In Our Group with Nardoo Nursery

Anne Davies from Nardoo Nursery gives us an insight into the workings of the group and how other people can get involved.

Tell us about Nardoo Nursery

Community Lifestyle Support is a not-for-profit disability charitable enterprise that offers best practice programs and services in the areas of disability, social and community health.

Nardoo Nursery is a social enterprise of Community Lifestyle Support that sells plants from our retail outlet and uses the profits to fund social programs run through CLS.

Our plants are propagated from the six acres of gardens on site and grown by our volunteers in our wholesale nursery until they are ready to sell.

Customers can buy healthy, inexpensive plants with help from our qualified horticulturists.

Nardoo Retail Nursery is open weekdays from 8 am to 2 pm and Saturdays from 8 am to noon and is located at 48 Ashfield Road, Kalkie.

Follow the driveway right around to Nardoo Nursery where we are located next to a huge, majestic fig tree.

When and where do you meet?

Nardoo Nursery has a wholesale area that operates Monday to Friday from 6 am to 2 pm and this is where the majority of our volunteers work producing a range of plants including natives, indoor, succulents and exotics.

The volunteers work whatever hours or days suit them although some have Centrelink requirements and do 15 hours per week.

We appreciate our volunteers very much and try to be flexible around the hours that work for them.

We have a lunchroom and outdoor sitting area where we all catch up for morning tea and lunch.

The atmosphere is welcoming and friendly and we always welcome more volunteers.

How can the community be involved?

The community can be involved in several ways from visiting the retail nursery as customers to volunteering.

Nardoo Nursery is on Facebook and the community can follow us there and we post events, plant sales and gardening tips on our site.

We also host fortnightly markets on the front lawns on Saturday mornings.

Volunteers can work in the nursery or in the gardens including our large organic vegetable garden.

Volunteers will require a Blue and Yellow Card which is free and we help them to complete all their paperwork so it is an easy stress free process.

Our grounds, workshops and some rooms are available for hire to the community if they wish to make enquiries through CLS.

Later this year we will be opening a unique outdoor café so people can browse the nursery and enjoy dining on the large deck amongst the giant figs and gardens.

What significant events will take place this year?

Nardoo has several events during the year including sales and workshops which we advertise on Facebook and through our supportive local media including Bundaberg Now.

Currently we have a red spot sale with a large selection of plants reduced in price until the end of January.

Our next event is Friends of Nardoo which is a plant market held at CLS by several private plant growers.

This gives the community access to a range of unusual plants and raises funds for our social programs.

Multiple stalls will be selling plants including orchids, air plants, bromeliads, indoor plants and other garden plants that may be hard to find in most retail nurseries.

This event will be on Saturday, 4 March from 8 am to noon. Keep an eye out for this and more on our Facebook page as I am also looking at doing Garden and Nursery Tours later in the year.

What’s the history behind Nardoo Nursery?

Nardoo Nursery has grown over the past six years from a small garden shed to a thriving space where people of all abilities work and learn together.

Apart from our volunteers we run a gardening and nursery program for people with a disability, which combines skills with a fun social atmosphere.

Many of our volunteers and myself started working together over ten years ago at another community nursery before we all came over to Nardoo Nursery.

Now we also have many new volunteers and I see so much friendship and support amongst everyone.

This site was originally the old Sugar Research Station and has all the old original buildings including a three-storey high glasshouse that we are renovating to put back into use as a horticultural growing area.

The site also has several large, old established Figs, pines and native trees set amongst lawns and landscaped gardens.

Why is the group important to the Bundaberg Region?

Nardoo Nursery promotes good environmental practices and encourages sustainable gardens that provide habitat in our urban environment.

Apart from healthy plants we love to help our customers make great plant choices that will survive, thrive and to grow gardens that they can enjoy year-round.

We can advise on landscaping, soil improvement and plants for specific areas like coastal or quick growing for privacy.