Our own local plant hero: Pultenaea maritima 'Flat As'

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Pultenaea 'Flat As' 

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Norries Headland, Cabarita Beach

Pultenaea marítima in its natural habitat on Norries Headland

Why is Pultenaea ‘Flat As’ such a special little plant? Well, theres more than meets the eye with this great native ground cover and it’s a story that Grounded is proud to tell.

Cabarita Beach is situated on the Tweed Coast and is blessed with a magnificent natural environment. One of the highlights is Norrie’s Headland, an iconic piece of our local landscape, 400 million years in the making. Norrie’s is home to a serious diversity of native plants that survive and flourish amongst the harshest of conditions. One of these is Pultenaea maritima, officially listed as a vulnerable species and restricted to the grassland communities found on headlands along the coast of New South Wales, north of Newcastle.

In 2013, the owners and staff at the east coast's leading native wholesale nursery, Gondwana Nursery and Gardening Australia's Angus Stewart, came to Cabarita and were taken on a walking tour of some of our native bushland with Grounded's owner Christian Ellis. One visit was Norries Headland, where samples of Pultenea maritima were taken by the staff at Gondwana in the hope of ongoing propagation. The results were brilliant and Gondwana officially released Pultenea ‘Flat As’ in 2014 to the wider plant market, helping increase the species chances of survival. A fantastic result and a credit to Joy, Gahan and crew at Gondwana Nursery.

Pultenea ‘Flat As’ is your very own piece of Norries Headland that you can have in your home garden... which is pretty special!

For more information on Pultenaea maritime, go here: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspeciesapp/profile.aspx?id=10939 

You can also visit the Gondwana Nursery on Facebook and Angus Stewart's fantastic native plant website.

Some Like It Hot! Disphyllum Sunburn.

There's no doubt across the Tweed Coast its been hot lately, even considering we are heading into April. The heat and the humidity not only knocks us around, but plants can find things a bit difficult as well. However, there are some plants that just love it hot! 

Just arrived this morning is a fantastic new native succulent called Sunburn. Sunburn loves it hot. Sunburn is a brilliant addition to any local garden and a must have for native plant enthusiasts.

A compact groundcover with bright yellow flowers throughout much of the year, Sunburn represents the green and the gold of Australia. While we usually associate plants in the succulent group as being from outside Australia, we do have a number of succulent species spread across the country, all humble and tough but most flower magnificently.

Locally, just think about Pigface (Carprobrotus spp), common along our coastal dunes as the best example we have of a native succulent. Sunburn makes a welcome addition to any garden, growing on sand or clay, flowering year round and tolerant of just about any conditions you could throw it at, including humidity plus Sunburn has no weed potential.

Imagine the possibilities Sunburn and a combination of white and pink native Pigface, could offer in your garden ! 

Many thanks to Gondwana Nursery and for more information on Sunburn please go here:  http://australiansucculents.com/articles-news/xdisphyllum-sunburn-new-hybrid

Compost… the shampoo of gardening!

Yes, it’s quite conceivable to relate shampoo and compost. Shampoo helps maintain healthy and vibrant hair, full of life and helping you get great results. Compost does exactly the same for your garden, the essential ingredient to creating a healthy and vibrant soil that allows your plants, herbs and veggies to thrive!

Everyone needs it but not everyone knows it!

Successful gardening requires many things, time, patience, learning, hands on and lots of trial and error but there is one factor that can make success just that more attainable… COMPOST!

The life of your soil is critical to getting a garden growing and thriving. It’s one of the most important ingredients to a healthy soil life and one of the main principles behind sustainable gardening practices. Compost or humus, is the natural product that results from the process known as composting.

Composting has been recorded in history from around 10,000 years ago and is a natural process of decomposition of organic material, particularly garden waste, kitchen scraps, grass clippings, leaves, manures, straw… breaking down through microbial action to produce humus or compost as we know it.

Compost has so many benefits for garden soil, Black Gold you could call it. Not strictly a garden fertiliser, compost is a soil conditioner that can quickly turn a lifeless and unenthusiastic soil into a buzz of activity, with you and your plants the beneficiaries.

• Compost contains macro and micronutrients quite often absent in synthetic fertilizers and Compost releases these nutrients slowly—over months or years, unlike synthetic fertilizers.
• Compost helps sandy soil retain water and nutrients and builds organic matter quicker than anything else. This is particularly important for gardens on the coastal strip.
• Compost loosens and breaks up a clay soil with repeat applications, making clay soils easier to work and more nutrients available so roots can spread, water drain & air penetrate.
• Compost encourages healthy root systems.

Compost is full of life and adds it to your soil. All of the bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms integral to the composting process contribute to your soil life, making it healthier and your plants stronger and less prone to disease and pests.

Regular applications of compost to any garden soil will prove extremely beneficial in the short and long term, especially for home veggie gardens where you will see fantastic results almost immediately.

Compost is produced in two ways, and available in two ways, commercially and privately.

1. Commercial composting is a thorough, scientific and registered process that produces fantastic composts, usually available in bags.
2. At home there are a number of different ways to compost. All of the methods are a fantastic way to produce your own compost and reduce green and food waste at home.

Grounded always uses 30 litre BFA (Biological Farmers Association) Certified Organic Compost from Amgrow, to make sure you get the best results in the home garden.