Finding a nursery that has a range of plants well suited to your local climate makes for easy plant shopping. Combine this with expert advice, and you’ll find yourself at the Barb Martin Bushbank Nursery.
For more than 20 years the Barb Martin Bushbank Nursery has been giving the community access to native plants indigenous to Phillip Island and surrounds.
Established at the Koala Conservation Reserve in 1990, this nursery has a range of trees, shrubs, grasses and groundcovers ranging in size from tube stock to more advanced specimens.
Many of the plants are locally sourced, giving them a genetic advantage to local growing conditions. There are also several threatened species that the public can purchase for their own garden, thereby playing a part in efforts to save species that are few in the wild due to historical and ongoing development.
The benefits of selecting plants indigenous to the local area are many.
Choosing to grow plants that originate in the Phillip Island/Bass Coast area means they are adapted to the climate and soil, and therefore thrive without much maintenance.
Native plants have a range of horticultural applications and can be easily used for hedging, screening or ornamental value.
Providing habitat and food sources for local wildlife is another draw card to selecting plants that originate from Phillip Island.
Creating a bird attracting garden is easy when you plant specimens with flowers or seeds that provide a food source to birds.
The modern-day pressures of development, growing population and climate change threaten the vegetation that remains after historical clearing of habitat.
The goal to rewild the island is part of Philip Island Nature Parks’ commitment to conservation, and the Bushbank Nursery grows the plants used in their revegetation work.
The nursery is part of the community, thanks to the numerous volunteers that are a big part of its story. The weekly volunteers provide many helping hands to James Anderson, Nursery Supervisor, and the team combined turn over 100,000 plants a year that are then also provided to community groups like Landcare and Coastcare.
The Bushbank Nursery is also a valuable seed bank thanks to the legacy of dedicated local environmentalist Barb Martin, whom the Bushbank was named after her death in 1997.
Barb was a passionate conservationist and protector of wildlife and plants. Her inspiring work lives on today in the strong role that the nursery plays in propagating and cultivating plant species that are indigenous to Millowl.
Winter is an ideal time of year to plant in your garden, with ample rainfall seedlings can establish strong root systems.
To find the right plant for your garden head to the Barb Martin Bushbank Nursery; open Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday from 9am-3pm at 1810 Phillip Island Road, Phillip Island (next to the Koala Conservation Reserve).
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