Wariapendi Native Nursery

29/10/2026

If you’ve heard a long, rattling trill after dark this spring, there’s a good chance it was a Peron’s Tree Frog, like this one we found basking on a Backhousia at the nursery. 🌿

Right now they’re calling across the Southern Highlands, along with Eastern Banjo Frogs and Common Eastern Froglets, all looking for somewhere to breed. A garden pond can give them exactly what they need, as long as the pond and the planting work together.

Get the pond right first:
- Half sun, half shade, so the shallows warm up without the pond overheating
- Shallow, sloping edges so frogs can climb in and out, with a deeper centre that holds water through dry spells
- Fill with rainwater where you can
- No fish, as they eat eggs and tadpoles, and no sprays or fertiliser nearby
- Logs, rocks and leaf litter for daytime shelter

Then plant in layers, from the water out:
- Juncus usitatus (common rush), plant it in shallow water up to about 20 cm deep. Its upright stems give tree frogs and dragonflies somewhere to perch.
- Carex appressa (tall sedge), right at the water’s edge, for dense, arching cover.
- Poa labillardierei (common tussock grass) on the bank. Frogs and lizards shelter in its base, and small birds eat the seed.
- Blechnum nudum (fishbone water fern) on the shady side, for cool, damp cover.
- Pratia pedunculata (matted pratia) on the moist ground around the pond. It’s a low groundcover with blue or white star flowers.
- Bauera rubioides (river rose) behind, for dense, twiggy cover used by tree frogs and small birds such as fairy-wrens.

After that, let the frogs find you rather than moving them in.

All six are on our benches now, with plenty more for ponds and wetlands. Come and see us, Tuesday to Saturday, and we’ll help you plan yours.

22/10/2026

You don’t need box hedging for a formal garden.

Natives can give a formal garden all the structure it needs, with flowers for the bees and shelter for small birds as well. Here are seven of our favourites, from a low blue-grey edge to a tall Banksia screen:

🌿 Podocarpus lawrencei (mountain plum pine): blue-grey foliage and a dense, compact habit. Clip it low along a path or bed edge.
🌿 Kunzea ericoides ‘Snowman’: Fine foliage covered in small white flowers in spring and summer. When clipped formally it is indistinguishable from English Box.
🌿 Callistemon citrinus ‘White Anzac’: cream-white brushes from late spring into summer. A low, wide hedge to around a metre.
🌿 Grevillea rosmarinifolia ‘Scarlet Sprite’: pink flowers through winter and spring, with prickly foliage where small birds shelter.
🌿 Leptospermum ‘Rudolph’: burgundy foliage and pink summer flowers. Trim after flowering for a dense, upright hedge.
🌿 Acmena smithii ‘Cherry Black’: cherry-red new growth, then fruit for the birds. A dense hedge to around three metres.
🌿 Banksia ericifolia (heath banksia): orange flower spikes through autumn and winter, rich in nectar. A dense, tall hedge or screen.

Trim lightly and often from the first year, and the hedge stays dense from the ground up.

Planning a hedge line? Come and see us Tuesday to Saturday, or ask about an on-site design consultation.

15/10/2026

A windbreak 5 metres tall can shelter up to 100 metres behind it.

Wind does more damage to a garden than most people realise. It dries the soil, scorches new growth and slows plants down. The natural response is to build something taller and more solid, but the best windbreaks let some wind through. A solid fence or dense single-row hedge pushes the wind up and over, and it comes back down just behind. A windbreak with some gaps slows the wind instead, so the shelter reaches much further. Planted across the prevailing wind and at least 50 metres long, it can shelter ground up to 20 times its height, with the shelter strongest closest to the trees.

The layout is simple: tallest in the centre, smallest on the edges. Plant at least two rows, ideally three to five, spaced 2–4m apart, with foliage down to the ground so the wind can’t rush underneath.

After more than 40 years in the Highlands, these six are where we’d start:

🌿 Acacia melanoxylon (Blackwood): centre row. Fast, resilient and frost hardy, with dense dark foliage. Unlike most wattles, it can live for well over a century.

🌿 Allocasuarina littoralis (Black She-oak): centre row. Fine, needle-like foliage that filters the wind. Plant several, because the red flowers on female trees become the cones Glossy Black-Cockatoos feed on.

🌿 Banksia marginata (Silver Banksia): middle row. Silver-backed leaves and pale yellow flower spikes, full of nectar for bees and birds through the cooler months.

🌿 Hakea salicifolia (Willow-leaved Hakea): middle row. Soft, willow-like leaves held low on the branches fill the gaps where the wind gets under. Cream flowers line the stems in spring.

🌿 Callistemon sieberi (River Bottlebrush): outer row. Not every bottlebrush is red. This one carries creamy-yellow brushes from late spring into summer, on a dense, fine-leaved shrub for wet or dry ground.

🌿 Leptospermum polygalifolium (Tea Tree): outer row. A fine-leaved, dense shrub to finish the outer edge, with small white flowers in their hundreds from spring, alive with insects.

Every windbreak starts with the site. Soil, aspect and the direction your wind comes from all change the mix, and that’s exactly what our on-site design consultations are for. Our full windbreak guide, with layouts and planting advice, is available in the resource gallery on our website. 🌿

15/10/2026

08/10/2026

Seven spring-flowering natives we'd plant in our own gardens.

Every spring, we're asked which natives we'd choose for our own gardens. After more than 40 years growing natives in the Southern Highlands, these are the seven we keep coming back to. We pick them for the colour first, and love them for the scent, the bees and the birds that come with it.

🌿 Prostanthera (Purple Mint Bush) disappears under a haze of purple every spring. Plant it beside a path where you'll brush past it, and give it a light trim after flowering to keep it dense.

🌿 Kunzea ambigua (Tick Bush) is covered in honey-scented white flowers by late spring, and few garden plants draw in as many insects.

🌿 Callistemon 'Little John' (Dwarf Bottlebrush) carries deep red brushes over blue-green leaves, visited by honeyeaters through spring. At around a metre, it suits a courtyard or the front of a border.

🌿 Leptospermum 'Cardwell' (Tea Tree) has arching branches that turn white in spring, every stem lined with small flowers and busy with native bees.

🌿 Pimelea (Rice Flower) is a small plant with a big spring display: deep pink flower heads, with butterflies drifting between them. Give it sun and well-drained ground.

🌿 Anigozanthos (Kangaroo Paw) holds velvet flowers high above the leaves from spring into summer, and honeyeaters perch on the stems to feed. Cut spent stems low and new ones follow. Our tall landscape forms are in stock now: 'Big Red', 'Yellow Gem', 'Landscape Scarlet', 'Landscape Gold' and 'Landscape Tangerine'.

🌿 Leptospermum 'Pink Cascade' (Tea Tree) spills along the edge of a bed in a cascade of soft pink flowers. Use it to soften borders, paths and walls.

Warm soil and mild days make October the month to plant. Anything that goes in now has the whole season to settle in before the summer heat.

Which one would you plant first? Tell us in the comments. And if you'd like a hand choosing, come and see us Tuesday to Saturday, 8:30am–4pm. 🌿

01/10/2026

Most homes lost to bushfire are lit by embers, not the fire front. That makes your garden part of your fire plan.

Every plant will burn if the fire is hot enough. But fire-retardant plants, generally those with more moisture or salt in their leaves and less volatile oil, burn less readily and help limit the spread of embers. With a strong El Niño pointing to an early and serious season, the plants around your home matter. The good news is there's a fire-retardant native for every layer of the garden. Here are some of our favourites:

🌿 Trees: Acmena smithii (Lilly Pilly), Brachychiton populneus (Kurrajong), Elaeocarpus reticulatus (Blueberry Ash), Acacia melanoxylon (Blackwood), Banksia serrata (Old Man Banksia).
🌿 Shrubs: Banksia marginata (Silver Banksia), Grevillea rosmarinifolia (Rosemary Grevillea), Hakea salicifolia (Willow-leaved Hakea), Prostanthera (mint bushes), Persoonia (geebung).
🌿 Groundcovers: Myoporum parvifolium (Creeping Boobialla), Hardenbergia violacea (False Sarsaparilla), Scaevola (fan flowers), Carpobrotus glaucescens (pigface), Einadia nutans (saltbush).

Placement matters as much as species:

– Fire moves faster uphill, so homes on sloping land need wider buffers, especially to the north-west, west and south-west.
– Keep dead trees and shrubs, dry mulch, twigs, bark and leaves cleared close to the house.
– Keep highly flammable conifers well away from your home (like the conifers pictured).
– Plant windbreaks of fire-retardant species. They do double duty, slowing wind all year and slowing fire when it matters most.

Our Spring newsletter has more, including how to plant for a dry year and the waratah as Plant of the Month. Our free Fire Retardant Plants brochure is at the nursery and on our website. Links to both are in the comments. If you'd like help planning around your home, we'd love to help.

In the event of a fire, always follow the directions of the Rural Fire Service.

24/09/2026

"My natives died in the heatwave."

We hear it every summer. And in most cases the real damage was done in spring, when everything still looked fine.

Here's what forty years in the Southern Highlands has taught us: a dry summer rarely kills a plant with deep roots and covered soil. What it kills is plants that went into the heat already struggling — dry at the roots, bare soil baking around them, roots sitting up near the surface chasing whatever water they could find. By the time the heatwave arrives, the outcome was already decided.

Spring is when you set your garden up for summer. Three things, done now:

🌿 Water deeply, not often. A long soak once a week in spring sends roots down where the moisture lasts. A light sprinkle every day keeps them up near the surface — exactly where the soil dries out first.

🌿 Mulch before it gets hot, not after. 100mm of coarse mulch on damp spring soil holds that moisture right through summer. Mulch traps moisture — it can't create it. Spread it over dry soil in a heatwave and you're sealing in the problem. Keep it clear of the stems.

🌿 Don't let new plantings dry out — even once. Anything planted this year hasn't earned its independence yet.

Even the toughest natives need a fair start. Get the roots deep and the soil covered now, and come summer you'll be the one telling the neighbours you still haven't watered.

If you're getting a garden ready for summer, we'd love to help — come and see us. 🌿

17/09/2026

"I just kill natives."

We hear this one a lot. Usually something small went wrong, and most of it is easy to fix. Chances are it's one of these seven reasons:

1. Too much water. Some natives dislike constantly wet roots, and that's when root rot sets in. Water deeply and less often, and check the soil a few centimetres down before watering again.

2. The wrong fertiliser. Grevilleas, banksias and hakeas are sensitive to phosphorus, so general garden fertilisers can cause yellowing and dieback. Use a low-phosphorus native fertiliser, lightly, in spring.

3. A buried main stem. Soil or mulch piled against the trunk or main stem holds moisture and can cause collar rot. Plant at the same depth as the pot and keep a clear ring around the base.

4. Roots circling the pot. Circling roots don't spread into the surrounding soil. Gently loosen or cut them before planting.

5. Wet feet in clay. Clay holds water through winter, which certain natives won't tolerate. Choose species suited to heavy soil. Otherwise, plant on a mound or raised bed.

6. Wrong plant, wrong spot. A sun-lover in shade or a frost-tender plant in a frost hollow will struggle whatever you do. Match the plant to the site before you buy.

7. Never pruned. Unpruned natives can become leggy and sparse. Prune back after flowering to keep them dense.

Follow for more native plant advice from 40 years of growing in the Southern Highlands, NSW.

10/09/2026

Your neighbour's shed isn't going anywhere. These seven natives can hide it.

Screening is one of the most common things we're asked about. A fence line that needs softening. A road that got busier. A view you'd rather not have. These are the plants we come back to.

Grevillea 'Lady O' (1 - 1.5m) is a low screen with fine foliage held dense right to the ground, with deep red pendulous flowers carried through much of the year that draw birds into the garden. Frost hardy here and suited to full sun.

Philotheca 'Profusion' (1 - 1.5m) give a low screen with neat, aromatic foliage that stays dense without clipping, carrying masses of small white star flowers through spring that bring in the bees. Frost hardy and long-lived in well-drained ground.

Callistemon 'Endeavour' (2 - 3m) sits between hedge and habitat: dense to the ground, responding well to clipping and carries bright red flowers in spring that draw birds and bees. Reliably frost hardy.

Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' (2 - 3m) brings foliage colour the others don't: fine leaves in copper and bronze tones year-round, producing masses of white spring flowers the bees find quickly. Frost hardy, and thickens readily with tipping.

Banksia 'Giant Candles' (3 - 4m) makes a taller screen with fine, dense foliage and large orange flower spikes held upright through the cooler months, drawing birds into the garden. Thoroughly frost hardy and undemanding once established.

Hakea salicifolia (3 – 5m) — if we had to pick one plant for fast native screening in the Highlands, this is it. Dense foliage right to the ground, flushes of bronze new growth, cream flowers in spring, and thick cover that small birds shelter in. Takes hard frost without damage, and is among the fastest natives we grow.

Callistemon 'Dawson River Weeper' (4 - 5m) is a tall option with a weeping habit that screens at height while staying soft in outline. Crimson red flowers in spring and autumn draw birds and bees. Frost hardy and tolerant of wet ground.

Early spring is the time to plant — warming soils and a full season to establish before summer. Save this for your shortlist, and if you're not sure which suits your fence line, soil and aspect, that's exactly what our design consultations are for.

03/09/2026

Some gifts get worn once. Some get planted.

If Dad's a garden person, bring him into the nursery and let him pick something out. Half the pleasure is the walk around, deciding.

We're open 8:30–4 this Friday and Saturday, so there's time to get in before Sunday.