We have re-activated our little cottage nursery that supplied Council restoration projects and home gardens from about 2004-2006. Hundreds of native seeds fall and grow, even in our own little garden and gravel driveway, so we have been potting them up in recycled pots with roughly-composted wood chip mulch so our garden restoration clients can have free plants for planting season (or earlier if they have a loose soil and are prepared to water them…but Autumn is much easier!)
We are now offering 10-20 plants (depending on size), in a limited range of species – this year we concentrated on kawakawa, karamu, nikau and Carex – free with every 10 hours of gardening or habitat restoration, while stocks last.
We will look after the plants till autumn.
Here’s what they look like at present:
North Shore Wilds nursery plants, November 2023NSW nursery plants November 23
Following the development of the kawakawa fruit observed in earlier posts, I noticed a few ripe fruit on the tree outside this dining room window.
ripening and unripe kawakawa seen through open dining room window
In summer kereru clamber in the taller branches of the tree, alone, in pairs, and one year with a chick, all within a metre of this window.
Fortunately for the kereru, who are far too trusting for their own good, a dog keeps the garden cat-free, and the dog can’t reach this part of the garden.
A low branch outside the window has ripening and unripe fruit overhanging purei (Carex lambertiana)
Above: a fully ripe kawakawa fruit, found half-eaten on the ground, discloses the many seeds within the orange flesh of a single fruit
The wood of the kawakawa is soft, easily pruned to keep this paved path clear.
Wild native sedges and grasses and moss are allowed to cover the earth under the tree, and the smaller plants are allowed to spread to fill the gaps between paving tiles, keeping out most of the dandelions, creeping buttercup and other weeds.
The native kawakawa looper makes holes in the kawakawa leaves.
These holes are said to correspond to the leaves with the strongest medicinal value, perhaps because of substances produced in those leaves in response to the caterpillars eating the leaves.
Another explanation is that the caterpillars know which leaves are the best to eat.
Either way, this 2 square metres of clay is cool and refreshing to look out on through hot summers, hosts a lot of wildlife, lets morning light play on the windows all year round, and, with fallen leaves and twigs mulching the ground naturally, requires almost no attention to stay beautiful and weed-free.
One evening last week, putting out the compost turned into an after-dinner garden wander – a weed to pull out here, a “volunteer” tomato seedling to pop in there – and I realized this is how it will be for the rest of the summer, just like every other year; the cool stillness of evening and gentle sounds of roosting birds keeps me outside till dusk.
For this shade-loving gardener, it has already become too hot for work in the afternoons except under or among big trees.
It occurred to me that there may be people who would like an evening garden ecology assessment, learning session or even their weeding done, when they are home and can collaborate or advise.
For morning or evening garden restoration services, or forest restoration anytime, contact us.
In the 5 months we have been working with some of our gardening clients, they have learned to recognise and make use of the wild native trees, shrubs and grasses that spontaneously grow all over the North Shore, from the soil’s seedbank from former forest and wetland, or from seed and spores brought by birds or wind.
In this time, even small areas of mown lawn, or gardens containing only the common non-native ornamental species, have produced a few tanekaha, rewarewa and kahikatea seedlings, lots of baby Cabbage trees (Cordyline australis), five-finger (Pseudopanax), Karamu (Coprosma robusta) and mapou, (often referred to as Pittosporum, though it is actually Myrsine australis), and numerous native grasses, sedges and creeping ground covers.
Wild tanekaha seedling hidden among Clivia in a small garden of ornamental shrubs
Of course, those who are lucky enough to have a patch of native bush in or beside their garden, and some undisturbed areas of ground, have seen all kinds of forest species emerge and thrive, including native vines, ferns and orchids, and the less common “forest giants” like tanekaha, kahikatea, rewarewa and kauri.
wild karamu seedlings found among ivy and other weeds in a large weedy garden, a small area of which is now being restored to dense wild native vegetation
wild rewarewa seedling discovered while weeding under a Norfolk pine, now protected with some cut ivy and uprooted weeds
For new clients, or as a “stand-alone” service, we provide a 1.5 hour assessment of your garden’s potential for visual transformation and the recreation of diverse native pant communities, solely through plant identification, soil protection and chemical-free weed control.
We started this business just before Christmas last year, encouraged by comments from people who have enjoyed watching the progress of Gahnia Grove, the restoration project in Eskdale Reserve which we began in 2018 for pleasure and for our own further research into the most economical way to control weeds and restore the plant communities native to this area.
Our methods of restoring or creating outdoor order and beauty are very different from what is commonly practised commercially.
For example, Phoenix palm seedlings quickly become deeply rooted. We never dig them out. The photo below shows two of them, each controlled within seconds by knotting its few leaves.
phoenix palm seedlings knotted
Learn more about what to expect, based on our experience over the year and the feedback of our customers:
Just a reminder that Spring is underway as far as the plants are concerned, and weed vines and shrubs are putting out new shoots, sneaking around garden shrubs, drinking up the lovely water and increasing sun, and finding new ground to conquer.
Big weed invasions yield the most material for paths, mulch and compost, and the first big weeding produces a massive amount of plant material to be either sent to landfill or used to benefit the soil and plants by decomposition onsite.
Once the ground dries, sun comes out, and rain is infrequent, decomposition by rotting slows down or stops altogether.
We don’t encourage storing big piles of dry woody or papery material during the fire season, so if you have a lot of woody weeds to be dealt to….that is, vines, shrubs or trees…work needs to start very soon if you want the plant material composted onsite and returned to your soil to help the remaining plants grow well and remain weed free.
After we have done weed control and mulched where needed, the Spring rush of weeds doesn’t occur for most species, and not at all if we have had time to eradicate the weed before the warm weather.
Instead, the wanted plants grow luxuriously in the moisture and sunlight of Spring, filling the space and reducing weed reinvasion.
Since we only started our business last Christmas, we don’t yet have photos of our clients’ gardens in Spring after our weed control.
Below is a photo of an area of public Reserve in January this year, hand weeded of major environmental weeds, then gradually of benign leafy weeds. This area is part of a forest margin, in which density is key to keeping the area weed-free, so native regeneration has been allowed to fill the space entirely.
Having been providing our chemical-free garden restoration services for 6 months now, we have been delighted to experience a range of outdoor environments, advised gardeners and non-gardeners alike on our unique methodology, and seen them enjoy the results.
Some have been short-term restorations, recovering a well-planned garden from just a few years of weed invasion.
Others are long-term projects, creating the conditions for the desired plants to succeed, and for easy weed control in the future.
If you are finding your garden hard to manage, through lack of time or difficult conditions, we offer a thorough site assessment in which we will listen to your needs and wishes, with identification of both weeds and any unrecognised free, wild and low maintenance plants… including hidden gems like the native tree seedlings, kahikatea and tanekaha, discovered this week and seen below:
