Bee, Butterfly and Bird Garden
The Waite Arboretum not only hosts a 5-star Bee Hotel, but now it offers further accommodation: a BB&B!
The Bee, Butterfly and Bird Garden (BB&B) is a new feature that provides our native bees, butterflies, birds and other creatures that inhabit the arboretum grounds, a beautiful place with flowers and plants, for food and shelter all-year round.
Our goal is to enhance the biodiversity in the Waite Arboretum. This habitat garden has been established as a model to learn from and replicate in the future, in different arboretum areas.
Check out our BB&B Garden when you next visit the arboretum.
Who and what lives in the garden?
The BB&B Garden was established next to the Native Bee Hotel in the Mallee section of the arboretum.
The site has a combination of sunny and shaded areas and is close to the watercourse which naturally attracts birds and butterflies. The trees provide a canopy layer for our visitors.
To develop a lower layer of vegetation, we chose a selection of small shrubs, herbaceous grasses and groundcovers flowering and fruiting at different times of the year. We handpicked local species that naturally occur in the Mount Lofty area with similar soil conditions and rainfall requirements.
The garden is an organic corridor that covers 300m2 and hosts 700 plants from 41 species. Most areas are unmulched, as certain insects and especially some native bees and wasps rely on bare ground to dig their homes or for foraging.
The site receives a daily dose of leaves from the trees in the vicinity that allows little creatures to find shelter too.
With a small team of volunteers and University of Adelaide students, the plants are watered until establishment, and the garden is maintained free of weeds.
These plants, trees and other structures attract a range of birds, butterflies, bees, reptiles, frogs, possums, ants, beetles and other insects.
Our virtual garden map showcases many of the flora and fauna and why they are important in our ecosystem.
BB&B Garden map
Navigate through our virtual BB&B Garden to learn why it's a biodiversity hotspot. For the best experience, use the arrows in the bottom right of the map to expand it to full screen.
Build your own BB&B
Our Bee, Butterfly and Bird Garden is a great project to recreate at your place and provide a home to the creatures that visit your garden.
By offering the right selection of plants, as well as water and refuge, you will be protecting our biodiversity in a meaningful way.
Share our initiative with your family and friends so more green corridors around the city will be available for our creatures.
Our garden map and plant list will provide you with some inspiration on what might be possible at your place.