Native plants

Nature guides

Did you know we have five nature guides where you can expand your knowledge about local flora, weeds, grasses, birds and insects while you are out enjoying nature in the Macedon Ranges? Take them with you by downloading one or all of our nature guides to your device before heading outdoors.

Backyard Biodiversity

Whether you are new to gardening or already love it, our Backyard Biodiversity project will help you transform your backyard into a welcoming home for local wildlife.

Backyard Biodiversity will empower you to:

• create habitat for native birds, insects and wildlife
• choose the right plants to support biodiversity
• make a positive impact on your local environment.

Sustainable Gardening Australia

Sustainable Gardening Australia, together with Western Water have put together a sustainable gardening booklet.

This booklet has information on plant selection of local plant species in our region from page 24. Species include climbers, ground covers, grasses, shrubs and trees.  

The Macedon Ranges Shire contains many different ecosystems that are characterised by different types of plants. These ecosystems are known as ecological vegetation classes (EVC). 

An EVC classifies vegetation into groups according to their floristic, structural, and ecological features. There are over 100 EVCs in the Macedon Ranges region.

EVCs have species lists for plants to help you find the right native species for your property. They are important in guiding land management activities, particularly tree planting.

Find the EVC for your property

To view the EVC that apply to your property, follow these instructions:

1. Open Council's online mapping service, Pozi maps.
2. Find your property by searching the address using the magnifying glass in the top left hand corner of the page.
3. Scroll down the panel on the left hand side until you reach "Ecological Vegetation Class".
4. Click to show you the EVC that applies to your property (there could be more than one). Click on the EVC class for more information.

To download the revegetation species list relevant to your property, continue with the steps below:

5. Click on the EVC class and then on "Ecological Vegetation Class Document".
6. Click on "Native Revegetation Species List".

The Macedon Ranges is home to many threatened species of plants. There are several key pieces of legislation that classify threatened species. These include:

• Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC)—federally listed species
• Fauna and Flora Guarantee Act 1988 (FFG)—Victoria state listed species

iNaturalist is a citizen science platform that helps users record and share observations of biodiversity. It allows you to contribute to valuable scientific data while learning more about local species.

Simply take a photo of flora or fauna, upload it to the app or website, and the iNaturalist community will help identify it.

Using iNaturalist is an excellent way to track your backyard visitors and support conservation efforts.

Let's get started

1. For iPhone users: Go to the App Store, search for "iNaturalist," and download the app. For Android users: Go to Google Play, search for "iNaturalist," and download the app.
2. Open the app and sign up for a free account with your email.  Once registered, you'll be ready to start recording observations.
3. Open the app and tap the “Observe” button (camera icon). Observe from a safe distance and avoid disturbing wildlife.  Take a photo of the animal, plant, or other organism you want to record (or upload a photo you’ve already taken).  If you have several images, you can add multiple photos to the same observation by tapping the "Add" button after taking the first picture.
4. Add details to your observation. If you aren't sure iNaturalist can help identify your observation! After adding a photo, you’ll see suggestions for what the species might be. Select the closest match if you’re confident, or leave it open if you’re unsure.
5. After adding all the information, tap "Share" to upload your observation to iNaturalist.