Plants of Tasmania Nursery

Wallaby-proof Plants

Wallabies are the bane of many Tasmanian bush gardens, but there are clearly preferences in what they eat. Wallaby tastes probably differ from place-to-place, and will change over time. Young plants are more likely to be susceptible to grazing, as will any new growth. Unfortunately we can make no guarantees that the plants listed below are wallaby-proof, but the plants listed are more likely not to be grazed. We would welcome any comments or suggestions to add to the list. Note that it is still advisable to protect plants when they are young. Greater grazing pressure will undoubtedly occur during periods of low food availability in the bush.

Unpalatability to wallabies and possums stems from a few different sources - chemical, for example plants that produce strong-smelling (and presumably foul-tasting to wallabies) oils such as tea-trees; physical (spiny leaves, stem spines, furry leaves, e.g. Acacia verticillata/Prickly Moses) and biological (there must be plants out there that that produce toxins that give wallabies the runs, if that is possible). Each plant is trying to protect itself however it can.

Members of the following Tasmanian genera appear to be more resistant to grazing:

Acacia	Anopterus	Baeckea
Banksia	Callistemon	Coprosma
Daviesea	Dianella (especially D. tasmanica)	Eucryphia
Goodia	Grevillea	Hakea
Hibbertia	Indigofera	Kunzea
Lasiopetalum	Lepidosperma	Leptospermum
Lomandra	Melaleuca	Micrantheum
Myoporum	Nematolepis	Philotheca
Poa	Pomaderris	Prostanthera
Pultenaea	Scleranthus	Spyridium
Stylidium	Veronica	Westringia
Zieria

All ferns appear to be OK as well.

Steer well clear of Correas, lilies and daisies in particular.