Open garden: Illawarra Grevillea Park natives in the wild

Take yourself for a picnic in the Illawarra Grevillea Park and appreciate native plants in a natural setting.

‘People ooh and aah at the spectacular stuff that’s out in flower.’

Illawarra Grevillea Park, Rear of Bulli Showgrounds, off Princes Highway, Bulli, NSW. Ray Brown, park founder and manager. Open 10am to 4pm, today, tomorrow, and September 12 and 13. Adults $5; accompanying children free. grevilleapark.org

DESCRIBE THE PARK: It covers 2.4ha of a 16ha property, in northern Wollongong, about an hour’s drive south of Sydney, but unlike many native gardens the beds are very defined, like a botanic garden.

We have a whole range of Australian plants, centring on grevillea species. The park aims to encourage the appreciation and study of native plants.

It holds the living collection for the Grevillea Study Group, which is associated with the Australian Plants Society, as well as collections for the Westringia and Prostanthera Study Groups. It’s also an area where the public can see and appreciate the use of native plants and it’s a nice place to have a picnic.

At the back of the property is a natural rainforest area accessible all year that is popular with walkers. The enclosed section is open only 12 days a year; this weekend and the next are our last open weekends this year.

WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL: It’s a real display garden. People ooh and aah at the spectacular stuff that’s out in flower. There’s a 50m-long bank of broad-leafed grevilleas that is just a big block of colour when you first walk in the gates.

We also have two grevillea cultivars that arose from seedlings in the park that we named ‘Bulli Beauty’ and ‘Bulli Princess’. We sell them here on open days, which help raise money for the park.

BIGGEST CHALLENGES: Some species from the west are hard to grow as they won’t tolerate our humidity, heavy soils and high rainfall, so they are grafted on to rootstocks of local species.

I’m a specialist propagator, nurseryman and professional gardener so the park has been set up pretty well since we started it 28 years ago. It relies on a volunteer workforce who put in countless hours to maintain the park. Fortunately at the moment we have quite a good level of volunteers but new people are always welcome.

FAVOURITE PART: We created a little garden out of great big pipes cut into sections. It commemorates voyages of discovery by Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin for the English and French in 1800-05.

WHAT’S LOOKING GOOD: There’s a big patch of hovea that will knock your eye out. It has flowered quite early this year and it’s just a big blob of blue.

EXTRAS: The park has picnic and toilet facilities, and visitors get a map showing the layout when they enter. The enclosed park and its walkways are wheelchair and pram-friendly, while the rainforest walk, which takes about 45 minutes, is not.

Light refreshments are available in the chapel, a historic building that was moved here to save it. We have a range of native plants for sale, particularly grevilleas and including some rare ones, and sell second-hand books on growing native plants.