NATIVE PLANTS GARDEN

KBULG has produced a pamphlet on 'Gardening with Local Native Plants'. The pamphlet aimed at the general community included ideas about:

• The advantages of native gardens.
• How to landscape a native garden.
• A list of some of the species recommended for Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

The production of the pamphlet was sponsored by the Water Corporation through its Water Efficiency Program.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder's Native Plants Garden

KBULG established a Native Plants Garden in 1995 after the Boulder Playgroup offered KBULG a vacant block of land behind their building . The 'vacant' block was covered in weeds, concrete and rubbish.

After clearing the block, the next stage was to design the garden. The block is fairly large (1 hectare) and quite an unusual shape so we needed to come up with a design using these features. It was decided the garden should be based on a diamond shape. The next stage was to draw a map of the garden and decide where the garden beds should be and which plants should be planted where. Most of these decisions were based on flower colour, height and shape of the plants.

The garden includes local native eucalypts, shrubs and groundcovers. A series of gravel pathways were put in to give the garden definition. The garden has a series of information signs on Waterwise Gardening, Watering, Mulching and Weeding. Plant identification labels with common and scientific names are mounted on pine posts in front of each group of species (70 in total!).

The native plants garden is truly a waterwise garden as the plants were only watered during the first summer and are now growing well without reticulation.

The Native Plants Garden is located in Killington Crescent, Fairways. The garden is managed by KBULG and maintained by KBULG's Work for the Dole participants.

PROMOTING LOW WATER USE GARDENS

KBULG receives many phone calls about gardening with local native plants from new and existing residents. Residents are supplied with lists of native trees and shrubs suitable for planting in a Goldfields Garden.

KBULG also consults local nurseries encouraging them to stock local native plants. This can be a problem due to regular availability of retail stock but some nurseries are now stocking Goldfields plants.

The next stage is to encourage the nurseries to promote the local natives with attractive signage and in a prominent place in their nursery. KBULG has also encouraged the nurseries to join the national ‘Flora for Fauna’ program.