Sourcing Your Native Plants.Never try to remove native plants or seeds from National Parks or Conservation Areas. Not only is it illegal, and there are heavy fines, but many Australian plants are classified as endangered or rare. Removal of them from Protected Areas is one reason why they are classified so.Collectors, especially of native orchids and ferns, have often decimated local populations. Loss of habitat and wildfire are the other major reasons why so many of our native plants are at risk.
However these endangered plants are sometimes available at specific registered nurseries. I have also seen flourishing cuttings of the rare swamp orchid Phais Tankavillea sold at a local market. Due to the upsurge of interest in native plants, just about every State now has several native plant nurseries, where stock is aquired under government permits, and bred for sale.
Above right; an introduced Indian Myna. It’s also useful to remember that few natives survive translocation. They just dont like their roots disturbed, and many of them dont like heavy pruning either. However, most will grow from small tip cuttings, dipped in rooting hormone gel and planted in sand, with a clear plastic bag or jar over them for a few days.
Sometimes you can source small plants or seed from an area that is to be cleared for development. Sometimes you can find small natives seedlings such as grevillea growing in sand in a dry creekbed, and sometimes they will transplant okay, as long as the roots are not disturbed.
 Above, waiting for seed to ripen in the Canberra Botanical Gardens Generally seed is gathered when the plants have finished flowering. Heathland species seeds can be captured by sweeping a light fine net (like a fine butterfly net) through plants on the roadside, although you need to be careful you dont capture weed seeds. Seeds from shrubs can be easily collected just before, or as the seed capsule opens.
Its important to realise that many Australian native plants are widely variable in the wild. For example, yellow buttons, a beautiful groundcover, grows naturally in every State of Australia. However in some areas it looks quite different from buttons growing in other areas. Climate, weather, and soil quality all contribute to varying plant charactaristics. The same applies to grevilleas, banksias, and many other species.
 Over the last couple of decades, botanists and native plant nurseries have developed much improved varieties of native plants. So the plant you collected from the roadside, or collected illegally from a Conservation Reserve, may be very different to the same plant you would buy at native plant nursery, which would probably also be much easier to grow. The best source of plants is from native plant nurseries, and most species are not expensive. Purchasing from a native plant nursery also supports the native nursery trade, and helps them to offset the cost of the considerable infrastructure they need to install to produce native plants for sale.
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