Journal of the Australian Native Plants Society Canberra region (Inc)
DAG South Coast Garden Trip, August 2025
By Stephen Saunders, Vice President, ANPSC
Photos by Stephen Saunders
As a keen but barely competent native-plants gardener, I’ve never paid enough attention to the Day Activity Group (DAG) events and excursions of ANPS Canberra. Here was a chance to make amends. Holding a NSW South Coast house for decades, I’ve visited wonderful native-plant gardens down there. And grown my own of sorts, a mix of large on-site eucalypts, my own plantings and natural strikes. The local casuarina I once planted is huge now.
Many parts of Australia talk benevolent climate. Few walk it like the South Coast. My village of Dalmeny rarely strays much outside the 8–28C range. Though this coast can be dry, and its soils can be iffy, seasons since the huge 2019–20 fires have been wet.
Through three garden visits over two days, a drenching always threatened but never quite happened.
We began at the sought-after beach enclave of Lilli Pilli, not far south of Batemans Bay. Our hosts, Sue and Peter McMaster, weren’t native-plant savvy upon first moving to their small clay/weed heavy sloping block four years ago.
Sue mentioned the benevolent influence of the plant experts and plants available from nearby Eurobodalla Botanic Garden (EBG). Undervalued initially by Council, EBG has come more into its own as a local asset and tourist attraction ever since its narrow squeak with the fires.
The top part of the block has quickly become a haven for visiting native birds. Of course, there is a lilly pilly, a good variety of wattles and grevilleas, also a rarely seen Lysiosepalum (mallow) from Southwest WA.
Having enjoyed a sumptuous morning tea, we also looked at the neighbour’s excellent orchid garden across the road.
Lunching further south at Mossy Point, we crossed Candlagan Creek into Broulee, to the house(s) and garden of Don and Julie Beattie. Over 25 years ago, they’d started off with a large (2700 sq m) flat block, on old sand dunes, being used as a horse paddock. There were and are local species extant, such as banksia and bangalay (Eucalyptus botyroides). With their daughter’s brand-new architect-designed house adding to the cabin they’d built, and with rock landscaping and weed-resistant built-up garden beds, they’ve created their own peaceful micro-environment.
As if on cue, a flock of yellow-tailed black cockatoos greeted us. We also saw a bowerbird and king-parrots.
As at Lilli Pilli, it was emphasised, you need an astute variety of plantings, if you don’t want wattlebirds taking over.
Among the groundcovers and tall trees, there are plenty of bright hakea, grevillea, phebalium, hibbertia and hovea. The last two, in the form of tallish specimens from WA and NSW respectively, were flowering splendidly. According to Don, the yellow hibbertia flowers all year.
A small area at the back of the block has been transformed into a close-packed rainforest haven, covering ferns, cycads, shrubs, and quite tall trees.
Watching out for leeches, we checked out Queensland or QLD/NSW specimens such as the showy golden-penda tree (Xanthostemum chrysanthus), Burdekin plum (Pleiogynium timorense), brown tamarind (Atractocarpus fitzlannii), Hope’s cycad (Lepidozamia hopei), and brown tuckeroo (Cupaniopsis flagelliformis).
Also evident were South Coast natives such as pencil-cedar (Polyscias) and bolwarra (Eupomatia).
After this memorable final visit, most of us repaired to Narooma, for lunch.
Thanks again to the hospitable and knowledgeable gardeners, who were conversational to a fault, and the grand organisational skills of DAG Coordinating Committee.
The second day took us further south again, to Mystery Bay village, a short distance off the highway, in between Narooma and Tilba.
Rob Golding and Lyn Warner have been on their 1400 sq m block for 15 years.
It’s a tale in two parts, with the front yard given over a bird-friendly shrub and small-tree garden, replete with WA/SA exemplars I wouldn’t dream of trying at my own block.
Who knew wallabies will munch ordinary plant tags, but not the hardy yellow plastic placards. These made it easy to identify items like Grevillea synophae and G. bronweniae, Eremophila subfloccosa and E. hygropohana, also wattles and hakeas.
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