A NURSERYMAN AND HIS NURSERY EVAN CLUCAS, KURANGA NATIVE NURSERY

By Jane Edmanson

Jane Edmanson, caught up with her friend and nurseryman, Evan Clucas, to discover where his passion for growing came from, how his love of native plants shaped his garden and nursery, and how the public perception of native plants has changed through the years.

Evan Clucas and Leanne Weston are well known for their love of native plants. Their retail nursery, Kuranga Native Nursery in Mount Evelyn, is always a delight for gardeners to visit.

When he was a young lad, Evan’s parents had half an acre in Mont Albert that they let him plant up. They also owned a bush block in Pakenham Upper where he loved to roam around and take note of the bird and plant life which instilled a love of nature that has never left him.

Actually, his first love was birdlife, and he became interested in which plants attracted birds, then eventually nature and plants took over.

Evan is blessed with a large one-acre garden, populated entirely with native plants. There is a wide variety, a bit of everything, he is not prejudiced in his choices. He loves the way plants meld together in shape and form and is passionate about different plant groups, such as eucalypt, grevilleas, boronias, phebalium and as he calls them, the “odd ball” persoonias. Over the years he has had a significant collection of native plants, sometimes certain varieties fade away to make room for another collection. Right now, his attention is on the Phebalium species.

“It is a plant that should be better known by growers and gardeners, as they are so rewarding, such easy maintenance and with wonderful colourful flowers.” Says Evan.

Evan has always liked walking in the bush and in the past has gone on collecting trips, having his garden and nursery provides places that he can showcase his native plants.

There is so much diversity and things are always changing, for instance the general public’s interest in bush food is huge. It has always filled a small niche but now it is quite a trend. He loves the way breeding and research has meant that so many native plants are smaller growing and freer flowering, and this will go on infinitum.

Evan says that everyone has learnt so much about the incredible range of Australian plants compared to where gardeners started in the 1970’s and 80’s. He gives the example of Grevillea rosmarinifolia which was “a prickly old choice” in those days, choices were minimal, but nowadays there are over a dozen varieties including hybrids and lower growing species that are vastly superior.

Evan and his partner, Leanne, had always wanted to own a nursery. Evan had gained experience working in a large production nursery and Leanne started her career at a retail nursery.

They opened Kuranga Native Nursery in Ringwood in 1983 and the first thing they realised was that there was only a very limited range of native plants being grown in the mainstream native nursery industry. They wanted to stock the nursery with a decent range so they had to grow a lot of their own stock. The nursery has always had a reputation for carrying an impressive range of plants and soon customers were coming from near and far.

The nursery continued operating from Ringwood until 2005 when they moved to a beautiful four-acre site in Mount Evelyn. The new site incorporates new features like a gift shop and their Paper Bark Café offering lots of Australian bush food and products.

“The overall picture for native plants is very encouraging, especially with the variety that is available for today’s smaller gardens.”

As they step back a little from the day to day running of Kuranga, the nursery is in good hands. Together they have created a friendly and knowledgeable team of nursery people who are dedicated and enthusiastic to continue their work.

Located at the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, NGIV Member Kuranga Nursery, displays Australia’s largest range of Australian native plants and is a must visit.

A big thank you to Jane Edmanson for writing this piece and once again showing her support for the industry.