Drylands Foundation Nursery

Out on David Road north of Geraldton, this working permaculture farm doubles as a nursery, and the two pursuits inform each other in ways a standard garden centre never could. The stock leans hard into what actually thrives in this dry, salt-tinged corner of the Midwest: local native tube stock, multi-use and fruiting trees, and the kind of endemic shrubs — hakeas, sennas, grevilleas — that flower in a rush across the farm each season, sometimes hybridising in full view of anyone paying attention. That close observation is part of the appeal; the people here are watching what the birds and bees are doing to their own seed-grown plants, and sharing the results. Alongside the nursery, the Drylands Foundation runs a seed enterprise for open-pollinated vegetables, herbs and native species, and keeps hives that produce honey off the surrounding gardens — all of it funnelled back into the organisation's environmental and sustainability work, including hosting WWOOFers and workshop groups keen to learn permaculture on site. Opening hours shift with the seasons — Thursday to Sunday mornings has been the recent pattern, with other times by arrangement — which suits a place that's as much a demonstration farm as a retail outlet, and worth timing a visit around.