Rob loves his urban wildlife oasis
By: Michael Fox
Walking into Rob Lucas’ Pollinator Link® garden is like walking into an oasis for wildlife. Shady and cool it is also an oasis calm for people.
Gardens like Rob’s, support the volunteer restoration work of groups like Melrose Park Bushcare by providing water, food and shelter for wildlife moving through the urban habitat.
Tusked Frog and frog eggs
Water for wildlife is an important component of creating the cool micro-habitat of this garden.
A discarded child’s clam-shell has been used to create a frog pond large enough to host attractive water plants like Water Snowflake Nymphoides indica indigenous to south-east Queensland. Check with your local Community Nursery
Old cook pot re-purposed as frog pond.
Evidence of success is a raft of frog eggs and a Tusked Frog Adelotus brevis hiding among the leaves.
You can build a frog pond. A frog pond does not need to be expensive or even large. Evan an old cook pot can find a new life creating habitat for wildlife in the backyard.
Maintain some open water to encourage dragonflies to visit your garden. Dragonflies are beneficial insects providing free 24/7 pest control for you garden, with adult dragonflies feeding on mosquitoes and nymphs feeding on mosquito larvae in the water.
Blue-banded Bees Amegilla sp. are another special beneficial insect providing buzz pollination for your vegetable garden.
Australia has over 2,000 species of solitary bees, like the Blue-banded Bee. Solitary bees do not form colonies like Stingless Native Bees Tetragonula sp. or European Honey Bees Apis mellifera. You can make your own Backyard Bee Home to provide Shelter for these valuable pollinators.
Wax Flower Vine Hoya australis
Wax Flower Vine Hoya australis is a hardy versatile attractive native climber that does flowers well in sun but will tolerate deep shade and growing in pots or hanging baskets.
Food plant for Common Crow Euploea core butterfly caterpillars.
Dome Tent Spiders Cyrtophora moluccensis create webs peaked in a shape like a circus tent.
Spiders and moths like the Two-spots Tiger Moth Asota plagiata are food for birds like the Tawny Frogmouth Podargus strigoides family nesting in the trees.
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