Applenut, Thanks for the info. I'd run across the grove research station in tas on the net before. Misread the info thought it was only whole sale but that just means a min $50 order. I've bought quite a few things from daleys mostly sub tropicals. Don't know why but I got an idea in my head that I should get apples from specialist nurserys. Woodbridge fruit trees and Heritage fruit trees. The idea of a bunch of apple varieties on each of my espaliers is very appealing as we have very limited space.

Yes, there's the ABC Gardening Australia one... not sure if you would be interested in it. http://www.gardeningaustralialive.com.au/

Thanks very much to those who responded to this question. I have incorporated all the responses into the following email sent to the enquirer. Regards Elizabeth O'Brien Hi Mark, We are writing a response to your question relating to location of native Australian plants which can adapt to high levels of lead (700 - 810 mg/kg) or copper (21-31 mg/kg) within the soil. By searching the web we managed to find two plant species that are native to Australia that can tolerate high levels of lead or copper. According to http://www.ansto.gov.au/ainse/prorep2002/R_02_001p.pdf Stackhousia tryonii (Batianoff et al. 1990) and Hybanthus floribundus (Cole are the two Australian native serpentine-endemic and nickel indicator plant species that have the potential for use in Ni [and possibly lead] phytoremediation/phytoextraction. These species possess a unique ability to hyperaccumulate metals such as Ni, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cu, Co and Mn - to extremely high concentrations in their shoots without showing any symptoms of toxicity. Stackhousia tryonii is a serpentine-endemic, rare, native Australian plant and is reported to hyperaccumulate nickel up to 55,500 mg g-1 on a dry weight basis (Bhatia and Ashwath, 2002). References: Bhatia P and Ashwath N (2004). Somatic embryogenesis in the nickel hyperaccumulating shrub, Hybanthus floribundus (Lindl.) F. Muell. Plant Tissue Cult. 14: 1-7. Bhatia NP, Walsh KB, Orlic I, Siegele R, Ashwath N, Baker AJM (2004). Studies on spatial distribution of nickel in leaves and stems of the metal hyperaccumulator Stackhousia tryonii Bailey using micro-PIXE and EDXS techniques. Functional Plant Biology 31, 1061-1074. We emailed Dr Nanjappa Ashwath at Central Queensland University (n.ashwath@cqu.edu.au) to ask for further info as to availability of these plants in your area and were advised that Stackhousia tryonii only occurs in Central Queensland but that Hybanthus floribundus is found in Western Australia. Since that left us with only one species, we decided to email Men Of The Trees Western Australia - Headquarters, St Barbe Grove Nursery Hazelmere - contact@menofthetrees.com.au - (but Ross the manager didn't know of any copper or lead tolerant plants) and join a forum and post your query on OzPlants (Australian Native Plants) Forum of Garden Web, based in the USA - www.au.gardenweb.com/forums/oznative/ - and phone a few potential sources of further information. We spoke to Frances Borland who has worked on the revegetation of contamination around the Broken Hill lead mine and Frances said: a Masters student from University of NSW whose name I can't remember, from Earth Sciences or Geography was working on which native plants tolerate lead. We found most drought tolerant native plants tolerate heavy metals but not low pH (acidic) soil. Perilya [the owner of the Broken Hill lead mine] may also know about species for revegetation. I'm not sure what effect copper...

No problem. I'm hesitant to tell you to water more because I'm not sure what your climate is like over there, hence me telling you to wait a bit before watering. I have a extremely thirsty one that I'm currently taking care of, and I water that one profusely, like every 1-3 days and it's finally perking up. But for my more established ones, I go for probably around 2 weeks before I give em a good drink. You can seach for "haworthians" in the search bar. You'll find several really long threads on haworthia. :) Might be some useful info in them. If anything, you can stare at all the lovely haworthia pics!