About Whistlepipe Gardens

About Whistlepipe Gardens

Whistlepipe Gardens is a small nursery specialising in the mail order of rare and unusual perennials and shrubs. The nursery also supplies larger pots of these plants to landscapers and garden centres both in the Perth metropolitan area and in several country regions.

Although the mail order service operates throughout the year, the nursery is only open to the general public four or five times a year. Visitors can then view and buy plants, stroll in the display gardens, talk to the horses, admire the aviary birds, feed or dodge the bandicoots or simply just enjoy some refreshments on the broad verandahs.

Situated on a 7-acre property in suburban Forrestfield, the nursery and gardens surround historic Hale Homestead, now the home of proprietor Dr Margaret Clema.

Dr Clema is a taxonomist by training and adept at spotting something a little different. Her large and diverse collections of plants are now well known in Western Australia. Salvias are a particular focus with over 80 varieties in the collection, but there are also many forms of geraniums and pelargoniums as well as deciduous groups such as Philadelphus, Spirea and Viburnum to name but a few.

Not everything at Whistlepipe is rare and unusual. The nursery also stocks many of the hardy but forgotten old favourites that are ideally suited to current garden styles.

In Perth, a selection of Whistlepipe plants is always available at Guildford Town Garden Centre. Contact Guildford to check on varieties or to order specific plants (Ph:9279 8645). From time to time Whistlepipe Gardens also sends plants to country garden centres, so ask your local supplier about availability.
BACK TO TOP

So why won’t we send to other States?

The short answer - bandicoots, and an unwillingness to lay down tens, perhaps hundreds, of kilograms of snail bait in a trail right around the nursery boundary. This process is a necessary part of establishing that we have no green snails here. Although I am sure that we don’t, we are within 25 kilometers of a known occurrence. The bait trail is a therefore the first part of the accreditation process to send to the eastern states. The trail must be dense enough that a snail passing across it in a straight line will be assured of  encountering a pellet. When I enquired as to whether bandicoots would be likely to eat the bait I was told that they might. At Whistlepipe we are overrun by bandicoots and wish to keep it that way.
BACK TO TOP

Plants & Postage

So how do we send plants through the post?

Whistlepipe Gardens offers one of Western Australia’s only local mail order services. Plants therefore arrive in great condition as they do not have to first bounce across the Nullarbor Plain (plants prefer not to be in a dark box for an extended period of time).

Our mail order plants are mainly produced in small 3 x 5 cm pots known as tubestock. These small pots can be easily posted all around Western Australia. We dispatch country orders on a Monday or Tuesday to avoid lengthy weekend delays, local orders are dispatched more frequently.

Our tubestock are packaged two by two, their wet bases slipped into a plastic bag to avoid dampening the packaging. Each pair of plants is then wrapped in a sheet of newspaper rather like a packet of fish and chips. The packets are packed in a carton and sent via Australia Post to your doorstep.

Postage is free to anywhere in Western Australia for orders over $50. A standard postage and handling fee of $9.80 applies for all smaller orders. Occasionally customers ask us to ship larger pot sizes. We can do this but please contact us first to discuss shipping cost.

What to do when your plants arrive

Unpack your order as soon as it arrives. Place the plants in a bright position out of direct sunlight and drying winds then water the plants well (we use Seasol at the recommended rate when receiving plants from interstate). Depending on the size of the plants you receive, and seasonal conditions, you may choose to plant your new arrivals into their final garden location.

If the plants you receive are too small to cope with your garden conditions (dogs, children, or the wrong climatic season) you may then choose to pot them into a larger container and grow them on before planting them out in the garden. Additional information and tips on how to do this can be found in our planting guide.

A few of our plant varieties may be sent to you bare-rooted, that is, without a plastic pot around their roots. These plants will need to be either potted up or planted out straight away. Again, refer to our planting guide for details.
BACK TO TOP

Links

WA Stockists of Whistlepipe Plants

Guildford Town Garden Centre, www.guildfordtowngardencentre.com.au. Small garden centre specialising in classy giftware, unusual plants, ornamental and fruit trees, and sourcing plants for you

Other Mail Order Companies

Diggers Garden Club, www.diggers.com.au. Suppliers of a range of plants, edible plants specialists
Tesselaar, www.Tesselaar.net.au. Suppliers of a range of plants, bulb specialist
Zephyranthes, www.zephs.com.au. Suppliers of rare and unusual Mediterranean plants.

Garden Events

Garden Week, www.gardenweek.com.au. WA’s premier garden and outdoor event, April 2012
Garden Clubs and Societies Fair – February and August 2012, see WA Horticultural Council website below
Open Gardens, www.opengarden.org.au. Events and open gardens in Western Australia.

Garden Clubs and Societies

Garden Clubs of Australia, www.gardenclubs.org.au. Represents over 500 garden clubs in Australia
Gardeners’ Circle, www.gardenerscircle.com.au. WA’s largest general garden club
Western Australian Horticultural Council, www.horticulturalcouncil.com.au. Encourages amateur gardening and supports and provides information about local clubs and societies. Manages the Garden Clubs and Societies Fair (see above). BACK TO TOP

Privacy Statement

If you chose to subscribe to our mailing list your contact details will not be sold, swapped, or provided to any other party.

We will take every precaution to ensure that information that you provide to us is kept secure.
Credit card details that you may choose to provide to us will not then kept on file.

You can correct your details at any time, check them or request that they be removed from our list altogether. Simply contact us with your wish to do so.

You will only receive communications from Whistlepipe Gardens and we will keep these communications to a reasonable frequency – not more than once a week, but realistically, probably only at monthly intervals.
BACK TO TOP