As the majority of the plants in my garden are less than 12 months old, I cant really expect them to be 3 metres tall, and no amount of wishing will make it so. Fertiliser, compost and vast amounts of water may work on exotics but I agree with Don Burke that 'pushing' natives can result in a short-lived plant that never quite reaches its full potential.

Love him or hate him, Don has created a fantastic example of what you can do with rocky soil and hard yakka (his grevillea garden is particularly fantastic), so its back to the blood-and-bone for me. Oh, and maybe a little Osomocote around the lillypillies :)

Cheers,

Artie

Maybe you need a load of crushed sandstone as well.

I have had another grevillea die, I am beginning to think they are not such a good buy.

Popi

Popi - if I could start again, I would emulate Don's efforts with the crushed sandstone etc, and have nothing *other* than Proteas in the mound : as it is, I have sprinkled Banksia and Grevillea amidst Callistemon and myrtles - all plants with different food and water requirements. For all that, I havent lost a grevillea yet, and my Saw Banksias must be some of the toughest proteas out there ...

Greg - local provenance would be awesome, *if* I could get reliable information out of many of the locals. Have been trying to source the Byfield Fern, and I believe there is a Byfield Grevillea : other than that, some of my natives are reputed to be 'native to Central Queensland', but that roughly equates to 'native to Victoria' when you compare area/climate/topography in this region. Although Rocky's climate does seem to be heading more toward Emerald than Gladstone these days ....

pos02 - at this stage, I am still trying to establish the 'fast-growing canopy' : I dream of the day when I can give the understorey that all-important dappled shade that so many plants thrive in. Of all the plants that I've tried, the lillipillies are the only ones that seem to have really taken off, although my bottelbrushes are now coming on strong (nice and thick - just need more height). I'm not too impressed with my tropical Grevillea at the moment - they need a good prune, but I'm not willing to risk sunburn - but my groundcover 'toothbrush' Grevillea are doing fantastically well. I replaced the sole wattle that I owned (Acacia Simsii) with a Syzygium Angophoroides about a month ago - the wattle had shown no sign of growth after 6 months in the same place. I have seen them growing in my area, so it may have simply been poor positioning.

The 'Robyn Gordon' is particularly sapling-like at the moment, and I long to prune it back, but I fear that the heat will make short work of any plant with depleted foliage.

If I ever finish clearing out the filing cabinet, I might find some species lists from out The Caves way, which relate to N. Rocky. But I'm sure as your micro-climates develop, the softer of the Byfield spp will do well for you too. I see in the Mackay SGAP book I was quoting from earlier G.venusta common named as Byfield Spider Flower. Could be the grevillea you have heard of? G. venusta is a parent I believe of G. Orange Marmelade which does well around M'kay.

Off to plant a displaced Brachychiton volunteer while it's raining.
Rose

I know exactly how you feel. To compensate for this, I have satiated my impatience with annuals - which I liquid fertilise. Sunflowers have been particularly rewarding - a few are almost 6ft. I know it is a bit childish, but it really helps me feel like a gardener.

My native tubes are pathetic, but the ones which are about 4 yrs old are fantastic. I had grevillea thelamanniana from tubestock get to over 1 mt tall and 2 - 3 m wide. The long flowering marlock eucy is now at max height (is about 4-5 yrs old) at about 4 ms and looks great...

All in all, I lack patience big time... sunflowers are helping with this emotional difficiency.

Aggie

Aggie - sunflowers ? Its a novel idea, but I'm prepared to wait for the trees and shrubs to take off, particularly now that we've finally had rain !

God left out patience when He made me... ;)

Aggie

It's probably best to hold off manuring until you feel there is going to be some rain, though.

Thanks - I will fertilise my midyims. Extremely excited about them, bought another 3 yesterday - sad really.

Aggie

It is a waste of time getting worked up over a unco-operative plant or a harmful change in the weather; we just have to ride with it. Plants will always react differently to my expectations but that makes my pleasures (successes) even greater.

I reckon gardening can be a great teacher of many excellent Human virtues.