Birds in Backyards

Plant and garden resources

Find a native plant, identify a local flower, locate a native plant nursery or plan your garden using our list of resources, including books, field guides, plant societies, nursery contact details and links.

Plant and garden books

Some of the best books around on plants and gardens, from technical manuals to fun bird books for kids.

Garden planning and design

Bailey, R. and Lake, J. 2001. Gardening with Australian Rainforest Plants. Blooming Books, Melbourne.

Cushing, Helen. 2005. Beyond Organics, Gardening for the Future. ABC Books, Sydney.

Elliot, Gwen. 1984. Colour Your Garden with Australian Plants. Hyland House, Melbourne.

Hunt, J.M. 1986. Creating an Australian Garden. Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst.

Molyneux, B. and Macdonald, R. 1993. Native Gardens, How to Create an Australian Landscape. Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst.

Snape, Diana 1992. Australian Native Gardens, Putting Visions into Practice. Lothian, Melbourne.

Snape, Diana 2002. The Australian Garden, Designing with Australian Plants. Blooming Books, Melbourne.

Stewart, Angus 1999. Let's Propagate! A Plant propagation manual for Australia. ABC Books, Sydney.

Thompson, Paul. 2002. Australian Planting Design. Lothian, Melbourne.

Urquhart, Paul 1999. The new Native Garden. Designing with Australian Plants. Lansdowne, Sydney.

Windust, A. 2003. Waterwise House and Garden: a guide for sustainable living. Landlinks, Collingwood.

Jones, D. L. and Elliot, W. R. 1986. Pests, Diseases and Ailments of Australian Plants; with suggestions for their control. Lothian Publishing Co P/L.

McMaugh, Judy 1986 What Garden Pest or Disease is That? Lansdowne.

Attracting birds and other wildlife

Grant, J. et al (1997) The Nestbox Book. Gould League of Vic. Available from The Birding Shop, Birds Australia, Melbourne Ph: 03 9882 2622 or the Gould League.

Adams, G.M. 1980. Birdscaping Your Garden. Rigby, Adelaide.

Pizzey, G. 1988 A Garden of Birds. Attracting Birds to Australian Gardens. Angus and Robertson, Sydney.

Casey, K 1996. Attracting Frogs to Your Garden: creating an ideal habitat for native frogs in your own backyard. Kimberley Publications. PO Box 6095, Upper Mount Gravatt Qld 4122. [this book includes information on birds].

Plant books

Australian Daisy Study Group. 2002. Everlasting Daisies of Australia. Shannon Books, Melbourne.

Hall, N and L.A.S. Johnson. 1993. The Names of Acacias of New South Wales with a Guide to Pronunciation of Botanical Names. Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.

Harden, G (ed) 1992. Flora of New South Wales vol 3. UNSW Press.

Harden, G (ed) 1993. Flora of New South Wales vol 4. UNSW Press.

Harden, G (ed) 2000. Flora of New South Wales, vol 1. UNSW Press, 2nd edition.

Harden, G (ed) 2002. Flora of New South Wales, vol 2. UNSW Press, 2nd edition.

Harden, G.J., D.W. Hardin and D.C. Godden (eds) 2000. Proteaceae of New South Wales. University of NSW and Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.

Howell, J. and D. Benson. 2000. Sydney's Bushland - more than meets the eye. Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.

Howell, J., L. McDougall and D. Benson. 1995. Riverside Plants of the Hawkesbury-Nepean. Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.

Tame, Terry 1992. Acacias of Southeast Australia. Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst.

Wrigley, J. and Fagg, M. 1989. Banksias, Waratahs and Grevilleas. Collins, Sydney.

Wrigley, J. and Fagg, M. 1993. Bottlebrushes, Paperbarks and Tea Trees. Angus and Robertson, Sydney.

Wrigley, J. and Fagg, M. 1996. Australian Native Plants. 4th edition. Reed Books, Melbourne.

Plant fieldguides

Baker, M. and Corringham, R. 2004. Native Plants of the Blue Mountains. 2nd edition. Bowerbird Books, Winmalee.

Benson, D. and Howell, J. 1991. Rare Bushland Plants of Western Sydney. Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

Benson, D., J. Howell and L. McDougall. 1996. Mountain Devil to Mangrove: a Guide to Natural Vegetation of the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment. Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.

Benson, D. and J. Howell. 1995. Taken for Granted: the Bushland of Sydney and its Suburbs. Kangaroo Press.

Fairley, A. and Moore, P. 1989. Native Plants of the Sydney District. An Identification Guide. Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst.

Howell, J. and Benson, D. 2000. Sydney's Bushland. More than Meets the Eye. Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

Robertson, Les 1994. Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney. Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst.

Plant and garden links

Vegetation, climate and soils

Find sites that map vegetation, explain Australian climates or teach us about soils and their formation.

National Parks and Wildlife Service: Sydney Basin sub-regions
Find out about the soils and vegetation in your area.

Plant nurseries and garden supplies

Find lists of local native nurseries and links to garden suppliers.

Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants: Nursery List
Find a list of nurseries supplying Australian native plants, including online suppliers.

Nursery and Garden Industry Australia
the peak body for the Nursery and Garden Industry in Australia, this site includes information for members of the industry and for home gardeners

Plant and garden organisations

Societies and associations that promote plants and their cultivation.

Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants
The Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants (ASGAP) is made up of seven independent, non-profit, Regional Societies, and fosters the interchange of ideas and information throughout Australia. The site links to all regional groups as well as providing plenty of plant and gardening information.

Australian Plants Society: New South Wales
Aims to foster and promote appreciation, study and participation in growing and propagating Australian native plants. Their site includes plenty of resources, including links, publications and plant lists.

Sustainable Gardening Australia
A not-for-profit organisation providing advice on low-impact sustainable gardening practices. Includes information on plants, plant and soil health and water conservation.

Greenweb
An initiative of the combined Sydney Regional Organisations of Councils (ROCs) that promotes the establishment of a green web of native vegetation to protect, conserve and enhance remnant bushland in the Sydney region. Includes links to council sites and biodiversity resources.

Botanic gardens and herbaria

Locate Australian botanic gardens or visit a herbarium site to identify plants and find plenty of resources on cultivation and propagation.

Botanic Gardens Trust, Sydney
Includes the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney and all associated Gardens, research organisations and other services.

Botanic Gardens Trust: Herbarium and services
The National Herbarium of New South Wales houses the State reference library of over a million preserved plants.

Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG)
The mission of the ANBG is to grow, study and promote Australia's flora.

Australia's Virtual Herbarium
An on-line botanical information resource that is a collaborative project of the State, Commonwealth and Territory herbaria.

Plant lists

Get lists of plants that will grow in your local area.

The Wolli Creek Preservation Society: plant lists
Lists of the wildlife habitat plants of the Wolli Valley area.

North Sydney Council: native plants of North Sydney
Includes plant lists for the Middle Harbour and Port Jackson catchments.

Gardening information

Plenty of links to tips about gardening, saving water, choosing plants and designing your garden.

Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney: Gardening help and fact sheets
Fact sheets include the following topics: Growing native plants in Sydney, growing flannel flowers, growing the New South Wales Waratah and growing paper daisies.

Sydney Water: Saving Water in Your Garden
Some general tips on how to save water when gardening.

Sydney Water: Plant Selector
Choose plants for your garden rated by their water use efficiency.

Melbourne Water: Waterwise gardens
Includes information on what to plant and how to save water.

Australian National Botanic Gardens: About Australian plants
This site contains information about commonly grown native plants, including cultivation notes.

ABC: Gardening Australia
This site has extensive resources on gardening, including fact sheets, program transcripts and plant profiles, with information on exotics, natives and weeds.

Burkes Backyard: Fact sheets archive
A wide selection of fact sheets on gardening, weeds, conservation and a list of garden information services.

Organic gardening - insect pest & disease control
Queensland's Department of Primary Industries site provides some alternatives to synthetic chemicals for the control of insect pests and diseases in the home garden.

Nest boxes and other wildlife attractors

Build a box for a bird and keep out pests.

Birds Australia Information Sheet No.5: Nestboxes for Natives
Find out how to build a nest box for native birds in your garden and keep out pest species. {PDF}

Gould League Wildlife Cam: Dealing with pests in your garden and nestboxes
How to keep your nestbox free of pests.

Weeds

Everything you need to know about weeds, how they spread and how to control them.

Sydney Weeds Committees
Four regional weeds committees in Sydney have formed to promote a cooperative and coordinated regional approach to weed management in the region.

New South Wales Department of Primary Industries: Agriculture - Weed management
Includes weed identification, management guidelines, policy and legislation.

Weeds Australia: an Australian Weeds Committee national initiative Includes links to state weeds committees and plenty of weed information.

Sutherland Shire Council: Weed fact sheets
A series of weed fact sheets to help people identify and deal with a variety of weeds.

Jumping the Garden Fence
This CSIRO report prepared for WWF-Australia describes the major environmental and agricultural impacts of invasive garden plants and highlights the large number of these that are for sale.

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