Thursday, July 3, 2025

Environment & Sustainability

Recycling

Recycling-truck drivers enjoy recycled gardens 

By Bruce Thompson

Encountering raised garden beds where corn, tomatoes, beans, lettuce and parsley are growing, isn’t something you expect to see when you’re offloading your truck full of recycling bin items at a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), and yet this is the experience of truck drivers who visit Mackay Regional Council’s facility.Continue reading

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Environment & SustainabilityPest and Diseases

Pest insects: home grown or exotic?

By Denis Crawford

Most cultivated plants are attacked by a mixture of introduced and native insect pests. You may be surprised which pests are the native ones.

I recently found some caterpillars chewing into the leaves and stems of my climbing guinea flower, Hibbertia scandens.… Continue reading

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Environment & SustainabilityRecycling

Recycling education and its impact on horticulture

By Bruce Thompson

As a waste educator who is also a horticulturist, the talks I give on resource recovery at Mackay Regional Council’s Materials Recovery Facility are very much skewed towards connecting people back to mother nature as a means of reducing what goes to landfill.Continue reading

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Conservation

Raising Rarity: A community approach to plant conservation

By Dr Megan Hirst, Russell Larke and Matthew Henderson

Raising Rarity aims to increase public knowledge and awareness of rare plants and plant communities throughout Victoria. The project uses an innovative approach to save rare and threatened flora by assessing the horticultural potential of rare species, introducing these species into cultivation, providing an opportunity for home gardeners to grow these plants at home, and contribute to the ongoing conservation of these species.Continue reading

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Conservation

Giving new life to some of WA’s most endangered flora

By David Lullfitz

National Threatened Species Day is held in September each year and provides a fantastic opportunity to shine a spotlight on the importance of protecting some of our nation’s rarest flora. This year, Plantrite used the day to launch a new initiative which will encourage Western Australians to roll up their sleeves and play a hands-on role in the conservation of endangered plant species.Continue reading

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Environment & SustainabilityPest and Diseases

Pollination at night

By Denis Crawford

The value of night pollinating insects has long been overlooked, but recent studies show just how important nocturnal insects are for horticultural production.

Information about crop pollination is nearly always dominated by the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) and how vital that particular insect is to the food that we eat.… Continue reading

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