Next to the train line in Canley Vale is one of the most impressive and unique nurseries that I have ever seen. Run by siblings Belinda and Daniel Smart, The Western Sydney Bush Native Nursery is home to plants native not only to Sydney, but to the Cumberland and Fairfield areas specifically. As well as these native plants, The Smart’s are keeping species alive that are otherwise extinct in the wild (including Sydney’s rarest plant that had not been since since the 1800’s).

I visited Belinda and Daniel to learn a little bit more about the benefits of native plants and how I could use them better in my garden. But the more time I spent there looking around, the more I learnt about the threats posed to the native wildlife that we have in Sydney. With one species of native plant dying out every year, things like weeds, pollution, and development are causing a big drop in biodiversity in our city.

Daniel and Belinda are doing some very impressive work in their nursery, but it is not just up to a few people to tackle this problem! We all have a role to play, even if it is only a small one.