The Burrendong Botanic Garden and Arboretum (BBGA) Spring Plant Sale this weekend is offering something very special, chairperson of the Friends of Burrendong Arboretum, Katrina MacLennan, told Dubbo Photo News.

“We’ve got a really lovely specialty bench with a number of rare and unusual plants, and they’re all Australian natives,” Katrina revealed of the Saturday, October 17 sale at the BBGA, a unique 167-hectare sanctuary dedicated to the preservation of unique Australian native flora.

Nestled on the shores of Lake Burrendong near Mumbil, it is also the only native botanic garden west of the Blue Mountains in NSW.

“It's our biggest chance each year to raise funds to restore the Botanic Gardens,” she added.

Plants on sale at the event include Eremophila gibbifolia (the coccid emu-bush), Lechenaultia biloba (the blue leschenaultia), Veronica derwentia (the Derwent speedwell), Chamelaucium uncinatum (the Geraldton waxflower), Correa pulchella (the salmon correa or native fuchsia), and Verticordia species (featherflowers or morrisons).

Fully volunteer-run, the sale funds good work in one of the region’s most authentic and pristine native areas.

“Since we lost our external funding in 2017, this money helps in trying to restore the gardens. It helps to keep the place going as we now have to be a stand-alone business," Katrina said.

“We’re trying to re-establish the botanic gardens as a destination and we absolutely spend 100 per cent of what we make from the sale on the gardens.”

All the plants for sale have been acclimatised to the region and will thrive in local environments and gardens looking for a splash of native colour and authenticity in the coming years.

The Burrendong team has focused on what will be one of their biggest weekends of the year, with days, weeks, and months put into propagating plants for the event.

“They’ve all been grown here on the nursery premises, and everything should grow well in local gardens,” Katrina said.

“We’ve got literally thousands of individual plants for sale; we’ve been working really hard since autumn to get as many plants established as possible,” she concluded.

The sale is on from 9–2pm at the Arboretum on Tara Road at Mumbil.