Plants for Grey Water
Presenter: Dean Boone
Episode: 26 (3rd November 2007)
You’ve probably heard the Garden Gurus telling you about how great the tough Australian native Dianellas and Lomandra are. They are ideal for use with grey water irrigation aswell as for coastal locations where salty air can cause allot of your plants to just turn up their toes and die.
Plants that did well in the trials included Dianella ‘Cassa Blue’, with its short bluish-green leave and the very popular Lomandra ‘Tanika’ and Lomandra Nyalla which are known for their lovely fine leaves. The dwarf Dianella ‘Little Rev’ is also fantastic for salt laden winds but the star of the trial was Dianella ‘King Alfred’.
Now with our increasing reliance on grey water, another gardening hot topic is emerging; just what plants are suitable for growing using grey water, and what can they really cope with?
It’s probably no surprise that very little research has been done on this topic, but once again the plant breeder Ozbreed have been busy conducting trials. The trials were run to see what works and what doesn’t, including growing some of them partially submerged in grey water for almost twelve months.
The team at Ozbreed were very happy with the results, and found that plants like Dianella ‘Little Jess’ did exceptionally well. It’s a small, almost dwarf variety, growing to only 40 cm in height but will still give you an absolutely stunning massed display of flowers. ‘Little Jess’ rarely needs trimming, so it’s a real ‘plant and forget’ one for the garden.
The mass flowering Dianella ‘Breeze’ was another great safe choice for a garden being irrigated under grey water. The Dianella ‘King Alfred’, and the new Lomandra hystrix ‘Katie Belles’ and ‘Tropic Belle’, were also excellent performers.
Featured Plants:
Cassa Blue Dianella (Dianella caerulea ‘Cassa Blue’)
Tanika Lomandra (Lomandra longifolia ‘Tanika’)
Nyalla Lomandra (Lomandra longifolia ‘Nyalla’)
King Alfred Dianella (Dianella caerulea ‘King Alfred’)
Little Jess Dianella (Dianella caerulea ‘Little Jess’)
Breeze Dianella (Dianella caerulea ‘Breeze’)
King Alfred Dianella (Dianella caerulea ‘King Alfred’)
Below is a summary of the findings
Grey water irrigation testing with popular native plants.
By Todd Layt
Summary of results:
The best plants for grey water based on this investigation and real world knowledge are listed below. To work out the best plants we have assumed the gardens could be excessively irrigated with grey water or dry for periods of time.
* If the Grey water is high in salt, avoid Savannah Blue. (Based on salt trials)
** Good draining soils in raised gardens suggested for these plants.
These are only preliminary results, and as the research progresses, more plants may be added to this list.
For the full papers visit www.ozbreed.com.au/greywaterNSW.pdf
www.ozbreed.com.au/greywaterQld.pdf
www.ozbreed.com.au/greywaterOTHER.pdf
Episode: 26 (3rd November 2007)
You’ve probably heard the Garden Gurus telling you about how great the tough Australian native Dianellas and Lomandra are. They are ideal for use with grey water irrigation aswell as for coastal locations where salty air can cause allot of your plants to just turn up their toes and die.
Plants that did well in the trials included Dianella ‘Cassa Blue’, with its short bluish-green leave and the very popular Lomandra ‘Tanika’ and Lomandra Nyalla which are known for their lovely fine leaves. The dwarf Dianella ‘Little Rev’ is also fantastic for salt laden winds but the star of the trial was Dianella ‘King Alfred’.
Now with our increasing reliance on grey water, another gardening hot topic is emerging; just what plants are suitable for growing using grey water, and what can they really cope with?
It’s probably no surprise that very little research has been done on this topic, but once again the plant breeder Ozbreed have been busy conducting trials. The trials were run to see what works and what doesn’t, including growing some of them partially submerged in grey water for almost twelve months.
The team at Ozbreed were very happy with the results, and found that plants like Dianella ‘Little Jess’ did exceptionally well. It’s a small, almost dwarf variety, growing to only 40 cm in height but will still give you an absolutely stunning massed display of flowers. ‘Little Jess’ rarely needs trimming, so it’s a real ‘plant and forget’ one for the garden.
The mass flowering Dianella ‘Breeze’ was another great safe choice for a garden being irrigated under grey water. The Dianella ‘King Alfred’, and the new Lomandra hystrix ‘Katie Belles’ and ‘Tropic Belle’, were also excellent performers.
Featured Plants:
Cassa Blue Dianella (Dianella caerulea ‘Cassa Blue’)
Tanika Lomandra (Lomandra longifolia ‘Tanika’)
Nyalla Lomandra (Lomandra longifolia ‘Nyalla’)
King Alfred Dianella (Dianella caerulea ‘King Alfred’)
Little Jess Dianella (Dianella caerulea ‘Little Jess’)
Breeze Dianella (Dianella caerulea ‘Breeze’)
King Alfred Dianella (Dianella caerulea ‘King Alfred’)
Below is a summary of the findings
Grey water irrigation testing with popular native plants.
By Todd Layt
Summary of results:
The best plants for grey water based on this investigation and real world knowledge are listed below. To work out the best plants we have assumed the gardens could be excessively irrigated with grey water or dry for periods of time.
| Vic, ACT, Tas, SA, WA, NZ and Southern NSW | Sydney to Port Macquarie (NSW) | Queensland and Northern NSW |
| Tanika | Breeze | Breeze |
| Breeze | Little Jess | Little Jess |
| Revelation | Wingarra | Wingarra |
| Wingarra | Nafray | Nafray |
| Katrinus | KatieBelles | KatieBelles |
| Eskdale | Tropic Belle | Tropic Belle |
| Nafray | King Alfred | King Alfred |
| Savannah Blue * | Poa eskdale | |
| Little Rev | Tanika** | |
| Tasred | Revelation** | |
| KatieBelles | Tasred** | |
| Tropic Belle | Katrinus ** | |
| King Alfred |
* If the Grey water is high in salt, avoid Savannah Blue. (Based on salt trials)
** Good draining soils in raised gardens suggested for these plants.
These are only preliminary results, and as the research progresses, more plants may be added to this list.
For the full papers visit www.ozbreed.com.au/greywaterNSW.pdf
www.ozbreed.com.au/greywaterQld.pdf
www.ozbreed.com.au/greywaterOTHER.pdf
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