Nursery plant list

Our modest on-site nursery specialises in producing “food forest” plants, across a wide range of species and ecosystem niches. While not a comprehensive listing, this page lists some of our highlights, either plants we love or plants you don’t often see (or both!).

Please note: our nursery can be visited in person, on appointment. We also sell plants at the local Kangaroo Valley Growers Market, the second Sunday of each month (during the warmer months). We don’t sell plants online or post them at present, sorry.

Citrus

The heart of the nursery is the production of grafted citrus trees, drawing on the wide selection of unusual citrus trees that are found throughout the property.

Trees are grafted onto rootstock that we produce from seed, and we routinely use these varieties: Trifoliata, Flying Dragon, Carrizo, Rangpur lime and Bush lemon. Each have their particular strengths.

These are some of the varieties that we typically have available (exact stock varies over time):

Common name	Scientific name	Brief description
Australian calamondin	Citrus x citrofortunella microcarpa	A compact small tree covered in a profusion of small orange fruits that are similar to a cumquat. The peel is sweet enough that the fruit can be eaten whole when fresh.
Bergamot	Citrus bergamia	This highly fragrant fruit is one of the defining elements of Earl Grey tea (in the form of dried peel). (Available full-size or dwarf.)
Chinotto	Citrus aurantium	The basis for the famous sour softdrink of the same name in Italy. Grows as a small tree covered in orange fruit that make an amazing marmalade or liquor.
Lemonade	Citrus limon x reticulata	A lemon variety that produces a large, nobbly fruit that’s sweet to eat fresh (like lemonade!).
Limello	Citrus limon	An Australian heritage variety propagated by The Citrus Guys, the fruit has a flavour that’s a cross between a lemon and a lime.
Lime, Sweet	Citrus limetta	A bushy tree that produces a fruit that’s mild and sweet with no acid. The best flavour is obtained when the fruit is green-yellow, rather than fully ripe (fully yellow).
Mandarin, Ponkanomi	Citrus reticulata shiranui	A Japanese variety that produces huge mandarins with distinctive ‘top knots’ (you’ll find this in supermarkets using a trademarked Japanese-themed name).
Orange, Persian	Citrus × sinensis	Propagated by seed from a tree grown by John Champaign of Brogo Permaculture Gardens on the NSW South Coast. Now grafted onto commercial rootstock, but considered an experiment until the fruit starts to set.
Rangpur lime	Citrus × limonia	Brought to Australian from India as a hardy roostock, this is the toughest, fastest growing and most prolific citrus in our orchard! Fruit has a complex, rounded flavour that makes it ideal for marmalade or cooking.
Sudachi	Citrus sudachi	Similar to a Yuzu, and equally prized in Japan. Used in cooking, such as using the juice as a flavourful alternative to vinegar.
Sunrise lime	Citrus hybrid	Created by the CSIRO as a cross between a native fingerlime and a calamondin. The small fruit can be eaten whole, skin and all. Grows as a small tree.
Yuzu	Citrus junos	A much-loved citrus in Japan, where it’s used in cooking, such as in Ponzu sauce. Grows as a small, upright tree. (Available full-size or dwarf.)

Other plants of note

We propagate over a hundred varieties of plants, including a range of rainforest plants (from seed collected in our own patch of rainforest) and flowering Australian natives. These are a few of the “food forest” plants that we tend to bring to the markets (or can bring down on request):

Common name	Scientific name	Brief description
Babaco	Carica pentagona	In the same family as Papaya, but are temperate rather than tropical. Often called “champaign fruit”, the large torpedo-shaped fruit have a soft consistency and a mild sherbet-like flavour. Grows very rapidly.
Bush basil	Coleus graveolens	A fast-growing fleshy-stemmed shrub that forms a dense mound. Can be used fresh in dishes, where it imparts a strong menthol taste. Can outcompete kikuyu! (Formerly a Plectranthus, before being renamed to a Coleus)
Elderflower, Black lace	Sambucus nigra	A cultivar of the true English Elderflower, this highly-decorative multi-stemmed tree has deep purple leaves and masses of pink flowers. Flowers can be used to create elderflower cordial (etc), and the fruit can also be used to make a variety of things.
Elderflower, Aurea	Sambucus nigra	A cultivar of the true English Elderflower, this has yellow leaves and white flowers. Flowers can be used to create elderflower cordial (etc), and the fruit can also be used to make a variety of things.
Goumi	Elaeagnus multiflorum	A hardy deciduous shrub that’s much loved by North American permaculture folks. In addition to being nitrogen-fixing, it produces a small red fruit that has a jelly-like consistency. Extremely hard to find in Australia.
Guava, Hawaiian	Psidium guajava	Small, spreading tree that produces a prolific harvest of aromatic fruit with bright pink interiors.
Guava, Indian	Psidium guajava	Prolific producer of sweet fruit with bright yellow skin and pale interior. High in vitamin C.
Guava, Red cherry	Psidium cattleyanum var littorale	Grows as a vigorous small tree, producing a profusion of small-ish red fruit that contain medium-sized seeds.
Guava, Yellow cherry	Psidium cattleyanum var littorale	Grows as a vigorous small tree, producing a profusion of small-ish yellow fruit that contain medium-sized seeds. (Also known as Lemon Guava.)
Gudjin plum	Davidsonia jerseyana	Formerly known as Davidson’s Plum, this unusual Australian rainforest tree grows straight up with a single trunk. A profusion of plum-sized fruits are formed on the trunk (!), and their sour taste makes for an amazing jam or sauce.
Mulberry, dwarf black	Morus nigra	A small variety of the typical mulberry, growing to 3m in height. Prune heavily after fruiting to encourage a second flush of fruit, and to keep it to a manageable size.
Native indigo	Indigofera australis	A fast-growing multi-stemmed shrub that’s nitrogen fixing. Covered in a multitude of blue-purple flowers in spring, making it both pretty and useful.
Saltbush, Coastal	Atriplex cinera	Grows as a spreading small shrub with attractive fleshy stalks. Leaves have a mildly salty flavour and can be used fresh or dried.
Saltbush, Old man	Atriplex nummularia	The most well-known saltbush, native to SA arid regions (think ‘saltbush lamb’). Leaves have a mildly salty taste and can be used fresh or dried. Grows amazingly well in Sydney, despite the vastly different climate from the desert.
Saltbush, Silver	Atriplex bunburyana	Grows as a woody shrub similar in size to a rosemary, and responds similarly to regular use/pruning. Leaves have a mild salty flavour, and are smaller than the Old man and Coastal varieties.
Sandpaper fig ‘Birdseye’	Ficus coronata	Endemic alongside waterways throughout the east coast, this selection by Daleys Fruit Tree nursery produces bright red fruit that are equally red in size. Makes for an awesome jam! An extremely tough and fast-growing multi-trunked tree.
Silver Dollar Eucalyptus	Eucalyptus cinerea	Not an edible plant, but rather one that produces foliage that’s used in flower arranging. Repeatedly prune back to knee-height to encourage bushy growth (and to stop it becoming a full-sized gum tree!).
Yacon	Smallanthus sonchifolius	Originally from the Andes, Yacon grows sometimes large tubers that taste like a cross between a potato and a nashi. So delicious! Very productive when established, harvest when growth dies back.