User Profile

Emma Rooksby

Emma Rooksby is a local volunteer bush regenerator and environmental educator who helped establish the Growing Illawarra Natives website. She is passionate about protecting and restoring local biodiversity in the Illawarra region and collaborates with many groups and individuals who share that passion.

Science & Nature

Resilient native meadows can cope with wet and dry

I’ve written about many of Illawarra’s local native ground covers, grasses and ferns. Individually each species has its appealing (or not-so-appealing) features, and environmental preferences, with everything from grasses that prefer to grow in mud...

Emma Rooksby

12 hours ago

Science & Nature

Flowering now, the spectacular Swamp Lily

With the warm and now wet spring we’re having, many local plants are flowering and fruiting brilliantly. It’s an excellent time to observe local native plants and see what they’re up to. One local plant that is doing particularly well is the Swamp...

Emma Rooksby

November 2024

Science & Nature

Future Proofing the Cabbage Tree Palm

Cabbage Tree Palms are very significant to local First Nations Peoples. They are also immensely important to many fruit-eating birds, particularly but not only local pigeons and doves. For this reason they are a really valuable element of local...

Emma Rooksby

November 2024

Science & Nature

Croom BioBlitz an opportunity for budding citizen scientists

This Friday and Saturday, local citizen scientists have the chance to explore and document the amazing biodiversity of Croom Reserve in Shellharbour. Croom Reserve is a precious remnant of the Illawarra’s original vegetation, a beautiful place to...

Emma Rooksby

November 2024

Science & Nature

Snow-in-Summer, a local tree showing off right now

I found it almost impossible to choose a plant to feature this week, as there are just so many species looking absolutely spectacular around the region. Wildflowers are still doing wonderfully in areas such as Maddens Plains, Sublime Point...

Emma Rooksby

November 2024

Science & Nature

Alyxias: rare in Illawarra, all around on a nearby paradise island

A week’s holiday on Lord Howe Island, thanks to a wonderful raffle prize, has given me a bit of an insight into the vegetation and ecology over here, and how it relates to those of Eastern Australia, Southern Africa and the Pacific islands. One of...

Emma Rooksby

October 2024

Science & Nature

The Shield Ferns share centre-stage

Illawarra is home to an immense range of fern species, and we are lucky to live in the midst of massive fern abundance and diversity. New species are added to the list occasionally, such as when Dr Kevin Mills recently published his book South Coast...

Emma Rooksby

October 2024

Science & Nature

In flower now: Branching Grass-flag

It’s always enjoyable to look around and see what local native plants are in flower. An edging bed of Branching Grass Flag (Libertia paniculata), showing the scrappy leaves and the overall habit of the plant. The flowers are not particularly showy...

Emma Rooksby

October 2024

Science & Nature

Oh my darling Turpentine!

The Turpentine trees (Syncarpia glomulifera) are in flower right now around the region and looking pretty spectacular. Turpentine is a tall, robust tree in the Myrtaceae family (related to Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora), and it is widespread...

Emma Rooksby

October 2024

Science & Nature

Flowering now: the incredibly decorative Tall Rice Flower

If you go down to Saddleback Mountain today, or to Mount Keira (Djeera) or Mount Kembla (Djembla), you might be lucky enough to come across a truly incredible flowering experience of a local plant that’s almost unknown on the coastal plain, or in...

Emma Rooksby

September 2024

Science & Nature

The right time for the White Cedar

The White Cedar Melia azedarach is one of the loveliest of the local trees, and also one of the toughest of the rainforest species. And it’s flowering (and in some cases fruiting) right now across the Illawarra region. The beautiful picture below...

Emma Rooksby

September 2024

Science & Nature

Dry times call for tough ferns

The current dry, warm and often windy weather is a huge change from the rains that dominated must of the last four years. It’s been a bit of a shock to gardens, parks and natural areas, and many places are looking dry, with lots of fallen leaves...

Emma Rooksby

September 2024

Science & Nature

In flower now: the gorgeous Bulbine Lily

It’s fair to say that spring has sprung already, and many of Illawarra’s local plants are flowering or fruiting weeks or even months ahead of normal. One that has really caught my eye is the Bulbine Lily (Bulbine bulbosum), a small, dense perennial...

Emma Rooksby

September 2024

Science & Nature

Don’t throw this under-appreciated local plant overboard!

I often find myself saying that the lack of pink or red flowers among the flora of the Illawarra escarpment and coastal plain is more than made up for by the wealth of these colours among the foliage. And I have a little ‘mental list’ of species...

Emma Rooksby

August 2024