Plant Neighbourhood

From DEECA's modelled map of Victoria's plant communities before clearing, around 1750. The map is modelled, so confirm the communities on site. Distances are measured from square search areas around your site, so they're approximate. Select the communities to use.

Why choose a variant? Some EVCs come in more than one version, each with its own species list: Plains Grassland, for example, has a Heavier-soils and a Low-rainfall variant. The map only shows the EVC, not which variant grew at your site, so you choose the one that matches your site's soils, rainfall and landform. If you can't tell, select each one that might fit. Until you choose, that community's species are left out of your planting palette. More on variants · How the map works

From the NSW State Vegetation Type Map (Pre-Clearing), DCCEEW. The map is modelled at regional scale, so confirm the communities on site. Status shows how much of each community has been cleared across NSW, and whether it's part of a threatened ecological community. Reference lists are available for the Sydney Basin bioregion so far. How the map works

Native species recorded in the survey plots that define each PCT (BioNet Vegetation Classification, DCCEEW), with growth form and the share of plots each was found in. A species in 90% of plots is a backbone of the community; one in 2% is occasional. How the reference lists work

Each community's benchmark is matched to its bioregion. Lists marked extracted · check source were read automatically from DEECA's documents, so check them against the source before professional use. Lists you add are saved in this browser only. How the reference lists work

The Victorian Biodiversity Atlas brings together flora surveys, research and documented observations, with species, dates and locations. Compare the records with your reference lists and find other native species worth investigating. Choose high-accuracy locations (within ±500 m) or include less precise records. Some records are old or may concern planted species; sensitive locations are restricted. Sources and limitations

The BioNet Atlas brings together flora surveys, research and documented observations, with species, dates and locations. Compare the records with your reference lists and find other native species worth investigating. Records vary in age and location accuracy; sensitive locations are withheld or generalised. Sources and limitations

Or choose the Atlas of Living Australia as the source. It works anywhere in Australia and brings together the state atlases, herbarium specimens, surveys and community observations such as iNaturalist, so it usually finds more species, including recent ones. Its records are less vetted, and some will be planted. Garden and botanic-garden specimens and automatic identifications are left out. The latest record is shown as a period (2020 or later, the 2010s and so on). Sources and limitations

These species are supported as locally indigenous by both vegetation reference lists and recorded observations near your site. Consider their suitability for your site's conditions and confirm local provenance with your nursery.

Your planting palette lists every species named in the reference lists of the plant communities you selected, grouped from canopy to ground, plus any plants you've added from the BYO List step, labelled by origin. Each species appears once, under its current botanical name, and shows how firmly it belongs to the plant communities (the share of lists, or of survey plots, that name it) and whether it has been sighted near your site. Natives sighted nearby that no list names can be added under Filter and sort.

Split your site into zones, such as a wet swale or a dry batter, each with its own conditions and quantities.

Each plant is checked against the reference lists of the selected plant communities and the local sightings around your site. Bring a planting schedule as an Excel or CSV file, or paste a list straight from a spreadsheet, a document or an email: quantities, pot sizes, codes and authorities are recognised and set aside. Common names, older botanical names and likely misspellings are matched to current names, and you confirm any that are uncertain. Cultivars (in quotes), hybrids (×) and genus-only entries are kept and flagged.

Files are read in your browser and aren't uploaded. The Excel export keeps the original evidence codes (A–D) alongside each verdict.

Trees and structural planting lists plants set out one by one: canopy and understorey trees, and shrubs typically 3 m or taller (the middle of their height range). They're scheduled by quantity for the whole site, never as part of a zone's mix. The quantity starts from each zone's area and tree density until you type your own. Use Move to zones or Move to trees and structural to put any plant (a smaller shrub, a tall grass) where it belongs. A move from a zone applies to that zone, or to every zone with Apply changes to every zone, so a shrub can be a mix item in one zone and set out singly in another. Imported schedules keep each plant where the schedule put it.

Each zone is calculated as a Mix (the default), by Layers or by Quantities you enter. In a mix, every plant has a proportion of the mix area (proportions always total 100%: change one and the others make room) and a density, and its quantity is the area × proportion × density. Densities come from each plant's spread: wider plants are planted further apart, about one mature width apart, following landscape architects' own mix schedules. They're then scaled together to meet the mix's target, either a mix density in plants per m² or a cover at 80% maturity (the share of the ground covered once plants reach 80% of their mature width). Type a density to set your own. The supply size applies to the whole mix; change any plant's size in its row.

Proportions from shapes a mix on one of its zone's reference lists: each layer's share of the mix (grasses, herbs, shrubs…) follows the list, then is split among your plants in that layer. Pick the list that describes the zone's conditions; the lists for other parts of the site describe other conditions. Victorian benchmarks give each life form's cover, which is used where the tool has it; other lists use their number of species in each layer, and NSW lists split a layer by how often each plant is recorded in that community's plots. A note on the mix, carried into the schedule, records the list and, where it gives one, its tree canopy cover as the mature crown the zone needs. Trees and structural planting then suggests enough canopy trees to match. Change any proportion afterwards; the note says it was adjusted.

Layers gives each layer a density over the whole zone (layers stack: trees, shrubs and the ground layer each cover the zone), and each species a share of its layer. Quantities calculates nothing: you enter every quantity, starting from the ones calculated. Presets set densities, targets and supply sizes at once: Revegetation (tubestock, lower densities), Standard and Urban Landscape (larger stock, higher densities). Type any quantity to set it by hand; reset goes back to the calculated one. In a table, Enter or Tab moves down the column.

Codes are six letters, GEN.SPE, from the genus and species. Where two plants would share a code, later letters are used instead, and codes stay fixed once given. Edit any code by hand. Nursery marks estimate supply availability; they do not verify where nursery stock was grown or its propagation material was collected.

The scorecard measures the finished planting, for the whole project or one zone, from the species and quantities in Selection. Trees and structural planting count for the whole project. Canopy cover is each tree's crown area at maturity times the number planted, as a share of the area, against your council's canopy target where the tool has it, or your state's metropolitan target. Most crown widths in the trait list are estimates, so the range (smallest to largest widths) matters as much as the headline, and crowns are counted as if they don't overlap. A council's target usually applies to the whole municipality or its public land, not to one site; read it as a benchmark. Diversity uses Santamour's 10-20-30 rule (no species over 10% of the trees, genus over 20% or family over 30%). Structure compares each layer's share of plants and species with its share of species on the reference lists, which give species, not cover.

Download the scorecard as an image or a PDF to share it. Cards you've opened are included with their plant lists, so open the ones you want to show.