Yuruga
Australian Native Plant Specialists

We are often asked for ‘tubestock’, because tubes (being small plants) cost less. However, beware… it is very likely false economy.

The 140mm pot (which is larger than a tube) is the smallest size (and hence the cheapest plant) that will ensure survival and success at planting. Buying your plants in tubes is false economy if they don’t grow, or worse still if they die.

That is why the bulk of Yuruga’s plants are sold in 140mm pots, and why only a small range of our plants are available to you in tubes.

Continue reading (Pot) size matters…!…

Myna Birds are a hot topic in the news in Cairns at the moment. They have become such a pest that an eradication programme of trapping and euthanasing is being discussed, to try to bring the problem under control.

The trouble is that this, on its own, will not solve the problem. Myna Birds have only moved into Cairns in pest proportions because the native birds have been driven out. Native birds need native plants, but over the years Cairns gardens have become more and more exotic and less and less native. Hence, a vacuum of native birds has created a void for exotic Myna birds to fill.

Trapping and removing the Myna birds is not a permanent solution. Native birds will not move back into gardens made of exotic plants, even if there are no Myna birds there. Continue reading Controlling Myna Birds…

Xanthorrhoea johnsonii is one of 28 species of grass trees in Australia, best suited to QLD and NSW climates.

Your purchase of these stunning trees will enhance your outdoor space and give you years of pleasure. An impressive feature, your grass tree will add value to your home and lifestyle experience.

Grass trees are extremely hardy if well cared for in the initial stages of transplanting from the wild. Only a small number of reputable companies successfully transplant grass trees and our supplier is one of them.
Continue reading Planting your Grass Tree…

Keep up-to-date with the latest local news and views on gardening and native plants in our region…

Saturday morning Garden Show on 4CA with Steve Ahmet and Yuruga’s Peter and Ann Radke A full half-hour of local gardening information from 8:00 to 8:30am every Saturday morning.

Saturday morning Garden Show on 4AM with Yuruga’s Peter Radke. Listen in for the local Gardening Segment between 9am and 10am every Saturday morning.

And also on 4AM:

Test you native plant knowledge… and win!

Listen to 4AM every Monday morning for the Yuruga quiz question.

The first correct answer wins a voucher for Coffee and Cake for Two at the Yuruga Garden Café.
Programme 4AM into your speed dial – 4092 4558.

If you were asked to name the top three quintessential Australian plants that define the Australian flora, what would you say? It’s a safe bet that eucalypts, acacias and banksias would top everyone’s list, for sure. They are just so… Australian.

Continue reading Banksias you can bank on……

Have you ever looked at the list of plants in stock at Yuruga Nursery? And I mean, really looked at it? Believe me, plenty of people do, studying it in great detail as if it’s the bible, and waiting in anticipation for the update to be released on the first of every month.

To the uninitiated, the list of plant names might look about as exciting as reading the phone book, but to people in the know it transports them to another world… a world of fantastic foliage, phenomenal flowers, remote landscapes, and some of the rarest plants on the planet.

To a plant-nut, the Yuruga stocklist is literally… plants to die for!

Continue reading Plants to die for in April 2011……

There’s an idea doing the rounds that the latest thing in gardening is ‘deep planting’. And by ‘deep planting’ we mean really deep, as in digging a hole up to half a metre deep and burying the poor plant up to its eye-balls.

So, we’ve been doing a bit of research here at Yuruga to find out where the idea came from and whether it has any merits or applications to us up here in north Queensland.

Continue reading Deep Planting – a north Queensland perspective…

Here’s a couple of important tips from the long-time locals at Yuruga Nursery.

Continue reading Are you new to gardening in north Queensland?…

Life’s great up here in the tropics for the brilliant blue Ulysses Butterfly and the massive Cairns Birdwing butterfly because locals go out of their way to grow their host plants in the hope of attracting them to their garden. But what about the other 238 species of butterflies that occur in tropical North Queensland, let alone the tens of thousands of insect species which also call this place home? They may not be as iconic, but I think they deserve a little more attention too.

Continue reading Add a little more life to your garden…

It’s been a while since we’ve had any decent rain, and we probably won’t get any until Christmas. Unless you have a good automated irrigation system set-up this is not going to be the best time of the year to be planting anything new in your garden.

Continue reading Gardening before the wet…