Native Plants

• Signed walks of local plants.
• This shadehouse was made by covering an old greenhouse frame with shadecloth
• Cuttings are grown in the shadehouse until ready for planting
• Wattles grow well from seeds - click for details
• Friend or Foe?

Round the dam and wetlands most of the plants are local native, the plants that were on this site before it was cleared in the 1860's. So they are ideally suited to Wagga climate and soils. After they are established they are not watered except by rain. We have discovered that some of these local native plants are most attractive and suited to growing in gardens. It is intriguing that some are commonplace in gardens in Europe and USA but generally not available in Australian nurseries.

There is a signed walk of the local plants round the dam and wetlands. The signs describe the plants giving mature size, flowering times, habitat potential, Wiradjuri use and, if they are suited to urban gardens, what care they need.

Identifying native plants

Libraries and book stores have a variety of books to help you identify native plants.  Browse these to find ones that are suitable for your needs.

The Virtual Herbarium of Charles Sturt University Wagga Wagga Campus is a great resource for information about identifying and using local native plants. Click here for the link.

Propagating native plants

Cuttings

We provide cuttings to a local nursery who get them started for us.  The cuttings are grown on in our shadehouse until they are ready for sale at our Open Days.

The shadehouse was made by covering the frame of an old greenhouse with shadecloth.  Benches are steel mesh.

From seed

Wattles grow best from seed.  Click here for details.

Selecting Native Plants at Nurseries

Many nurseries supply native plants.  Our experience is that best results come from young tube stock.  These grow rapidly and will overtake larger plants within a year.

Many native plants seem to be prone to becoming root bound if allowed to grow for too long in pots.  Avoid larger natives unless they are in very large pots with no sign of roots growing through the drainage holes or growing around the edge of the potting soil when lifted from the pot.  Root bound plants may grow well for a season or two but frequently then die.

A good supplier of native plants is the not for profit community organisation Park Lane Nursery in Wangaratta.  see www.parklanenursery.com.au

Our wattles

Many of our wattles flower in spring.  See the photos.

Back to The Shed, forward to Dam and Wetlands.

Friend or Foe?

When is a plant a good one to grow and when is it a threat? We made a mistake and grew a potentially dangerous weed and are now controlling it. For more on our experience with Coolatai Grass, click here.