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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-06-02 Daily Xml
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GARDEN WISE FORUM

Ms SIMMONS (Morialta) (15:31): I rise today to inform the house of a very successful forum, Garden Wise, that I held in the electorate of Morialta last month, in partnership with Campbelltown City Council and one of our very successful local businesses, Newton's Building and Landscape Supplies.

As a passionate gardener myself, I have been aware, when I have been out and about in the community and doorknocking locally, that many people have not developed an understanding of how to adapt their gardens to the current drought conditions, and in fact have let their gardens deteriorate during the very harsh and hot summers of recent years.

At the invitation of this local business in my electorate, Newton's, I visited the landscape and building supply company in February and I was very impressed by the owners, Frank Ferella and Rob Rende, and their young purchasing manager, Daniel Phillips, who had managed to change their whole business to try to educate their customers to cope with these emerging South Australian conditions.

They convinced me, for example, that lawns were not evil and should use no more water than any other well managed drought-tolerant garden, and that there are great drought-tolerant grasses available, as well as native Australian plants, and even many drought-tolerant exotics that can be grown in harmony with our current environmental conditions.

The forum grew out of this meeting and was attended by over 150 constituents, which was the limit we could have at the hall. We had another 20 on the waiting list, I think. I would like to thank the Minister for Water Security, the Hon. Karlene Maywald, for opening the event; the master of ceremonies, horticulturalist and friend of mine, Michael Keelan; and the guest speakers, David Chester from SA Water, who gave us an overview of water usage and irrigation in South Australia and outlined the benefits of efficient irrigation systems in our gardens, Mr Peter Brunt, who talked about home irrigation systems in even more detail, including water sensors, drip irrigation and scheduling systems, in particular the new carpet drip irrigators which can be laid under lawns and, of course, the benefits of water tanks, and Kym Syrus from Gardens Gurus, who advised us on the huge number of drought-proof plants available in South Australia, the importance of mulching, the different soil types and fertilisers available and, of course, who showed us magnificent slides of the many roses he has developed in recent years. If anyone in the house does not know of Kym's roses, they really are magnificent and sent all over Australia and even overseas.

Although no products were sold on the night and we emphasised the educational benefits of this forum, we were delighted to have displays and products, together with free literature, from Davey Water Products, Team Poly water tanks, Jeffries compost and mulch experts, Toro Australia irrigation specialists and Netafim smart water solutions. All these companies gave very generously of their time and knowledge, and they really were very informative on the night. The feedback from people who attended has been extremely positive.

I would also like to thank Sophie Thomson, the award-winning gardening author and journalist, for coming to sign her beautiful book From the Ground Up, which I can highly recommend to the house, as it relates particularly to the growing of gardens in South Australia.

This was a team effort, and I have to mention Campbelltown Mayor Simon Brewer and CEO Paul Di Iulio, and their staff, who gave unstintingly of their time and arranged free native plants for all who attended, as well as providing a beautiful supper prepared by the Bedford Industries catering department, which I am always happy to plug. They always do a fantastic job. Please use them whenever you can.

A special thanks must go to Daniel Phillips from Newton's, and Peter Cushway, who gave many hours of their own time to ensure that this forum was an amazing success. I have had such positive feedback from all of my constituents who attended that I would encourage other members to try to provide something similar in their own electorate.

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