I am thrilled to unveil a couple of videos to you all. I have been lucky enough to work with Focus Films and also with Angus Stewart from Gardening Australia, on a series of videos entitled 'Angus's Plants for Aussie Birds'. In this series Angus will highlight some specific native plants that are great for birds and encourage you to investigate locally native plants for your region.
The first 2 videos are 2 Banksias (ericifolia and spinulosa). We will also be shooting some more videos in a couple of weeks but I don't want to give away what the plants are just yet. Go to BIBY TV or the page on the BIBY website to watch them.
BIBY is thrilled to have Angus on board helping to support native birds through gardening.
Highly encouraging, Holly. I love the idea of birds & other native creatures being an integral part of a garden rather than just visitors.
One suggestion I have is that Angus avoids pruning dried flower heads from Banksias. Left in place those dried flower heads will develop seeds which will attract yellow-tailed black cockatoos.
That was something I thought of too Woko (but it had been shot by that stage) - though elsewhere he does mention that the dead seed heads are great for parrots
Hi guys,
Just a quick rant on my behalf,his idea of removing the old flower head I think was more directed at the dwarf Banksia and in the inital plants growth as this will produce a more dence shurb which I have followed with much success.Then he was standing next to a larger form with numerous seed heads which he did mention was a good food source for parrots.One thing we have to remember is that native plants have always been pruned by nature be it bush fires or consumed by plant eaters so if we don't prune back the foliage or flower heads we end up with a weaker plant in the short term and produce less food for the birds in the long term.
Hi Prsimpson, your interpretation is from someone who knows this information - for someone who does not and to whom the video is directed it is slightly confusing and could lead to harder pruning than is necessary or ideal. However, the video is great and appreciated as I love Banksias and it will at the very least get people to consider growing them in surburban gardens and that is a very good thing.
Alison
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"the earth is not only for humans, but for all animals and living things."
That's an intersting thought, prsimpson. I guess if there are no natural browsers around then a human pruning of a native plant may well be a good substitute. However, I'm not sure that there would be many natural browsers which would eat Banskia flowers. Or even Banksia leaves, most of which are very tough. It would have to be a very specialised browser (such as the koala is in relation to certain Eucalyptus species) to deal with a Banksia, I imagine. However, other members might have information to correct my impression.