I thought I would post a few of pics of one of my garden beds which is planted with Aussie native plants, in an effort to try to convince others to do the same.
Most people have the impression that Australian natives consist of gum trees, kangaroo paws and banksias, and while these are all beautiful and diverse in their own right, there are a whole range of other Australian natives out there which are just as beautiful and easy to grow in your own garden.
Another misconception is that Australian natives can just be put in the ground and left to their own devices, this is untrue of any plant as the conditions of your average suburban backyard's soil is very much different to the soil conditions that the plant would encounter naturally. Once established in the correct soil conditions (excellent drainage is the #1 consideration for
most natives) and given the correct balance of nutrients (a lot of natives, especially Proteacea are sensitive to high levels of Phosphorus) natives are very low maintenance plants. Australian natives in Aqua could also present a challenge as most of them prefer soil which is slightly acidic to neutral, and my fish and crustaceans prefer neutral to slightly alkaline.
I don't profess to know that much about them yet, I'm still learning their correct names and classifications and experimenting with what thrives in what conditions etc. I do know that it is very important for everyone, and this doesn't apply just to Australians either, to ensure they plant some
local (especially flowering/fruiting) native species in their garden, as this is a huge part of the food chain that is decimated by the urban sprawl. You will find that your garden attracts all sorts of birds, butterflys, and other amazing creatures. I'd never seen a native bee before (the ones with stingers are imported (from europe I think)) until I saw them in my garden.
Anyway, enough rant, here are a coupla pics of my bed that has mainly spring flowering plants. This bed has only been in for 1 year, it almost killed me moving all the limestone and rocks by hand from the front of the house and this is 1 of 2 beds of roughly the same size.
I haven't had a chance to get stuck into the Winter weeds yet, so please ignore those too
Backyard Aquaponics
