Native Garden Habitat

CLIENT: CITY OF STIRLING

Project name: Creating a Native Habitat Garden Workshop

Location: Westminster Community Garden, corner Balcombe and Lindfield Streets, Westminster

Project description/Scope:

The SERCUL Education and Promotion team were requested by the City of Stirling to provide a quote for presenting a Native Habitat Garden Workshop. This workshop was part of a series of workshops to be presented over autumn 2014 by the City of Stirling. A City of Stirling staff member saw the SERCUL frog habitat display at the Perth Garden Festival, and after learning of SERCUL staff members knowledge and experience in constructing habitat gardens, thought that SERCUL staff would be ideal to present the Native Habitat Garden Workshop.

The City of Stirling expected a workshop that would cover the following topics:

  • Why create a habitat garden?
  • Native animals – frogs, birds, insects, lizards, Carnaby’s
  • What to make and how – imitating nature
  • For – food, nesting/roosting, breeding
  • Plant types, flowers, nectar, logs/debris, rocks, leaf litter/mulch
  •  Seasonal considerations – local native plants flowering all year round
  • Construct a frog habitat (pond and bog) that will also be suitable for birds, insects and lizards with the residents at the location chosen.

The 2.5 hour workshop was held on a Saturday morning with 35 local residents attending. A verbal presentation was made and handouts were provided that covered the topics above that the City of Stirling expected from the workshop. Frogs were the main focus of the presentation and the SERCUL preserved frogs and photos were used during the presentation. This was followed by the hands on part of the workshop where the participants helped to construct a frog pond and bog, local native plants were planted and rocks and logs were placed around the area to provide habitat for frogs, insects, reptiles and birds. During this hands on part of the workshop the different habitat requirements of the animals that would be attracted to the garden were also discussed.

The City of Stirling and SERCUL worked together on this workshop to achieve the outcomes of educating the public on how to create a native habitat garden and installed a native habitat garden at a community facility where local residents could benefit from it. Clear communication between the organisations meant that both the City of Stirling and SERCUL knew exactly what their role was and what they needed to provide at the workshop. The City of Stirling organised and advertised the workshop and provided some of the materials required to construct the habitat area. The SERCUL provided expertise in habitat construction including a plan of what the finished area would look like and also provided other materials and plants that were required on the day.

Referee/Testimonial: Julia Christensen, Sustainability Project Officer, City of Stirling

“I thought the workshop went really well. It was a larger group than expected, which more than anything is a good indication that residents are keen for more of this sort of thing. But for the future I think we need to keep it down to 20-25 people. Although I think it was made workable this time and they essentially built the garden in about 1 hour!

Initially I thought that your presentation may have gone too long – especially as it was really cold for everyone to be sitting. But it seemed to work out OK as the native garden was built very quickly! From what I did hear and see it seemed interesting and engaging.

Jo popped by the garden yesterday and said she thinks it looks great. She’s pretty happy with it.

Overall I think it went really well. I only heard positive feedback. People thoroughly enjoying getting in and doing the work”.

ClientCity of Stirling