The Keith Moore Habitat Garden

Keith Naylor, a landscape designer and former Mt Tomah Botanical Gardens staff member, provided the technical expertise to create the habitat garden.

Over eight weeks, the garden was developed through hard work, heavy machinery and volunteer working bees.

Keith Naylor explains -

"The aim of the design was to develop a unique Australian native garden that displayed the local natural environment. The garden was to be accessible to the public, especially the disabled. It was important to retain and have minimal disturbance to the existing frog habitat amongst the established native reeds and bulrushes, but, at the same time, to create other types of habitats around the edges of the designated area.

"Local native plant species are being used to form the themed vegetation types - Grassland, Dune Woodland/Heath, Heathland, Shrubland and Sedgeland. The plants selected where possible, are botanically significant for the local area, horticulturally suited to the site and aesthetically pleasing.

"Finally, the design needed to take into consideration that the construction, planting and long-term maintenance of the garden were to be completed by volunteers. This encouraged the creation of a water-wise design that will demonstrate how native plants can be used in gardens."

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