NURSERY BONVILLE

Walking into a plant nursery is much like the feeling you get when you finally see your best friend after a long break. There’s always a lot to catch up on, but you want to take your time and savour the moment. With Bonville Nursery, that feeling is tenfold. This little nursery packs a punch. We caught up with Chloe Brant, Bonville Nursery’s owner, for a bit of a yarn.

Hi Chloe, So what is different about Bonville Nursery? We’re really trying to push the boundaries of what a regular nursery can offer. We’re young, passionate and, most importantly, we want your gardens to be climate change ready. That means helping to plan a customer's garden more intimately, ask the right questions and even offer a service to come to the property to consult on what plants are suited. We especially love to educate our customers on native and waterwise species.

What do you love most about the nursery? Plant people! You can tell a plant person a mile off. Even if you know nothing about how to grow plants or what they're called, plant people are always open, curious and have a love of nature. Along with our neighbours Bonville Landscape Centre, the property is a fabulous hub of like-minded people – we all love being outdoors in the garden and want to share that passion with others. To build on that foundation, we’ll be launching our workshop series later in the year to help bring the wider community together through the love of gardening and plants.

What's the biggest challenge in the nursery industry? Garden Centres, in the past, have been pretty dated. Filled with European flowers that wither in a day of heat, walls of chemicals that contribute to the problem rather than the solution and unsustainable plants that we know are invasive. We want to appeal to the younger demographic of people who have grown up with that sustainability mentality, from young kids and their indoor plant collection to families looking to plant out a productive and fun garden. This is why so many of our selections are native-focused and why we make sure to have proper conversations with customers about what solutions are available. We aren’t here to gatekeep knowledge on how to make a costeffective, happy, thriving garden!

Favourite plant and why? Ohhh, it changes so often! Today it’s the Wattle – Thousands of species, beautiful flowers/foliage, quick growing, rugged and they prime the soil for other plants with those juicy nitrogen-fixing nodules!

Hi Ben, Tell us a bit about Bonville Landscape Centre? G’day – we’re a family-run business that specialises in premium landscape solutions. We have an amazing breadth of knowledge and a wide-reaching product offering from soils, mulches and stone to garden edging, tools, turf and now outdoor garden furniture, which we make in-house to keep costs down for our customers. We know that landscaping can be a costly exercise and we think we’ve landed the perfect balance of quality and affordability. What is the most important thing when selecting the right landscape materials?