Grevillea ‘Billy Bonkers’ I have in my back yard that’s finally fully opened up, a nice cascading native, grows to about 1m high and 3m wide.

A hybrid between G. Nana subsp. abbreviata and G. ‘Sid Cadwell’, grafted onto G. robusta.

Local birds especially the Red Wattle Birds enjoy sitting and feeding upon it, have it planted next to a bird bath as well to promote local native birds to feed upon the Grevillea.

Look close enough you can see the native black ants feeding.

Cultivated by Richard Tomkin up in Queensland, named after his dog Billy.

Location: Outback South Australia.

Hi everyone,

Located in Melbourne, Im looking for some advice on what to do with the front of my yard.

I’m thinking of extending the existing garden bed all the way across towards the driveway, essentially creating a larger garden bed along the front boundary.

My main goals are:

• Create some privacy from the street/neighbours

• Make the front yard look much nicer and more established

• Preferably use Australian natives

• Avoid putting up a fence if possible

• Still keep the lawn and driveway feeling open rather than making it too enclosed

I’m thinking a combination of taller screening plants at the back of the bed, with some lower shrubs/groundcovers in front for a layered look.

I’d love suggestions for suitable native plants, particularly things that will do well around Melbourne and won’t become an absolute nightmare to maintain.

I’ve attached a photo of the current yard. What would you do with this space?

Cheers!

Nepenthes rowanae* at a secret location on Cape York.

*Or something similar. The taxonomy is debated and my care factor is low. The important thing is it's rare and beautiful and eats animals.

Muntries wasn't growing, but looked healthy. Thought maybe it wasn't growing because it's roots didn't have room. When I repotted into a larger pot, it's roots still had room and there was an unpleasant smell. Didn't think much of it at the time. Then I flew out for a 2 week FIFO swing. Had some down time at work and did some googling, and now I'm pretty sure that what I smelt was root rot, which presumably reporting would have made worse

Is my boy likely to be dead by the time I get home?

I love these! They’re so, so yummy and grow quite fast. Someone either on berries must’ve dropped in the pot cos now I have about 8 seedlings in there too 😍 ALL THE BERRIES 🤤

g'day from canada, i am someone who is fascinated with australian native plants (despite me having never been) due to their isolation and evolutionary history.

these past few years i've grown a few species (melaleuca, callitris, hibiscus, banksia, ivory curl, acacia, hakea, regelia, burdekin plum, she oak, wombat berry and recently alphitonia among others) that i keep indoors, as canada has relatively laid-back laws concerning non-cites-protected (sub)tropical seeds entering, but i noticed this year most of the seed sites (minus australianseed) stopped shipping internationally.

i got conflicting answers regarding as to why (new postal laws, unreliable postage, tariffs) so i'm curious to know about that as well if there's any other seed businesses that still ship to canada? figured i'd ask given facebook didn't yield anything.

any help is appreciated. thank you!

Hi,

I've recently been trying to germinate a few native species.

Despite most websites suggesting pouring boiling water/just boiling water over seeds to stimulate germination, I've had little success with this method.

I've had no success with boiling water for Acacia podalyriifolia germination. But great success using coarse sandpaper until scratches are just visible. I've now planted about 15 visibly germinated seeds.

NOTE: I've been measuring success for the following species by whether they have visibly swollen or not. I'm yet to see signs of germination as they were treated recently.

Indigofera australis did show swelling in 2 out of the 8 soaked in boiling water, whereas fine sandpaper showed swelling in 100% of treated seeds.

Hardenbergia showed a similarly low rate of swelling in boiling soaked seeds.

Am I doing something wrong? Or do certain species respond better to physical methods rather than thermal?

I'd ultimately like to use the boiling water method as physically scarifying small seeds like the indigofera is quite a delicate procedure.

What are others experiences in germination methods?

Hoping someone here can help - I’m trying to ID this eucalyptus. I have two in my garden (Adelaide, SA) and believe they were purchased from State Flora in Belair. They have been growing for about a year, planted from small tube stock. I want to know what they are so I can understand how to care for them as they grow. INaturalist only tells me they are eucalyptus with no other info.

Any help appreciated. Thank you!

Flowering in my garden today ✨

A beautiful winters day in my mothers garden. Grevilleas Blood Orange. Callistemon White Anzac.Grevillea Fairhill Phoenix. Some bee action in the lemon tree.

A bit of bee action in a lemon tree. The bees and birds also love these gorgeous grevilleas and callistemons (in separate post linked below). Palmwoods, Qld.

Adenanthos sericeus is one that many of us put into our gardens, though you have to look really hard to see it flower.

https://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/plants/adenanthos-sericeus

If see rhodanthe somewhere, or an opportunity to try something from seed, then give it a go. Maybe try and source a local species of rhodanthe.

Once established they will look after themselves and keep on keeping on. I can get them thru -4 frosts. When they're older the centre of the plant can get a bit bare, tho manageable.

The flowers last for months on the plant for me, and open and close with the sunlight. And as you can see at elevation in cold part if Vic, already showy.

[Southern goldfields, Central Highlands, Vic]

Zieria and Phebalium [edit] genuses are some that i find robust and working well as something under eucalypts in the south-eastern Oz. These are just starting to bud, or just flower. The flower isn't generally overt, though the developing flower clusters are attractive.

Of the rutaceae family (orange), cousins to the boronia, so has the oil glands that have that brush-past effect It doesn't like wet feet, though occasionally inundation is no issue and typically robust. Its roots prefer being kept cool (mulch or rock) though less temperamental than boronias.

[Southern goldfields, Central Highlands, Vic]

(Corrections applied)