Indigenous Plants

Planting indigenous plants came help improve your productive garden as well as invite a few friends to come for a feed and sleep.

When buying indigenous plants to grow in your yard you first need to find out what would have grown there. In Adelaide there were many different ecosystems from sand dunes, swamps, grassland and woodlands. Here is a good place to start finding out >> http://www.backyards4wildlife.com.au/<<

'The Reedbeds'
Copy of the c. 1890 watercolour by James Ashton, from the White collection. This view (towards the Mount Lofty Ranges at sunrise, from the vicinity of present-day Adelaide Airport) shows the extensive wetlands which once characterised the area.

Another very important tip to remember is to buy plants whose seeds have been locally sourced to help protect and increase the genetics of those local indigenous plants.

Planting native plants will encourage some help from wild life. Blue tongue lizards and sleepy lizards have a strong appetite for slugs and snail however you may have to protect your crop as they also enjoy strawberries, passion fruit and other fruits and vegetables. Planting native flowering plants attracts many predatory insects who and or their young feed on pest like aphids and white fly. We can’t forget the native birds that not only like feeding on native flowering bushes but will eat the slightly larger pests like caterpillars, grubs and other insects

Indigenous plants can also have a direct benefit to you. There are many native plants that produce edible leaves, roots and fruit with high amounts of vitamins just make sure you know which ones and what part you can eat, and there are books on the subject.  Many native trees grow to different highs and can benefit as shade trees to keep your home cooler during the hot summer weeks so your air conditioner doesn’t run as much. Many native trees can also fast to colonize open area which comes from surviving after fires so you can plant trees in your yard a year apart and later use them as fire wood or stakes. Indigenous plants if grown in the right area only need to be watered while they are establishing and self sown plants need no watering unless there is unusual harsh conditions.

If you do not have a yard or are rent and don’t have permission to plant in your yard you can grown most natives in pot with easy (I am growing a bonsai red gum) as they do well in harsher environments or find a local group that looks after native habitats close to you.

 

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