Overview

Imagine a garden filled with dappled sun and shade, beautiful colours and textures, varied scents and abundant life in the form of fluttering butterflies, lively birds, cheeky frogs and darting lizards.

Our native animals do not reside exclusively in the Australian bush - we share our cities and towns with an assortment of fauna. These creatures are part of the web of life that makes Australia unique. But many of the species that make their home in our populated areas are in trouble. They are struggling to survive as they see their sources of food, water and shelter dwindle and, in some cases, disappear altogether.

It need not be this way. We can help the fauna that lives in on our doorstep by turning our gardens and backyards into natural havens. It's easy and fun and nature will thank you by providing a passing parade of delights, from birds in full song and lizards basking in the sunshine to butterflies of exquisite beauty and frog calls at dusk.

Every little bit helps - you can transform your whole garden into a wildlife oasis or simply plant a few Australian plants that will provide food and shelter. You'll be playing your part in supporting our unique native fauna.

What is Flora for Fauna?

Flora for Fauna is a program developed by the nursery & garden industry, and funded by the Natural Heritage Trust and the Nursery Industry Levy. It taps into the growing interest in attracting birds and butterflies and other fauna back to people's backyards.

Flora for Fauna is:

• Showing how easy it is to attract more birds, butterflies, frogs and other fauna - creating truly living gardens.
  
  

  "My hat's off to whoever came up with the idea of Flora for Fauna. It has the potential to create such a rich and enriching environment right where you live" Tim Flannery, Author and Director SA Museum

  
  
• Creating new interest in gardening and giving garden centres a new opportunity to increase sales of plants and allied products.
  
  

  "Not only have our native plant sales increased dramatically since we introduced our Flora for Fauna display, but so have our sales of bird feeders, frog ponds etc." Jill Black, Noosaville Garden Centre

  
  
• Benefiting all sectors of the industry:
  
  

  "As all our plants provide food and habitat for native fauna, growers and retailers can select varieties suited to their regional conditions. Everybody benefits from the Flora for Fauna initiative" Bill Molyneux, Austraflora Pty Ltd

Results to date

Don't take our word for it, look at the results since Flora for Fauna was launched in November 2001:

• Over 380 Garden Centres ordered promotional material. More than 40 have placed repeat orders because they love the impact they make in their displays.
  
  
• Over 310 Fauna-attracting plants on the Flora for Fauna plant database.
  
  
• Over 6.7 million hits and more then 60,000 unique visitors to the Flora for Fauna website www.floraforfauna.com.au. And people stay exploring the site for an average of 10-12 minutes.
  
  
• Around 5,000 files downloaded from the website with the most popular being the:
  • 'Planting and maintaining a native garden' fact sheet
  • 'Re-creating nature in your backyard' fact sheet
  
  
  
• The awarding of two international excellence awards to the Flora for Fauna website for creativity and outstanding production is a first for the Nursery & Garden Industry. The website was voted as one of the top ten best web sites added to the Yahoo! Australia & NZ Internet directory in 2002.
  
  
• The range of promotional materials expanded in June 2002. Banners, t-shirts and resin frogs were introduced to enhance the promotion of the program within garden centres. The new stickers and tag-lock labels enabled both producers and retailers to place the Flora for Fauna logo on a wider variety of Australian plants.
  
  
• The 'Bring your garden alive!' hand-out is proving so popular we reprinted it.