PLEASE NOTE This document is an EXCERPT ONLY. Looking at the full contents list below, this excerpt only contains the COLOUR HIGHLIGHTED segments. While essential support information is included in every excerpt, additional information A planting guide vital to your planting may be in to promote biodiversity other sections. in Byron Shire Brunswick Valley Landcare highly recommends downloading the full brochure from: www.brunswickvalleylandcare. com.au Or pick up a printed booklet (by donation) from Byron Shire Council, Mullumbimby. HINTERLAND FOOTHILLS & FOOTHILLS & Introduction WELCOME TO MY LOCAL NATIVE GARDEN – A PLANTING GUIDE TO PROMOTE BIODIVERSITY IN THE BYRON SHIRE. his publication hopes to inspire My Local Native Garden is an entry local residents and new arrivals point to introduce you to just some Tto learn a little more about of the incredible variety of local our spectacular environment. Most native plants. Ideally we want you to importantly we want you to invite the ignore the exotic species and focus natural world into your own backyard on endemic species as these will - to share some space with ‘the have food value for native fauna and natives’. are less likely to become a bushland weed. Specifically this guide will assist you to design, plant and maintain For those who wish to explore your own garden with species that further there are a myriad of resources are local to your area. By following out there, many of which are listed in our basic planting guide, your garden the back of this publication. The rest is will not only be easier to grow and up to you to explore! maintain, but it will also integrate into the surrounds, linking with a range of natural habitats to help support the great diversity of local wildlife. Central to this idea is to work with nature, after all our native plant ‘communities’ have already proved their success to be here through millennia of evolution. Tuckeroo Illustration: A Erskine 4 My Local Native Garden BIODIVERSITY IN THE When it comes to flora and fauna, BACKYARD – A NATURAL we often only think of an individual species being in danger of extinction, RESOURCE but the reality is each individual species depends on a range of other Have you ever stopped to think how species - a ‘community’ - for their we’ve ‘inherited’ clean water to drink, survival. This is the inter-dependence fresh air to breathe or how our soils of ecosystems and why it is important Macadamia continue to grow healthy food? The to protect not just one species, but all Illustration: H Bunkers answer is biodiversity – literally the species – biodiversity. variety of plants and animals, their genetics and the ecosystems they live in. These plants and animals, soils BY PLANTING A NATIVE GARDEN FILLED WITH and microorganisms all help to ‘filter’ LOCAL PLANTS YOU CAN CONNECT YOUR GARDEN our water, generate our oxygen and TO THE EXISTING WILDLIFE CORRIDORS AND provide the gift of healthy soils. We need to protect biodiversity for our ENHANCE THE SURVIVAL FOR MANY NATIVE own health as well as play our part in SPECIES AND THEIR ECOSYSTEMS looking after the planet. Increased population, poor land The Byron Shire is recognised as a management practice and pressure biodiversity ‘hotspot’ – one of the richest from land clearing and development and most diverse regions for flora and has fragmented the original fauna in Australia. Sadly there are over environment into small ‘islands’ or 70 plant species and 90 animal species remnants where species are most recognised as vulnerable or threatened, vulnerable to weeds, pests and including 12 Endangered Ecological predators. Communities in the Shire. Wompoo Fruit-Dove Photo: D Taylor Blue Banded Bee on Banksia aemula Photo: J Mayson Green Tree Frog (juvenile) Leaf-tailed Gecko Photo: W Gibney Photo: R Hartlieb My Local Native Garden 5 Heath Banksia Illustration: A Erskine WHAT IS A ‘PLANT COMMUNITY’? MANY RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN A PLANT COMMUNITY ARE SYMBIOTIC – WHERE THERE IS A RELIANCE OR MUTUAL Plant communities are a unique BENEFIT DERIVED BETWEEN SPECIES – CREATING AN assemblage of flora that have evolved INTERCONNECTED ‘WEB’. ADDITIONALLY, OVERLAPPING as a result of interactions between a AREAS OF COMMUNITIES ARE KNOWN AS TRANSITION variety of factors such as: ZONES OR ‘ECOTONES’, WHICH SHOW A PARTICULARLY HIGH LEVEL OF SPECIES RICHNESS • Geology - underlying rock type and its effect on soils and nutrients • Soil type – whether the soils are Below is a list of just some of the many local ecological communities in free draining (sand based) or the Byron Shire – several of these are listed as threatened under State or swampy (heavy clay based); fertile Federal legislation. or low in organic matter • Elevation – increased altitude usually EXAMPLES OF NATURAL PLANT COMMUNITIES leads to cooler, wetter conditions, it can also affect temperature and Foredunes exposure, (all of which impacts on Themeda grasslands on seacliffs and coastal headlands soil types), and can determine if an Byron Bay dwarf graminoid clay heath area is prone to frost • Aspect – particularly on slopes Coastal cypress pine forests where one side has predominantly Littoral rainforests sun/shade and/or particular winds • Distance from the coast – exposure Mangroves to salt laden winds or in tidal zones Coastal saltmarshes where only those species that can handle brackish inundation can Swamp sclerophyll forests on coastal floodplains thrive Swamp oak floodplain forests • Temperature– the variation in Freshwater wetlands on coastal floodplains temperature range increases with distance from the moderating Subtropical coastal floodplain forests influence of the ocean Lowland rainforests • Humidity – closer to the coast, sea breezes can moderate the effect of Heath & shrublands humidity Open forests • Rainfall – across Byron Shire, the high rainfall favours certain species Tree Fern Illustration: H Bunkers 6 My Local Native Garden Arrowhead vine Illustration: T Roberts SOILS AND ELEVATION Soils of Byron Shire Map courtesy Byron Shire Council My Local Native Garden 7 Foothills and Hinterland LOCATIONS: BANGALOW, BINNA BURRA, BOOYONG, CLUNES, COOPERS SHOOT, COORABELL, EUREKA, EWINGSDALE (HILL SLOPES), FEDERAL, GOONENGERRY, HUONBROOK, MONTECOLLUM, NASHUA, PALMWOODS, POSSUM CREEK, UPPER COOPERS CREEK, UPPER WILSON CREEK, WILSON CREEK he ‘foothills and hinterland’ are Endangered Ecological Community. rainforest to wet sclerophyll forest. located primarily in the south The Big Scrub once covered the entire Sub-tropical rainforest forms a Twest of the Shire amongst the hinterland area but now exists as dense canopy of large trees above a rolling hills and valleys of the Wilson small isolated remnants that make up mid and under story layer of dense River catchment. The high rainfall less than 1% of its original area. lush foliage. The range of plants and rich soils of the area create the present is extremely diverse and perfect conditions for rainforest plants The elevation of the area ranges includes trees, shrubs, vines, palms, to thrive. The original vegetation from 40m along the river flats around epiphytes, fungi and groundcovers. of this area is lowland subtropical Bangalow and Nashua, which are This structure creates a cool, moist, rainforest, commonly referred to as prone to winter frosts, up to 300m in shady microclimate by reducing ‘The Big Scrub’ and remnants of this the north around Goonengerry where the light intensity, wind and vegetation are now protected as an the soil and vegetation changes from evaporation. WILDLIFE: SUB-TROPICAL RAINFOREST IS A HAVEN FOR BIRDLIFE - WOMPOO PIGEON, ROSE- CROWNED FRUIT DOVE, BROWN CUCKOO DOVE, FIGBIRD, CURRAWONG, BAR-SHOULDER DOVE, EMERALD DOVE, FAIRY WREN, SILVER EYE, VARIOUS HONEYEATERS, GREEN TREE FROG, PERONS TREE FROG, ROCKET FROG, MICROBATS, SOOTY OWL, VARIETY OF LIZARDS AND INSECTS Rose Crowned Fruit dove Sooty Owl Green Tree Snake Photo: D Taylor Photo: D Taylor Photo: R Hartlieb 24 My Local Native Garden Photo: J Britton CREATING YOUR OWN RAINFOREST For those with more space on their property who wish to establish their own patch of rainforest, a site specific planting design and careful species selection is essential. A full description of this process is beyond the scope of this book but here is a brief overview. The first step is achieved by planting ‘pioneer’, fast growing trees, which can handle full sun and are generally short- lived in terms of a rainforest (10-30 years). Plant the pioneers 3-4m apart to form a canopy in 2-5 years depending on the site and conditions. Interspersed through these pioneer trees, ‘secondary’ and ‘mature phase’ trees are planted. These are slower to establish but can live for hundreds of years and in time will form the rainforest habitat. Once the canopy is established, the final staged planting will contain a diverse mix of trees, shrubs, vines and groundcovers. Where possible, try to source the species that grow naturally in your area – talk to your local native nursery and ensure you are also planting species with local population genetics. By planting in this manner, you will extend the existing habitat for local species encouraging them to move into the new areas that you have provided. Over time you will notice trees and other plants regenerating naturally. These are brought in by birds and the wind and germinate in the favourable conditions provided by the forest canopy. More information about planting a rainforest can be found in the book published by the Big Scrub Landcare Group Subtropical Rainforest Restoration. This book is essential for anyone looking at undertaking this process, providing a detailed overview of the many factors to consider, as well as a list of appropriate species to plant. CREATING A Finger Lime and Midgen Berries to Mulch is an important component RAINFOREST GARDEN provide food and occasional colour. If of a rainforest garden and mimics the you need a hedge, Scrub Cherry can humus layer found on the forest floor. SOIL DESCRIPTION: be a good choice with dense foliage The decomposing organic matter forms Deep, well-structured red/brown that can be pruned and it also provides the basis of the garden ecosystem by krasnozems, high clay content, tasty pink berries.