Wollongong City Council’s Botanic Garden has rescheduled its popular Green Plan plant sale for this Friday, 17 June following the cancellation of the May sale due to an outbreak of Myrtle Rust in the Nursery.
Myrtle Rust is a fungal pathogen first found in Australia about a year ago and currently affects about 100 species from the Myrtaceae family. The disease is widespread along the East Coast of NSW, and is essentially airborne and carried by humans, animals and vehicles.
Over the past three weeks Council’s Nursery Staff have been treating the disease with a range of curing Fungicide treatments to ensure the plants are disease free.
Botanic Garden Curator Paul Tracey said the treatment of the disease has been successful and the plant sale will now go ahead this Friday.
“When the Myrtle Rust outbreak was identified on three plant species in the nursery we implemented a treatment program in line with the Australian Nursery Industry Myrtle Rust Management Plan. Treatment methods have included the removal of some heavily affected plants, applying curing treatments to less affected plants, and applying preventative treatments to all remaining plants in the Nursery,” Mr Tracey said.
“Our Nursery Staff have done a great job in treating this disease and we have a fantastic range of Australian Natives for sale and our expert staff will be on hand to explain this disease including how you can identify it in your own garden and treat it.
“We have a range of Grevillea’s and Bottlebrush that are in bloom and look brilliant.
Our volunteers from the Friends of the Botanic Garden will also have a diverse range of plants available for purchase on the day.”
The Greenplan sale will commence at 7.30am on Friday at the Botanic Garden Nursery located on Northfields Avenue, Keiraville. There is plenty of parking adjacent to the Nursery.
Residents can purchase a maximum of 50 plants with prices starting at $5.50 and are reminded they need to bring their rates notice with them to the sale. The sale starts at 7.30am - 2.30pm.
For further information about Greenplan sale please visit www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/botanicgarden