Our twenty first and final annual Open Day at Bellis in subtropical Brisbane will be held this Mother’s Day Weekend, 9-10th May 2026. Over 500 different climate-appropriate plants grow in our Wynnum garden for food, medicine, pesticides, to support biodiversity, including climate change-ready ornamentals.

A diversely planted pocket botanic garden. A home where living and gardening is affordable – sustainable water, energy, power and genes, Bellis is a suburban model for a carbon positive lifestyle.

Visit a working garden that operates on multiple levels. On one level it was designed in 2003 to be an example – a model, affordable, sustainable home and garden located a hundred metres from Wynnum railway station – just in case petrol became unaffordable or unavailable. From 2018, the garden morphed into a Vietnamese style food garden to suit the expectations of a certain Australian-Vietnamese market gardener and cook.

We garden in a continually surprising climate. Bellis has been stress tested by long droughts and epic floods and has generally outperformed expectations. The water sensitive landscape soaked up 803mm rain in three consecutive wet days in late summer 2022 – 803 litres of rain per square metre soaked in and little was lost as stormwater. The soil sequesters carbon and enhances moisture retention.

Useful plants have supported our financial bottom line and the environmental performance of a household. There are ideas and inspiration for sustainable food growing and boosting beneficial biodiversity at home. Hives of stingless bees have made pollination here more thorough than ever. The seed crop has never been heavier. The suburban biodiversity checklist, twenty three years in the making, is just the third of its kind ever for SE Queensland.

How powerful can 300 square metres of food garden be? If you put the work in, it can help transform your lives and improve your financial bottom line. There will be a sale of surplus plants and locally adapted seed, many varieties of which are not available commercially. Some are rarely seen, others are rising stars. We supplied neighbours and garden clubs with planting material when supply chains failed during COVID; with the current Oil Shock history may be repeating.

Copies of The Seed Savers Handbook by Jude and Michel Fanton, which guides the cultivation of over 100 different kinds of food plants, how to save their seed, and keep varieties true to type, will be on sale.

“Bellis is not an attempt at self-sufficiency, but it is a living example of how we can turn our Aussie backyards into an environmental advantage, without compromising our lifestyle.

Everything growing here can be grown by an average gardener on an average income. Discover how to reduce your ecological footprint whilst reducing the cost of living.”
Jerry Coleby-Williams

Kumbartcho Nursery and Sanctuary, is Queensland’s model community native nursery and environment centre. Some of their volunteers will be seeing things run smoothly.

Jerry has been the Patron of Householder’s Options to Protect the Environment Inc. (HOPE Australia) for over fifteen years. This not-for-profit volunteer organisation advocates for responsible and sustainable stewardship of the environment and supports the adoption of sustainable, long-term solutions to the many environmental problems facing humanity – locally, nationally, and globally. HOPE believes in the power of communities and individuals to make a difference: “Think Globally – Act Locally”. This charity will receive your donations in exchange for Jerry’s home grown, home made jams and marmalades.

Link is here:

https://www.hopeaustralia.org.au

GARDEN ADDRESS: 56 Daisy Street, Wynnum, Queensland 4178;

OPENING: 9th and 10th May 2026, from 9.00am to 4.00pm;

ADMISSION: $10 CASH ONLY.  Unwaged, students and under 18 free.

Admission gives you access to a unique range of food and medicinal plants and seed at affordable prices;

SURPLUS STOCK PLANT SALE. – details coming soon!

SURPLUS PACKET SEED SALE – details coming soon!

All sold on a first come, first served basis.

No bookings, just turn up and pay at the gate;

No pre-sales;

The shop has an Eftpos facility.

IMPORTANT NOTES

• This garden is not suitable for wheelchairs or strollers;
• Prior to entry you must be prepared to disinfect the soles of your shoes in the disinfectant provided. This is a condition of entry – biosecurity matters!
• Wear sensible shoes (stilettos and mulch don’t work);
• No pets;
• Supervise children at all times: hot chillies, plant spines and euphorbia sap may cause injury;

Nearest 24 hour medical facilities

Wynnum-Manly Community Health Centre, ‘Gundu Pa’, 20 New Lindum Road, Wynnum West, 4178.  Reception: 07 3213 7800. 24-hour Primary Care Centre: 07 3213 7900;

Nearest railway station

Wynnum Station, 7 Madgwick Street, QLD 4178. It is on the Cleveland line. Not Wynnum North Station and not Wynnum Central Station, but Wynnum Station.

Nearest public toilets

Wynnum Esplanade, opposite ‘The Pelican’s Nest by the Bay’, 143 Wynnum Esplanade, QLD 4178.