Plant sales
The IndigiScapes Plant Sale is on the first Saturday of every month, 9am - 12pm. Gardens, centre and cafe are open until 4pm.
Flowering has started slowing down in the local bushland areas, due to the hot, dry weather. Like most areas, we could do with a bit of rain, particularly after the dust storm. The huge Crows' Nest Fern on the ground in the Rainforest Garden is almost brown!
Our first Koala Day Out was held last weekend. It was a lovely day with great music and performances. We gave away koala food trees on the day and have some left over so for this plant sale we will have some free Tallowwood (Eucalyptus microcorys) and Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus) while stock lasts.
You can also get a copy of the Koala Action Group CD-ROM that has hundreds of articles on koalas from local papers over the past 20 years. The CD-ROM is searchable by topic and provides a great reference on koalas in the Redlands. You can get it from the centre at IndigiScapes.
(From left): Slender Westringia, Sago Bush, River Buttercup
The plant that I will focus on this month is one of my favourites, Westringia eremicola. It goes by a range of common names, most commonly Slender Westringia and Native Rosemary.
The related W. fruiticosa (usually known as Coastal Rosemary) has long been a native gardeners favourite, though not a local native, due to its extreme hardiness. It is part of the family Lamiaceae that includes a range of native plants, such as the native mints (Prostanthera spp.) as well as the commercial herbs rosemary and mint.
The predominant flower colours are whites and purples and W. eremicola has a nice lilac flower. If you've ever seen this species in the wild, it has little to advertise it, usually straggly and sparse with a few flowers, but it is a totally different story in the garden.
Give it a nice sunny location and it will grow dense and shrubby, to about 1.5m and flower throughout the year, with little to no water. It benefits from a bit of prune every now and again to prevent it becoming straggly and with this it has been one of the most consistently attractive shrubs in my rock garden at home over the past couple of years.
We have some really nice stock of Sago Bush (Ozothamnus diosmifolius) at the moment. It is a late season flowerer and is in full bloom at the moment in the gardens.
All the specimens in the nursery have been grown from cuttings selected from a couple of our best plants. It's another species that benefits from occasional pruning if you want it kept dense.
A completely new species this month is River Buttercup (Ranunculus inundatus). This is a very attractive ground cover with small yellow flowers and deeply lobed leaves. It requires wetter areas and would be well suited to the edge of a pond. I'm unsure of just how hardy it will prove as we don't have much experience with it, it could be an alternative to Native Violets in a sheltered location.
I'd love feedback from anyone who gives it a go.
For further enquiries about the Redlands IndigiScapes Centre or the next plant sale call us on ph 3824 8611.