Bringing your garden to life

Ever wondered how to attract wildlife to your backyard?
 

Whether you’re after birds, frogs, butterflies, bees or other
backyard critters you can get all the tips at this year’s
Queensland Garden Expo at the Nambour Showgrounds from July
6-8.

The Living Backyard feature was a new addition to the Expo last
year and received a fantastic response from the over 30,000
visitors flocking to the event, so the feature will be even
bigger this year supported by a number of speaker sessions and
kids activities.

Michael Gilles, Nature Conservation Officer at the Sunshine Coast
Council who co-ordinates the feature area said visitors can get
tips on how to bring their garden to life and create their own
living backyard from the experts who are passionate about
preserving and enhancing the native flora and fauna within our
community.

“There is nothing better than walking into a garden that’s alive
with native fauna, whether it be beautiful butterflies, singing
frogs, buzzing bees or curious possums,” said Michael.

“We’re aiming to be Australia’s most sustainable region and part
of this is to encourage people to create natural habitats in
their backyard by providing food, protection and nesting
sites.  This display will provide inspiration and answer
lots of questions for those wondering where to start.  It’s
a great project and we encourage the whole family to get
involved.”

Marion Beazley, Expo Event Manager said the display proved one of
the most popular last year and this year’s expanded program will
include interactive displays, daily lectures and how-to
workshops, great visual displays and a range of exhibitors who
have a wealth of knowledge about backyard nature
conservation.

“There are a number of kids activities including Bug Education
where kids can see an amazing display of mounted insects, spiders
and scorpions from around the world and live Australian insects,
some of which can be handled,” said Marion.

“There are talks on building nestboxes, creating a frog-friendly
garden, backyard bushtucker and attracting native birds and bees
giving visitors lots of simple ideas to bring their garden to
life.”  

The line-up of speakers and topics include Ray Seddon, local
driving force behind preserving the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly
and Graham White from Witjuti Grub Bushfood Nursery who will
share which bushfood and native plants you can nurture and enjoy
from your garden.

Geckoes Wildlife will be on hand to show kids local Sunshine
Coast critters which can be found in backyards and Rob Raabe from
Native Bee Rescue will be speaking about how you can safely have
bees in your garden and the benefits they bring.

The Queensland Garden Expo is a three-day celebration of all
things gardening, featuring the largest range of plants in one
place, nearly 55 nurseries with over 40,000 plants on sale every
day as well as a huge range of gardening products.  Not only
for the most ardent of gardeners, the Expo is a fun day out for
the whole family.

For more information on what’s on at this year’s Queensland
Garden Expo, please visit www.qldgardenexpo.com.au.

Five simple tips to bring wildlife to your garden

1. It doesn’t matter what type of garden you have, we can all
contribute to the survival and wellbeing of our local
wildlife.
2. Select a range of plants that will provide a variety of
different food types throughout the year – pollen, seeds, fruit
and leaves.
3. Provide a range of habitats by ensuring your plants grow at
different heights.
4. Install some nesting boxes.
5. Build a frog pond.

Permanent Link: Bringing your garden to life

Publish Date: 07 Jun 12

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