There are literally hundreds of plants available to the home gardener these days, and some of the most satisfying and enjoyable additions to your garden are those that will attract large numbers of birds.
For most people, this would immediately bring to mind a variety of plants such as the nectar-laden Grevilleas and Bottlebrushes, but there are many species of trees and shrubs that will create a protective bird haven in your own back yard.
If you were thinking about planting bird-attractive shrubs in your garden some of my recommended varieties would include one of the most unique bird-attractive shrubs is the Grevillea Peaches and Cream.
This small growing shrub is similar to Grevillea Robyn Gordon in growth and habit but has soft pink and cream flowers.
It requires a sunny well-drained position and is very attractive and hardy.
Grevillea Peaches and Cream attracts honeyeaters and is suitable for use as a low hedge or screen growing to maximum height of 1.5m.
A local Bottlebrush that always makes a spectacular display around Central Queensland is the Mount Wheeler Bottlebrush.
Melaleuca hemisticta the Mount Wheeler Bottlebrush was sold as Callistemon polandii var.
Mt Wheeler for many years. Melaleuca hemisticta is a very bushy shrub to two metres high with dark green leaves and pink new growth.
Masses of small bright red brushed tipped with gold appear most of the year.
This plant is suitable for most conditions and is very bird attractive.
This Bottlebrush grows naturally only at the base of Mount Gawula between Rockhampton and Yeppoon.
With attractive foliage and a unique flower the Graptophyllum excellsum or Native Fuschia has become a popular garden shrub.
It is one of most colourful water-wise flowering shrubs available to local gardeners.
This attractive dry-scrub plant will grow to around two metres high and produces beautiful red fuschia-like flowers.
It is hardy in most positions and can take some dryness. Graptophyllum excellsum will grow in a sunny or lightly shaded position and is able to be pruned and shaped for even the most modern garden styles.
Across the Rockhampton Region a very bushy Grevillea has started the heaviest flowering I have not seen in years.
Grevillea Majestic has large flower heads have a good colour contrast of red, pink and cream, main blooming in winter and spring, spot flowers possible at other times.
It is a fast growing large shrub with deeply divided dark green foliage.
In positions it should grow up to five metres high and three metres wide and is perfect as a feature or screening plant.
Grevillea Majestic is a hybrid Grevillea banksii and Grevillea Misty Pink.
A lesser known Bottlebrush that has started flowering in many gardens is the Callistemon Hinchinbrook.
It is an attractive squat growing shrub with broad leaves and bronze new growth.
It will grow up to 1.5m in most soil types.
Beautiful clusters of red flowers with gold anthers appearing in spring.
This showy Bottlebrush can also be developed into an attractive low hedge.
Then there is one of my favourites Grevillea Honey Gem.
It would be one of the heaviest flowering shrubs available to local gardens.
It makes an excellent feature attractive fern like foliage and masses of honey gold flowers throughout the year with the main flowering season in winter.
Honey Gem can literally drip with nectar at times making it a magnet for Honeyeaters and Lorikeets.
It is a vigorous evergreen large shrub that grows to about four metres in height by three metres wide and has an open habit.
The most unusual or interesting plant I have ever found growing in a garden in regional Queensland was a Banksia serrata.
This Banksia should grow to around five metres high with large yellow flowers that are the same size as a two litre Coke bottle.
The flowers can be used in dried arrangements.
Banksia serrata has attractive lime green foliage with saw tooth edges.
Most Banksias need well-drained soil and are accustomed to impoverished soils in nature and will not tolerate fertilisers high in phosphorus.
One of the best specimens I have seen was growing on a footpath is Mount Morgan, all of these shrubs would well make a spectacular garden or street specimen, so check with your local nursery now.
