The Community Environment Network (CEN) has a new Wildplant Nursery Manager, Xamina Mitchell, whose passion for native flora is contagious.
“I started bush regeneration as a trainee with the Green Army in 2016, I applied with very little knowledge of ecological restoration practices but was excited at the thought of working in the outdoors,” Mitchell said.
“I had always been fascinated by bushland and was aware that it would be a challenge but also a great learning opportunity.”
Her initial interest has turned into a commitment to wildplant gardening that she is now poised to introduce to the whole Central Coast community.
“My journey toward native gardening began three years ago when I first started volunteering with CEN’s wildplant nursery,” she said.
“I had just moved into a rental which had no gardens and it only seemed right to create my own habitat for wildlife, consisting mostly of local endemic species, located in the heart of the Central Coast’s Woy Woy peninsula.”
Mitchell spent three years working as a member of CEN’s busy bush regeneration team and was a clear choice for the position of nursery manager, which she accepted four months ago.
She said one of the many parts of the new position that she loved was helping people find the right natives for their properties or gardens based on preference, soil, aspect and surrounding plant communities.
Another of her plans for the future of the CEN Wildplant Nursery at Ourimbah is for it to become a hub for endemic indigenous bush foods but that is a longer-term goal requiring licensing and approval.
“In a society where everything is pre-packaged, mass produced, chemical laden and outsourced from overseas, I cannot think of a better motivator to grow native foods,” she said.
“Bush foods aren’t a fad, they shouldn’t be trendy.
“They have been and always will be a means of survival and nutrition, sourced from a land which is abundant in what it provides.”
In the meantime, Mitchell is taking great joy in putting her principles and philosophies into practice in the nursery.
She wants to obtain licensing to collect seed and propagate threatened species, such as Melaleuca biconvexa, to assist the endangered ecological communities located within the Central Coast.
Working with a band of volunteers, Mitchell has focused on making sure the seed propagation and cuttings program at CEN’s larger nursery, located at Tacoma, was going to deliver the stock and variety of plants needed for the mega Christmas sale on Saturday, December 2.
“The volunteers and I have nurtured these plants until they settled their roots into bare soil, created mycorrhizal relationships, and provided fruitful purpose from people’s own nurturing,” she said.
“I’m excited to announce that we will finally have grevilleas, as they’re often requested.
“My focus has been on shrubs and ground covers, since people are most comfortable with smaller plants in their gardens.”
These include Correa, Brachyscome, Hardenbergia, Cordyline, Westringia, Dichondra, Scaveola, Hibbertia, Breynia, Goodenia, Swamp Lily and Gymea Lily.
There are also some beautiful gum trees including Angophora hispida, Corymbia maculata, native ginger (Alpinia caerulea), native guava (Eupomatia laurina) and native Plum Pine (Podocarpus elatus).
Mitchell has completed her Certificate III in Conservation and Ecosystem Management.
Have a chat with her about your garden, soil type and growing preferences at the Wildplant Nursery Sale this Saturday, 9am to 12pm, off Loop Rd, Ourimbah Campus of University of Newcastle.
A range of Christmas goodies will also be on sale along with upcycled clothes, books and household items.