Bundaberg Landcare

17/10/2026

Grevillea vestita is a medium to large shrub growing from 2 to 3metres high by a similar width.
That however is from its native Western Australia, although with the speed it is growing here on our unusual sandy red clay it looks like that size will still stand.
The leaves are up to 50mm long by 30 mm wide, are deeply lobed and have a sharp point.
There are two sub-species recognised, subsp. vestita and subsp. isopogoides.
The latter differs from the type form in having smaller leaves with the margins rolled under and hiding most of the undersurface.

The white to pale pink flowers occur in clusters at the ends of the branches in winter through to spring, and ours still have small flowers now.
This is a well known species in cultivation and can be very floriferous ( lots of flowers). Despite its origin in a dry, summer climate, it has been successfully cultivated in more humid areas and indeed after reading that that is why we thought we'd trial it.
It prefers a sunny position in well drained soils and tolerates heavy pruning and is tolerant of at least moderate frost.
The species can be grown reasonably easily from seed. Cuttings from firm, current season’s growth usually strike reliably.
The very dense growth of this plant along with its very prickly nature would lead it to be an excellent security hedge being high enough to still provide good privacy.
Now it has been in the ground a good while and has been successful it should start to come on range next year.
This plant should be very good at providing cover and nesting opportunities for small birds.

10/10/2026

Don't know about you but I'm quite sick of phones ease dropping on conversations when you don't even ask them to do so., we all know the story there are forces at play creating a surveillance state under the guise of 'getting to know you better than you know yourself - 'so we can help you' or some such crap.
You would probably also now that a functioning Faraday bag means you can drop your phone in one of those and there is no signal/ eavesdropping ability available.

The downside of this of course is that you cannot ring your phone to find out where you have left it ,so be careful!

Like everybody I have to use my phone a lot particularly with Landcare but there are times when the thing should be put in a bag and we won't get started on what Wi-Fi signals might or might not do to you -go for your life if you want to be irradiated.
Personally I wanted a holster type that fitted on my hip- that way every so often I could undo it pull the phone out and it would go live and bring in missed messages but there appears to be no such Faraday 'holster' available.

The 'pouch' I will call it, doubles as a safety sleeve for your cards as well, this is useful when you are in large airports or capital cities where information theft and skimming of cards is not uncommon.
Don't waste your time looking at other Faraday pouches like I did because I got a dud one and had to get a refund .
That person argued black and blue that he was a 'security expert' and the thing worked ,really it's as simple as this -if you can put your phone in the pouch and call it and it rings-it's not working so don't listen to that BS.
I should have done my Tube research and found that the Mission darkness bag is the best on the market.
Cost was $39.95 plus $12 for delivery we got two with no doubling of delivery price- as it should be.

10/10/2026

On section 2 of the rail trail
I know back in the day a post was a post -but bloody hell, please don't do this.
X Moreton Bay Ash .
We had halted our plantings but will soon recommence in small groups.
The first several hundred metres of the rail trail on this section has a lot of water in drains which have become miniature Wetlands on either side.

We are unsure where this water is coming from possibly a nearby Mac farm or possibly a nearby industrial site who are cleaning their equipment, regardless it means the capillary action is helping greatly with keeping some of our plantings near these areas very healthy.
This allows us to put limited plantings in other areas and these are going to be big trees.

10/10/2026

Somewhere in amongst those red dots on the South West of Western Australia are our two nursery managers,including Carol Anderson two + weeks out of having a broken hip, an operation and a week or so's recovery!
What an inspiration this lady is,she is accompanied by Linda another one of our long term nursery managers.
And of course they are doing a one-weeks tour of the wildflowers of Western Australia.
This isn't Carol's first time but with all the success we're having with these WA flowers I'm sure there'll be plenty of notes taken with more new specimens being proposed into our range when they arrive home.
So it is fitting that the next shrub is from Western Australia and goes by the name One-sided Bottlebrush or Common Net Bush,and I would like to give full credit to this next article by the Australian National Botanic Gardens Canberra
Text by Carol Booth (2011 Student Botanical Intern)
Calothamnus quadrifidus
C. quadrifidus is an upright, compact or spreading, heavily-branched, evergreen shrub that grows to about 1.5 – 2.5 metres tall and a similar width. The grey-green or green needle-like leaves are about 30 mm long and 1-2 mm wide and are usually hairy giving the foliage a lovely soft appearance.
The showy flowers, clustered in one-sided spikes, are produced through all of spring and well into summer, and sometimes spanning a longer period. The brightly coloured stamens, usually in red, are the conspicuous parts of the flower and are fused together in bundles, known as staminal claws. The fruits produced are woody capsules that remain on the plant throughout its life and can contain seeds for many years.
C. quadrifidus is very adaptable to a range of environmental and growing conditions and is considered moderately hardy, tolerating windy and coastal situations. It grows naturally in a dry summer climate but will also grow in somewhat more humid conditions. C. quadrifidus is not too fussy and copes with conditions ranging from the soil becoming dry between watering to being constantly moist (but not constantly wet). It commonly grows naturally among granite outcrops, in sand or sandy-gravel, however it adapts well to other soil types such as loam, and even clay. A neutral to mildly alkaline soil is probably best, though it is known to grow also in mildly acidic soil. Whatever the soil type, better drainage will improve results.
Young plants can be somewhat frost sensitive, however established plants will tolerate frosts with perhaps only minimal tip damage. C. quadrifidus grows well in either full sun or part shade, though it favours a warm, open and sunny position, and while not being a heavy feeder, it will perform best if provided with regular additions of compost and/or the occasional application of a ‘complete’ or balanced fertiliser. Avoid over-fertilising.
Regular pruning (in conjunction with adequate nutrition) will keep this plant dense and growing vigorously. With age it can become rather woody and “leggy” if left unattended. C. quadrifidus will happily tolerate removal of up to one third of the foliage, which is best done just after flowering. Hard pruning into old wood may affect the next season’s flowering, as the flowers are borne on stems of the previous season’s growth.
C. quadrifidus is not prone to disease or attack from many pests. Scale insects can be managed by good horticultural practice such as regular pruning and adequate nutrition to keep growth vigorous, and positioning plants with good airflow. It is always best to regularly inspect plants and prune out any affected branches before populations of scale are allowed to build up.
C. quadrifidus reproduces readily by seed and ‘ripe’ fruits can be collected in paper bags and placed in warm conditions (~30°C) to release the seed, for later sowing in autumn or early spring. Softwood or tip cuttings taken in late summer are recommended if you want to propagate a particular form.
C. quadrifidus has a number of subspecies and cultivars include yellow-flowered, dwarf, and grey-green foliaged forms.
I know it's disappointing not to have these plants on hand but they must go through trials to prove that they can survive at least a good year up here in various soil types so be patient big things coming in the new year.

10/10/2026

Yes it's that time of the year when Pultenaea villosa common name Hairy bush pea has its masses of small yellow flowers on display.
P.villosa occurs naturally over a wide area along the East Coast of New South Wales and northwards up to the Noosa and Fraser Island, however as it's range moves north past these areas it becomes more sparse and it's range moves inland.
It is said to prefer well drained but sometimes moist soil in dappled shade or at least half a day's sunshine.
As mentioned on one of those past posts the big plus is that It appears quite able to handle the alleopathic qualities of spotty gums Ironbarks and Pink bloodwoods,so that is a big benefit.
And if you pull up off the side of the road up near Rosedale / Avondale where the big Ironbark trees stand and go for a short walk it is quite a sight with a beautiful floral display accompanied by a symphony of bees attending to these tens of thousands of small flowers

The first specimen which died was grown directly in the ground, perhaps not so well drained and in full sun so that combination certainly was not good.
For these gardens which we built around the old remnant Bloodwood trees the soil was previously excavated from the car park ,this being mostly clay mixed with some sandy loam-but raised above ground level by about 2/3m.
But one thing we did do was put cracker dust (that is ground up basalt) around some of the plantings to allow for more drainage around the immediate roots.

Anyway finding plants that flower in the shade in harsh areas is quite difficult so this looks like the perfect candidate for those difficult positions where you'd like a splash of colour every so often.
This species of Pultenaea is considered the easiest to grow according to almost all good websites.
We HAD a good quantity of these but somebody just bought the lot so we are starting again with a new lot of seeds and hopefully by the new year we will have some good size plants.

09/10/2026

Local Wallum plants have always been looked upon as being beautiful but impossible to grow for the nursery sector, but we have proved otherwise, as usual it's all about the soil and coincidentally the same soil that our local wallum plants like is also what the Western Australian plants like ,no doubt along with our 25th parallel latitude.
Add to this that the Proteaceae family actually do enjoy phosphorus in reasonable amounts has also been a boon for plants such as our Banksia range.(Thanks Bob)
So mixing these and other desert loving plants of Australia together we have managed to get quite a good number of small wildflowers and that was always the goal of creating miniature Australian Cottage Gardens everybody can enjoy.

Enter Melaleuca micromera an unusual shrub from the south-west of Western Australia where it grows on dry, sandy plains and in gravelly soils.
One in the photos is growing in our raised slimline water tank garden, where it's probably going to outgrow it's home !
This is a large shrub with a sometimes low and spreading habit or sometimes tall and erect where it is described as resembling a small conifer.
Certainly looking at the leaves that is exactly what they look like.
Like many Melaleuca species, it has attractive foliage and flower, but is unique among them because of its distinctive foliage and twisting branches.
Growth is somewhat stiff yet at the same time pliant in wind in all situations.
The lightweight branches are greyish brown and they curve, twist and wave in various directions. Numerous short, fine lateral stems often form feathery tufts, slightly matted.
Specimens prefer sheltered positions favouring light shade from Eucalyptus and taller shrubs.
The soil needs to be light and mulched with bark chips and leaves, watered moderately and fed occasionally.
Isolated plants are upright, 1.5 m high at eight years old spreading 1.5 - 2 m across.
Always remember you can prune your larger shrubs to a smaller size for a more compact and full plant and many respond very well to this with good flowering.
Plants confined among other shrubs are irregular, reaching along the ground to the front of the border and fitting gracefully into available space. This is an important point in a closely planted border.
The shrubs are completely winter hardy in Canberra, and in drought years they survived though growing bare.
Bushy growth to ground level was resumed as soon as more watering became available.
The light-coloured stems show up looking as if threaded through the minute scale-like leaves, for each leaf has one face pressed closely on the stem. On some stems continuous foliage gives the effect of a fine green cord.
Under a hand lens the details of the curious leaves can be seen. They are in whorls of three, roughly shield-shaped and for their size quite thick and succulent with one or two dots - these are oil glands.
When a few leaves are crushed the glands release a perfume typical of the family Myrtaceae, in which all leaves have these glands.
Most of the year the shrubs are a cool green, freshened by paler tints in spring when new tips are growing before the flowers are finished.
This is a early spring flowering Melaleuca opening even in late July but early October is more usual and flowers open for about five weeks.
The flowers too are unusual, resembling Wattle balls just under 1 cm across. Actually they are 'brush' flowers as in many Melaleuca species, but rounded; the colour is a pale yellow.

Seed capsules embedded in the wood remain unopened on the plant for years, and to obtain the seed a piece of stem can be kept indoors in a bag, the capsules opening in a few days in a warm room. New plants are raised from seed or cuttings, but are not easily bought as the species is not yet widely known in cultivation.
Cut stems are attractive and last well . This long-lived and trouble-free shrub will become popular for small spaces and is recommended also for growing in tubs or cascading among large rocks or down a slope. It can be trimmed to shape as a small hedge, with plants about 1 m apart.
Text with many thanks to ANBG staff (1974).
We don't have plants available yet but hopefully cuttings will be successful.

09/10/2026

The Yellow autumn lily, botanic name Tricoryne elatior from the family Johnsoniaceae loves growing in sandy wallum and dry Woodland areas, and that's exactly where I found it today on the Bundaberg Rail Trail along the still natural area on Cummins Road.
What a delight these beautiful yellow wildflowers are., we haven't got any of these for sale yet but are trying as hard as we can to get numbers up and these plants on range- hopefully in the new year.
I must say I never thought I would see the numbers of Wildflowers we now have growing on in our nursery, problem is as fast as we grow them they disappear out the door!

09/10/2026

07/10/2026

To all our customers sadly we wish to advise that we need to put the price of our 140 mil pots up to 13 dollars each, this covers a wide range of quite rare plants including of course all of our grevilleas plus some of those profiles you can see on this page, one of which is a Geraldton wax subspecies. Most of these plants are purchased in and increasing freight costs are pushing everything up as we all know.
In the end we've just got to pay the bills.
Thanking everybody for their understanding in advance.