A Front for Wildlife: Verging on success in Tusmore
Barbara's garden in suburban Tusmore, was planted in spring 2000 and provides an attractive foreground to the new home. The original tubestock plantings have rapidly established and many species including wallaby grasses, native geraniums and varying members of the daisy family are naturalizing with new plants popping up to soften the area. You can see the form and colour of different species in the photographs, but let's go 'for a little wander' through the area.
Right next to the narrow path there is a native pine but the brighter green drooping new growth belies the upright, almost columnar, form of the mature tree. The Drooping Sheoak (Allocasuarina verticilata) is already about 1.5 metres high, but was only 30 centimetres high when it was planted just 18 months ago! You can imagine the open effect in a couple of years, with the soft blue grey 'needles' providing a screen. As the needles drop, a deep mulch will form and provide a habitat haven for insects and foraging birds. The foliage, attractive texture of the trunk and the woody cones make this small tree ideal for a suburban garden.
Then you notice the grey foliage of the Twiggy Daisy Bush (Olearia ramulosa), covered with tiny white flowers in autumn, and the stiff leaves of the Dianella or Black-anther Flax-lily (Dianella revoluta) with its small but intense blue flowers, followed by pink-purple fruits on taller branched stalks. The delicate foliage of the Native Flax (Linum marginale), which in late autumn still has occasional flowers and lots of almost globular bleached seed heads, and is attractive months after the seed has been shed. Clumps of rushes, one small and genteel, the other a bold statement, define the edge of the path.
There are several prostrate Running Postman (Kennedia prostrata) that have red flowers in spring; the sprawling Native Lilac (Hardenbergia violacea) with dark green leathery leaves and sprays of purple flowers in summer; the tall Australian Hollyhock (Lavatera plebeia) with soft velvety 'maple shaped' leaves and petals white to pale lilac; soft green foliage of native geraniums, the blue-grey leaves of the White Goodenia (Goodenia albiflora); and the creeping form of the soft textured Ruby Saltbush (Enchylaena tomentosa) with its fleshy red berries below a Jacaranda – the sole survivor from the previous exotic garden.
Native colonizers have been introduced to fill spaces where common weeds would generally thrive. In this garden there are cotton groundsel (Senecio quadridentatus) and the native cudweed (Pseudognaphalium luteo-album) popping through - but if they begin to dominate they're easily removed by hand pulling. The little mauve coloured flowers of the Fuzzy New Holland Daisy (Vittadinia cuneata) are attractive, followed by fluffy seeds that germinate so readily, again colonizing but not overwhelming the area.
The garden is on the southern side of the home with a gentle slope to the west. Species that prefer cooler moist conditions have been placed next to a retaining wall and verandah to make the most of the early shade in summer. There are the soft greens of two shrub species of Goodenia, the Clasping Goodenia (Goodenia amplexans) and the Hop Goodenia (Goodenia ovata) with their clear yellow flowers; the local Flat Sedge in clumps with interesting red brown heads with the ubiquitous Wallaby Grass (Austrodanthonia sp.) peaking through.
Plantings extend to the roadside verge, planted with Council permission of course, and the additional area means extra habitat for wildlife. In this section a single Grey Box has been planted, and already at three metres tall has the dark and textured bark of mature trees, ideal for insects and insectivorous birds looking for a meal. Several Golden Wattles also will help form a canopy.
The site was a scraped building site, without additional soil being used, and all tubestock were local provenance indigenous species supplied by specialist nurseries that were aware of the location of Barbara's garden. The seed sources were generally from the nearest remnants, within 5-10 kilometres.
Chipped plantation Red Gum has been used as mulch because they are long lasting and weed free. Maintenance involves a small amount of hand weeding, as the soil weed seed bank was minimal due to the previous building program. The garden is rarely watered because the indigenous species have evolved for local conditions and can therefore tolerate the long hot summers.
Barbara retains her love for all types of gardening and has a cottage garden at the rear of her home that also provides habitat for birds, butterflies and other creatures.
Some of the species that have been planted in Barbara’s garden are listed below, no doubt even more will be added with time.
Scientific Name Common Name
Acacia acinacea Wreath Wattle
Acacia pycnantha Golden Wattle
Allocasuarina verticillata Drooping Sheoak
Austrodanthonia sp. Wallaby-grass
Bothriochloa macra Redleg Grass
Bursaria spinosa Sweet Bursaria
Callitris preissii Southern Cypress Pine
Calostemma purpureum Pink Garland-lily
Calytrix tetragona Common Fringe-myrtle
Cheiranthera alternifolia Hand-flower
Convolvulus erubescens Australian Bindweed
Cyperus vaginatus Stiff Flat-sedge
Dianella revoluta var. revoluta Black-anther Flax-lily
Enchylaena tomentosa Ruby Saltbush
Eucalyptus microcarpa Grey Box
Geranium retrorsum Grassland Geranium
Goodenia albiflora White Goodenia
Goodenia amplexans Clasping Goodenia
Goodenia blackiana Native Primrose
Goodenia ovata Hop Goodenia
Hakea carinata Erect Hakea
Hardenbergia violacea Native Lilac
Juncus pallidus Pale Rush
Juncus subsecundus Finger Rush
Kennedia prostrata Scarlet Runner
Lavatera plebeia Australian Hollyhock
Linum marginale Native Flax
Lomandra multiflora ssp. dura Hard Mat-rush
Olearia ramulosa Twiggy Daisy-bush
Senecio quadridentatus Cotton Groundsel
Vittadinia cuneata Fuzzy New Holland Daisy
