Blue Gum High Forest
Critically endangered ecological community (NSW and Commonwealth)
Where: Higher-rainfall ridges and upper slopes of the upper North Shore, especially Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby.
Soil and site: Deep, fertile clay loams from Wianamatta Shale; moist and often south- or east-facing.
Clues: Very tall, straight Sydney blue gums and blackbutts in the street or a nearby reserve. (RF Horticulture field tip)
Good garden picks: Apple, rough-barked apple, Australian basket grass, wavy beard grass, Bearded tylophora, Blackbutt, Blue flax-lily
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Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest
Critically endangered ecological community (NSW and Commonwealth)
Where: Shale and shale-sandstone transition country in lower rainfall: parts of Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove, Willoughby, Hornsby and Ryde.
Soil and site: Clay loams from shale, often over sandstone; heavier than the sandstone sands.
Clues: Turpentines (thick, fibrous, spongy bark) and ironbarks with deeply furrowed dark bark. (RF Horticulture field tip)
Good garden picks: Australian indigo, duwabili (d'harawal), Bearded tylophora, Blackbutt, Blackthorn, boxthorn, sweet bursaria, kurwan (d'harawal), Blady grass
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Duffys Forest
Endangered ecological community (NSW)
Where: Plateau tops on the northern edge of the area, around St Ives, Belrose, Terrey Hills and Duffys Forest.
Soil and site: Sandy soils with reddish ironstone (laterite) gravel on plateau caps.
Clues: Ironstone gravel in the soil and a mix of bloodwoods, scribbly gums and banksias. (RF Horticulture field tip)
Good garden picks: (no common name in sources), Black she-oak, Black-eyed susan (native), Blotched hyacinth orchid, Blue dampiera
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Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland
Not listed as threatened, but much reduced in suburbs
Where: Exposed sandstone ridgetops and plateaus throughout the North Shore.
Soil and site: Shallow, sandy, low-nutrient soils over Hawkesbury Sandstone; drains fast.
Clues: Scribbly gums, banksias and heathy shrubs; sandstone rock close to the surface. (RF Horticulture field tip)
Good garden picks: (sedge; listed by ryde as "spurge"), Black she-oak, Blueberry lily, blue flax-lily, Blunt beard-heath, Bossiaea
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Sydney Sandstone Gully Forest
Not listed as threatened
Where: Sheltered sandstone slopes and gullies, often running down to creeks and the harbour.
Soil and site: Sandy soils with rock outcrops; moister and more sheltered than the ridges.
Clues: Smooth-barked apples (Angophora costata) with pink-orange trunks, sandstone ledges and ferns. (RF Horticulture field tip)
Good garden picks: Apple, rough-barked apple, Black bog-rush, Black she-oak, Black wattle, callicoma, silver-leaf butterwood, Blackbutt
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Coastal Enriched Sandstone Dry Forest
Not listed as threatened
Where: Sandstone slopes near the harbour and coast, such as the lower North Shore and Mosman foreshores.
Soil and site: Sandstone soils enriched by shale or deeper soil pockets; dry, sheltered from the hottest winds.
Clues: Smooth-barked apples and Sydney peppermints over a mix of shrubs, closer to the harbour. (RF Horticulture field tip)
Good garden picks: Black she-oak, Blackbutt, Blue flax-lily, Blueberry ash, ash quandong, blue, Broad-leaved geebung
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Sources: NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee final determinations (Blue Gum High Forest, Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest, Duffys Forest); Commonwealth conservation advice; Ku-ring-gai, Hornsby and Ryde council bushland information; PlantNET. "Field tips" are RF Horticulture's practical observations.
