Aviary Plants

[VR1Ton]

Just thought I'd put my 2 bobs worth on the great plant debate. I am a qualified Horticulturalist, all be it out of practice (haven't been in the industry for nealy 12 years). I am mainly concerned with natives, as they have always been my prefered choice (birds included), but there are a few exotics that can be used, Pencil Pines, Mock Orange, NZ Christmas besh, ect.

Selection should always depend on aviary size, but some plants will take to heavy pruning to keep the managable. (I know of one Softbill breeder with a 20ft high Ficus Tree in one of his cages).

Us east coasters aren't as lucky as or counterparts in the west, as some of the WA natives that don't take our humidity are the perfect aviary plants, eg Callothamnus quadrifidus the Common Net Bush, in particular the red flowered form grows to about 2.5M x 2.5M, is not to open, and likes to be pruned regularly. So I will mainly deal with the east coast.

The most common & easiest species to grow would have to be, Callistemon sp.( Bottle Bruh), Leptospermum sp.(Tea Tree), & Melaleuca sp.(Paperbark & Ti Tree). All of the common varieties avalible today are frost & drought hardy, quick growing, and good flowering, they generally have a fairly open habit, and provide good nesting sites, as well as being a good source of nectar (Callistemon & Melaleca), and also attract insects to the aviaries.
continued.

[VR1Ton]

The most common & hardy Callistemon sp. include:
C.viminalis Weeping Bottlebrush, C.citrinus Crimson Bottlebrush,C.pallidus Lemon Bottlebrush, C.salignus White Bottlebrush,and C.sieberi River Bottlebrush. These species all grow to varying heights from 2m to 10m, they can bu pruned to shape, and accept most soil types,in most positions but prefer full sun for best flowering.
There are some cultivars however, that are more suited to aviaries. They number in the hundreds, but some of the better ones are:
C. Captin Cook 2mx2m red flowers, Harkness 5mx5m red, Injune 3mx3m Pink fadeing to white, Mauve Mist 3mx3m dark pinkish-mauve, and my favourite, Little John 1mx1m (although I have seen it to nearly 1.5m) dark red flowers with yellow tips on dark green foliage(very nice plant but slow growing). All Callistemons need to be pruned after flowering to maintain good shape, and improve flowering next season.

Leptospermum. The most common Tea trees would have to be L.petersonii Lemon-scented Tea Tree, L.polygalifolium varieties 'Cardwell', 'Pacific Beauty', and 'Pink Cascade'. There are also some good culivars of L.scoparium availible in white, pink, & red flowered forms, as well as a reddish-purple leaved variety (can't remember the name,sorry, old timers disease setting in). As with the Callistemons they take most soils in most positions but prefer full sun for best flowering, but don't like to be pruned as heavily as a Callistemon.

[VR1Ton]

Melaleucas, probably the widest varying species with some 160 plus species, most of which don't go well on the east coast (dam west coasters). The common ones are: M.armillaris, Bracelet Honey-myrtle upto 8m white flowers, M.brateata ' Revolution Green' ,'Rev. Gold', green or gold foliage 3-4mx2m white flowers, M. decussata,Totem Poles 2mx2m flowers mauve fading to white, M. diosmatifolia, Rosy Paperbark 3mx2m mauve-pink flowers with yallow tips, M.lateritia, Robin Red-Breast upto 2mx1m red flowers on old wood, M.thymifolia, Thyme-leaved Honey-myrtle 1mx1m mauve pink or white flowers, M.linariifolia 'Snowstorm' or Snow in Summer, 1.5-7mx1.5-3m white flowers. They all accept most sites & soils and will take very severe pruning.

If useing taller growing species, allow them to grow fairly tall then prune back so the main stem is about 1/2 the hight of the aviary. This will give a good thck stem, and bushy habit providig good nest sites. Red flowered species are prefered by nectar feeders and tend to attract more insects as well.

Grevillia cultivars number in the hundreds, and one can be found to suit every site & situation, they take readily to pruning to keep good shape, denser growth, and improved flowering, best to speak with the nursery to see what is availible. Old favorites, like Robyn Gordon, Superb ect are the most common, but there are so many others out there it is pointless to even start.

[VR1Ton]

Banksia is another good species, with the stand outs being B.ericafolia Heath Banksia & B spinulosa, B.robour is another good one, but has a very sparse habit.

Other natives I would recommend are, Baeckea virgata 'compacta' small dense shrub rearly reaches 1m high x 1.5m wide, Westringia sp. Native Rosemary, vary between 1/2m-2m high x 4m wide, any of the Syzygium sp. Lilly Pillies can be pruned to just about any shape or size and grow from full sun to full shade. Any of the smaller growing Eucalyptus, such as E.ficifolia, Red-flowered Gum, E.ptychocarpa Red-flowered Gum (funnily enough), and for those lucky ducks in the west E.tetragona, E.tetraptera, and the absolutly beautiful E.macrocarpa, although some of these are being grafted so they will survuve on the east coast. Not to forget of coarse the countless number of grasses.

There are countless other natives that would be suitable provided the right climate, such as Acacia, Kunzea, Hakea, Dryandra, the list goes on, and of coarse just as many exotics can be and are use, Privet is one that comes streight to mind, but as I said, I'm a native nut. Provide a little thought, and a little effort, the aviary can be a thing of beauty & practicallity, and I think that the birds will appreciate it.

Hope this has given you some food for thought.
Thanks Peter

[mickw]

Good topic........I'm a bit of a planto too......

My favourite for brushing is Melaleuca styphylloides....Prickly Paperbark.....grows here in abundance.....I've got some tubestock ready to go in this week......they should handle it ok in the aviary, will handle being kept at around 2m and whatever you prune off, you re-use in the shelter ;).......all those prickles affords the birds a sense of security

On that I also like the spiney Grevillea cultivars......as a kid I remember seeing reheads nesting exclusively in a really spiney Hakea.......we had a spiney Grevillea in the garden......it needed a prune.....I needed to brush the aviary........voila within a week I had Chestnuts (which had never bred in 3 years!) and BF Parrot finches breeding madly!...........only thing with these Grevillea is like you suggest, they need to be in well drained soils.......I've lost two in pots waiting for the aviary to be ready, but will give it a go one more time....lots of coarse sand in mine, they might go OK

What do you know about Grasses Peter?...........I have some Pennisetum....Swamp foxtail, Giant Tussock Grass (Poa sp.), 2 types of Lomandra, and a really good looking African Zebra grass????

The Zeb grass and Swamp foxtails look the goods for grass nesters like my WE Masks or Pictos..........I saw heaps of Chestnut's nests in common mat-rush (Lomandra) in the walk-thru aviary at Currumbin last month, so I reckon they are the good oil......the only problem is of course....mice like long grass too ......I'm hoping my 600mm footings, mouse wire and painstaking attention to fitting the cladding, filling gaps etc will keep my grasses to MY finches ........its taken me at least half of all weekends for the last 12months to build ......dunno what I'll do if I see a mouse inside ......probably commit Hari-kari

I think I read an earlier post of yours about Allocasuarina seeds....I think Marcus Pollard recommends them for Beautiful firetails.....theres an article of his somewhere I read.......do you just collect the nuts, dry & harvest the seeds then feed out to your birds?.......which ones take to them most??......or do you just give them the whole cones???

BTW.........now that I am a two-day-old Lorikeet fan, do you find your PC or Littles chew your shrubs?.....sorry, not a finch question, better PM your reply

[VR1Ton]

Probably Grevillea Scarlet Sprite or Pink Sprite, absolute bastard of a plant we had one as a kid on the Central Coast, right next to the front tape, 6 months later & no pruning, every time you turn the tape on, you'd get a handful of spikes . Must be a sucker for punishment but, because I bought2 plants about 6 weeks ago

Took my PC's & Littles out, the plants are not established enough, so were coping a bit of a caneing. I've always hated Lomandra from when I was a kid, got cut up pretty bad, and those flower spikes are called spikes for a reason . They aren't the quickest growing either, when I worked in Brisbane, we had a deaf bloke working with us, we had a large landscaper order about $2,500 worth of 45cm pots of Lomadra that was looking really good and nearly 2 feet tall. When we went to pick the order, the deaf bloke had 'pruned them back to about 6 inches high, they still had not recovered by the time I quit 5 months later. Serves the assholes right .

[mickw]

Yep, thats one of them......the last one I had was "Canberra something"..........our finches would go mad in them.......every nest of Redheads I find is in a spiney shrub.....my mum & dad used to make a few bob catching finches during the Depression.....they always talk of Diamonds being buggars and nesting in something they called Prickly Bush.......western Sydney, before/during the war.......I'm convinced, prickles are the go!

[VR1Ton]

Forgot to add, I used to use the Cassurina seed for Red Heads, they absolutly loved them, and if I didn't feed them they would stop breeding, so I thought I might try them on the Pictorellas & Masks (thats all I've got in the way of natives at the moment).

[mickw]

Do you rack the cones out to let the seed fall, or let the birds pick at them fresh???

[VR1Ton]

Dry them out, shake the livin' s**t out of them, mix them in with a bit of Panic,and small amounts of maw, linseed & niger from my Canary breeding days. Also going to try some of Graham Bulls advise & try a bit of other pasture seed as well. Think he might use the Greens'n'Grains, but can't remember, think it might be that old timers again

Red-heads also love the Buny Pine, the mother of all things spikey, and anything leathal the falls from the sky.