A few years ago, Neil and I were privileged to be able to take a year to travel around our amazing country.

As you can imagine (or maybe you really can’t) we spent a lot of time looking at trees and plants. We would scale cliff faces just because Neil spotted what looked like a rare tree at the top; and of course, there it was. We hiked on ‘barely there’ trails to see rare Drosera (Sundews) and Utricularia (Bladderworts) – carnivorous plants. We broke our car (literally! We had to get a new one) looking for a special white flowered Brachychiton.

And of course, when we hit a town we had to seek out the local nursery. But… this was often harder than finding the rare plants. Over the past couple of decades due to drought, water restrictions, fire, floods and if we a honest the influx of the “super” stores – the Nursery industry has really struggled. And we found many major regional centres without a decent nursery.

Small independent retail nurseries have shut up, small growers (like Neil and I) have retired – leaving a hole in the supply chain, and leaving you with few options to source your plants.

But with recent events – global awareness of the benefits of plants; covid causing us all to stay home; and an ongoing influx in people gardening – has seen a resurgence in Nurseries. Slowly, the “old” ones are revamping and new ones are opening.

Neil and I urge you to support your local nursery, the one owned by locals and being run by people who genuinely love the plants as much as you do! Of course for all your rare plants come and visit us �� here at Odd Spot Plants but for all your general plant needs please find your local nursery and help us to create a “wealth” of Nurseries around Australia.