Going Native - It's not all that scary to be honest

If you want drought tolerant, highly adaptive plants in your garden that encourage native wildlife, it's not that hard to do. You simply just need a little understanding of the needs of the native ecosystem and to replicate it in your backyard.

Adding some native species of plants to your garden helps to provide shelter, food and a place to call home for many of our threatened native birds and fauna.

Something else that you can do to help native wildlife is to not remove trees that have hollows in them. In Australia many native species need tree hollows, including  17 % of bird species, 42 % of mammals and 28 % of reptiles (Gibbons and Lindenmayer 1997). They include bats, possums, gliders, owls, parrots, antechinus, ducks, rosellas and kingfishers as well as numerous species of snakes, frogs and skinks. http://www.wires.org.au/wildlife-info/wildlife-education/tree-hollows-for-wildlife

Knowing what types of plants to plant is the hard part but it is easily overcome with a number of resources out there from local councils and bush regeneration planting groups.

Sydney resources:
https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/plant_info/Plants_for_gardens/growing_native_plants_in_sydney
https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/plant_info/Plants_for_gardens/plants_for_wildlife

Melbourne resources:

www.yarracity.vic.gov.au/DownloadDocument.ashx?DocumentID=7905

Adelaide resources:
http://www.naturalresources.sa.gov.au/adelaidemtloftyranges/plants-and-animals/native-plants-animals-and-biodiversity/urban-biodiversity

Australia wide resources:
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/native.htm
http://anpsa.org.au/links.html
http://anpsa.org.au/links.html#region

Spring is for flowers and bees

Australian Native Everlasting Daisy

Spring is here. The days are getting longer, it's becoming more bearable to be outside in the parks and backyards, the bees are humming, the flowers are flourishing and the birds are umm... well you know!

It's also the perfect time to get that gardening done that you've been wanting to do all winter. Rooftop Bees are a great organisation that educates the public about the importance of bees in the fundamental role they play in pollinating the plants that inevitably support our food and oxygen needs. Without bees the cross pollination is reduced and therefore plant reproduction rates lower - less plants :(

You can assist the ecosystem in it's fight for survival in the urban landscape by either providing the hives for the bees or simply supporting their food needs by planting highly pollinating plants such as the bee friendly Australian Native Everlasting Daisy (pictured above). You can cheat a little and buy them already half grown and the roots established from your local nursery ;) These are the seedlings that have been sowed in autumn and have grown slowly during winter. They are ready to flower in spring.

The flowers that you plant can be on your balcony or any outdoor space that you may have. If you would like to get involved in urban or rooftop bee-keeping, you can learn more here: 

   http://www.rooftophoney.com.auhttps://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/plant_info/Plants_for_gardens/growing_paper_daisies

Terrific Terrariums - Stylish and great for living areas

I'm so excited to see that terrariums and mossariums are making a come back!! They really are creativity and greenness combined into a jar.

These cute little decorative plants in a glass bowl are somewhat therapeutic to make and last for ages, even if you don't have a green thumb ;) The benefits of incorporating green space into your living areas stack up to be a lot and it's a whole other blog post that I'll need to talk about the benefit that include and aren't limited to health and psychological benefits.

www.apartmenttherapy.com

You can theme your terrarium to be playful or super stylish. There are many different types that you can make and you're only limited by your imagination and creativity. Insert little animal or character figurines into your terrarium to give it that extra life and to make them even more interesting.

Check out this arid bad boy!

Check out some of these DIY Terrarium kits on Better Homes and Gardens website:
http://www.bhgshop.com.au/collections/terrariumsutm_source=bhgboosted&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_content=terra_test&utm_campaign=terrariums

So what are you waiting for? Get your terrarium freak on!

If you would like to attend a class to make some of these, keep an eye out at local craft workshops like Workshop Australia:

 

Check out this hobbit dwelling inspired bonsai: http://imgur.com/mQ0F3UM

http://petitegreen.com.au/index/
http://www.dhub.org/amy-wong-terrarium-maker/
http://www.work-shop.com.au/event/terrariums/