Garden inspiration: Port Kembla garden

Rear terrace, with just a hint of the views all around. Image by Emma Rooksby. 

This is an unusual Garden Inspiration post. It features a garden that is not a single-minded showcase for local native plants, but instead a garden on a journey to incorporate more local natives among vegetable beds, fruit trees and a mix of other Australian native plants. It's a story of engagement, thoughtfulness and hands-on efforts to support the restoration of local biodiversity in an urban setting. 

I met the carers for this garden after they won a Growing Illawarra Natives voucher at a HONK! Oz fundraiser. It was lucky for all of us, as they needed some very specific advice, and I was able to help out with a few suggestions and a few plants. Their Port Kembla garden is just near Harry Morton Park, an area that contains remnant Illawarra Lowlands Grassy Woodland, with some tall Forest Red Gums and Stringybarks and a grassy understorey mixing remnant native and exotic grasses and herbs. This meant they were spoiled for choice in adding native grasses down a sloping path in the back garden. Pretty well every grass I brought along to show them turned out to be suitable, and they're all in the ground already! 

The existing garden was a delight to explore. It contained many local natives already doing their thing, including a very large and healthy Ruby Saltbush (Enchylaena tomentosa), and some locals that had recruited themselves, such as Kidney Weed (Dichondra repens) and Northern Cranesbill (Geranium homeanum). 

Ruby Saltbush (Enchylaena tomentosa) growing very large and bushy in this Port Kembla Garden. Ruby Saltbush is not much tried in garden settings, but is thriving here. Image by Emma Rooksby. 

A range of classic self-selecting native understorey plants, especially Northern Cranesbill (Geranium homeanum) and Kidney Weed (Dichondra repens) had found their own way into the garden at various points. These are some of the most common and widespread local species. Image by Emma Rooksby. 

We had wonderful fun working out options for filling gaps in the garden with Illawarra local native plants. The gap in the middle of the photo below might be filled by a Toothed Daisy-bush (Olearia tomentosa) or perhaps a Hop Goodenia (Goodenia ovata). 

What local native plant would be best to fill the gap in this collection of carefully-managed shrubs? We had fun discussing the options. Image by Emma Rooksby. 

This is the area that sparked most discussion and inspiration. A shady under-deck spot currently filled with a variety of Bromeliads and a mix of ferns, it has huge potential as a local fernery, perhaps with a water feature cascading down the slope. Image by Emma Rooksby. 

A couple of local native shrubs, carefully placed and balanced. The Coffee Bush (Breynia oblongifolia) in the midground has a beautiful form and is starting to produce its decorative small red fruit. The plant in the foreground is known as  Melaleuca hypericifolia 'Ulladulla Beacon.' There are prostrate and semi-prostrate forms of this species around the place the place (as well as the cultivar), but it normally grows to around 3m high in gardens and taller in natural settings. Image by Emma Rooksby.

It's always a pleasure seeing how people care for the plants and animals and places around them, and this garden was no exception. I'm looking forward to seeing how it changes and develops over time, and what new fauna might find their way there. The Red Ash (Alphitonia excelsa) on a neighbouring verge particularly intrigued me, as this species can be home to Feathertail Glider (Acrobates pygmaeus) when growing in forest conditions. I didn't see any signs of them, and the habitat isn't really forested enough at the moment. But it's nice to think that one day with a bunch more local trees and shrubs, an urban area like this could support a whole lot more local fauna. 

Bonus neighbourly Red Ash (Alphitonia excelsa) growing right under powerlines, necessitating regular pruning and resulting in a strange and rather formal-looking specimen. Image by Emma Rooksby.