Oooohhh, do NOT get me started on how much I love used book stores! *L* In addition to the bird/chicken books I mention on my 'My Page', here are a couple of others that discuss birdkeeping in a more anecdotal, very enjoyable reading format: "Adventures With Talking Birds" by Catherine Hurlbutt, some personal stories by a little old lady wild bird rehabber, with darned good insights and advice. "A Hummingbird In My House, The Story Of Squeak" by Arnette Heidcamp, another book sritten by a lady who raised orchids and one day found a baby hummingbird, whom she successfully raised. and lastly, just for fun: "A Field Guild To Little-Known And Seldom Seen Birds Of North America" by Ben, Cathryn and John Sill. There is also a sequel to this book, both are howlingly funny. John Sill is an honest-to-goodness Audubon and Stokes guides illustrator, who in these totally tongue-in-cheek books has helped create a field guide parody to a whole flock of imaginary birds with names such as Eastern Spider Spitter and Prairie Molter. The Audubon-style illustrations, coupled with hilariously funny species names (in Latin, too) and descriptions, will have you laughing so hard it hurts. :) Velvet

There is a book but it's probably now out of print -- published 1993 -- Wrigley & Fagg, Bottlebrushes Paperbarks and Tea trees: and all other plants in the Leptospermum alliance. Angus & Robertson/HarperCollins Sydney. It was completely comprehensive for both species and cultivars when published and quite lavishly illustrated. There have not been major changes in classification or a large increase in number of cultivars since then. You should be able to find a used copy by searching with Bookfinder or Amazon.com

The bible for the NT is Native Plants of Northern Australia by John Bock. It has very good photographs and descriptions, and even covers traditional Indigenous plant uses. It is one book I would definately recommend, and the Wrigley and Fagg book is another excellent one that covers plants from the whole country. Enjoy your travels and good to see that you have included the NT in your travels - most travellers bypass the Top End for the east coast. I might be biased but you will be in the best part of the country when you come here....

I've only just returned to this forum, robfearon, so there's a long delay between your post & my response. Sorry, but I hope you get this. You might want to try two books, both by the Australian Plant Study Group: Grow What Small Plant & Grow What Where. The first of these books contains lots of information about plants for courtyards, rockeries & garden beds so I guess pots would fit in there somewhere. The second of the books has a section on plants suitable for container plants & hanging baskets. One type of Australian plant which is often overlooked for small gardens & pots is creepers. There's a variety of these including Hardenbergia violacea Native Lilac. Other plants you might want to seek out for your pots are Epacris impressa Common Heath, Tetratheca pilosa Pink-eyed Susan, Dianella caerulea Poroo Lily or Flax Lily, Grevillea chrysophaea Golden Grevillea & Grevillea dimorpha Flame Grevillea. Hunting for these in native nurseries & on line can be fun if you're that way inclined. I hope you get this information.