWG members, who supported the clinic by attending. We hope the clinic helped with your native garden questions and problems.
Vanessa Presling
