Backyard Habitat Project

19/05/2026

23/04/2026

Beautiful spaces that attract pollinators, birds, frogs is totally worth it.... Creating those spaces in your own garden is pretty rad too.

Images .through.dharawal
bird bath
Native bee house .aus

22/03/2026

Wombarra Garden

Approaching 2 years since my first visit to this garden, I started with some plans from to get the ball rolling.

The large garden has multiple spaces spread across the sloping site, some utilised to provide a quiet place to sit, take in the views of the escarpment and watch birds come and go. (Slide 3)

Further down the slope an area was levelled to provide space for a large compost and garden workspace (Slide 1 and 6).

A pond was installed at the base of a large exposed rock (Slide 2), surrounded by vegetation with a mulch path that leads you past the pond (slide 4).

There is always plenty going on in this garden. You can be certain that something is nearby, Magpie and Grey Butcherbirds (Slide 7) often enjoy forging around after a busy gardener. Loads of butterflies, native bees, beetles and wasps are encountered regularly while even the odd dragon has been spotted having a sit on the waterfall.

17/03/2026

Yarrawarra Garden.

I have been working in this garden for a couple of years now and every visit has something to share.
The steep sloping garden out the front has a great collection of plants that the local pollinators are all about. (Slides 7, 8 and 9).

With the local bushland more abundant in this location, the garden is always busy with wildlife. The western aspect and large natural sandstone ridge is particularly attractive to reptiles. Skinks, geckos, dragons and snakes can be spotted making the most of the warm and sunny positions while the garden and deep rock crevices also provide valuable protection. (Slides 3, 5, 6 and 11)

Looking after parts of this garden is incredibly difficult. The property above is overrun with weeds that are constantly coming down the hill, wet weather makes managing the higher parts of the property pretty treacherous while hot sunny days are uncomfortable against the warming rocks.

Over time we have managed to establish a few hardy grasses and shrubs in the little patches of soil available. We have also made use of the crevices by adding a few mortar nests for some of the local pollinators to make use of. (Slides 2, 4 and 10).

25/02/2026

Woonona Garden.

This garden is tiny but has been very effective. Planted to support insect biodiversity at the client's request, here is a collection of photos from last spring.

We had a mud map from to get the ball rolling so shout out to her.

Couple of .through.dharawal images in here too.

19/12/2025

Pollinator 4 Pack available on the website (available for local pick up or delivery only).

This collection of native plants contains some of my favourites to help support native pollinators. The pack includes Hibbertia scandens (image 2), Dianella caerulea (image 3 and 5), Coleus australis (image 4,6 and 7) and Kunzea ambigua (image 8).

From tiny Reed Bees to the mega-sized Carpenter Bee, this collection will have your garden buzzing.

24/11/2025

A big weekend of visitors through our garden as part of the Edible Garden Trail. It was amazing to meet so many people who share my vision of a greener and healthier future where we can share our space with wildlife.

I would like to thank everyone who came along, we chatted about all aspects of the garden including plant species, pollinator habitat, frogs, ponds, garden design, care and cat containment.

It was wonderful to meet with people who were regular viewers of all the bird bathing videos I share of the pond (image 6 )and also to see so many of my wonderful clients who have supported my business over the last few years.

Saturday saw cooler temperatures and a pretty wet afternoon that kept most pollinators pretty quiet but that didn't stop visitors from strolling in to chat with us and the about native bees. Sunday saw much warmer and sunnier weather, those visiting on the Sunday were greeted with an abundance of pollinators including this season's first Fiddler Beetle (image 4).

The Angophora hispida (slides 3,4 and 5) was a stand out to many visitors and holds high value for those who want to support pollinators.

Many visitors were also interested in the cat enclosure (image 8) and the importance of keeping cats and wildlife safe from each other. This is what responsible cat ownership looks like and I really hope that this approach will become the norm for cat owners as governments and councils aim to improve cat containment laws in NSW.

For now it is back to building wildlife friendly gardens but hopefully in the future there will be time to hold talks and demonstrations that will inspire people to make positive changes for backyard critters.

Image 1 - me enjoying a quiet moment after the final visitors.
Image 2 - insect/bee log.
Image 7 - the sandstone path.

14/11/2025

Join the Edible Garden Trail! Your ticket to visit over 30 open gardens showcasing community gardens, school gardens, food gardens and native/habitat gardens.

Our garden will be open to ticket holders both Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd November. Our garden is located in Mount Kembla alongside a couple of other stops including , a stop worth making to re-energize as you make your way through a day packed full of garden exploration. I will be here in the garden over the whole weekend to chat native gardens and sharing space with wildlife.

On Saturday 22nd ONLY- will be set up to chat with visitors all things native bees. They will have a load of information on native bees, books for sale and examples of native bee hotels. There should also be good opportunity to see a good range of native bee species active in the garden, so if you want to learn about our native bees and see them in action, this is the opportunity you've been waiting for!

Tickets and info

20/10/2025

This Mount Kembla garden was installed a year ago. A heavy focus on supporting pollinators, this garden contains plenty of high value plants.

Scaevola, Chrysocephalum and Brachyscome provide colourful carpets. The Kunzea ambigua gives off a strong honey scent and is highly sought after by a range of pollinators. In the 45 mins I spent looking through this garden, we spotted reed bees, hoverfly and there was a constant flow of various butterflies. Evidence of resin bees and masked bees were visible in some of the bee hotels installed by the client.

Where there are healthy populations of insects you're sure to spot a few other visitors making use of the space like the Jacky Dragon (pic 5). In time, this garden will continue to provide for more wildlife as the growing plants provide additional shelter and protection.

12/10/2025

Carpenter Bees are big and loud. This female Golden-green Carpenter bee can be seen visiting Grevillea sericea cultivar (image 1), Hardenbergia violacea (image 2) and Coleus graveolens (image 3). I have seen them on Dianella caerulea and Hibbertia scandens.

The male has a golden colouring and lacks a stinger, while the metallic green female possesses a stinger which she can use to defend her nest. Females burrow into wood like that of old rotting/soft banksia wood or the flower spike found on Grass Trees.