Many Maroondah Group members have extensive knowledge of Australian plants and their horticulture Over the years, a number of these members have produced publications in order to share their knowledge with a wider audience. Both individual and Group publications have been produced.
These publications have been an enormously valuable resource for spreading knowledge of our native flora and how to grow it.
Maroondah Group’s initial step in publishing was in about 1969, when it published a booklet on Banksias, written by Fred Rogers. This booklet included general information on the genus, hints on propagation and descriptions of about 60 species. This booklet may have encouraged Maroondah Group member Jim Carney to set up a group to study Western Australian banksias, and to produce a booklet in 1971.
In the meantime, in about 1970, another booklet was published, with the title Growing Australian Plants in the Eastern Suburbs. This booklet of 14 pages included general information on growing Australian plants and listed various plants suitable for the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. An invitation was extended to readers who wished to learn more to contact the Maroondah Group secretary at that time, Kevin Williamson. The booklet sold at a price of 20 cents. This booklet may well have been the forerunner to the Committee’s decision, in 1972, to produce a publication featuring the flowering times of plants which grow well in local gardens, to help gardeners produce a native garden with year-round colour.
A precursor to 500 Australian Native plants.

Flora of Melbourne

The publication of the Flora of Melbourne is the culmination of 7 years of dedication by a group committed to seeing indigenous plants appreciated as an important horticultural resource, and accepted as ecologically necessary in maintaining the survival of our local bushland environment for future generations. It was written in response to many enquiries from a broad spectrum of the community: individuals, groups and organisations, each seeking information on local species suitable for home gardens, or the composition of the original plant communities of their area, to be used in revegetation projects. The encouragement and support of the community over this time has been the stimulus needed to keep going. Our reward will come from being involved, and encouraging others to participate, in saving what little remains of our precious remnant bushland.
Originally 'The Book', as it has become known to all involved, was planned as a horticultural guide, with details of 200 species of indigenous plants suitable for home gardens. Deciding on which species to include, and which to omit, was a much more demanding task than it might appear and was eventually abandoned in favour of a more detailed study of the known flora of Melbourne.
Researching the original plant list showed just what a dearth of information existed on the plants of the Melbourne area. Many hours of research were spent to develop a broad picture of which plants grew where. Numerous searches were made through the pressed collections at the Melbourne Herbarium. The State Library was also often visited to uncover its vast source of knowledge. Its store of older works helped us piece together an overview of Melbourne's original flora. References were made to numerous unpublished species check lists, many produced by botanists preparing management plans for specific areas. Field notes published in Victorian Naturalist, the journal of the Victorian Field Naturalist Club (some issues dating back over 50 years), were used to gain detailed species lists of many areas of Melbourne long since fallen victim to urban growth. Fruitful weekends were spent in the company of local experts, wandering through many of Melbourne's different habitats seeking out the many unfamiliar or little known species.
Over recent years the quest for knowledge on indigenous plants specific to local areas has exploded, as has the push for regeneration in remaining bushland areas and the revegetation of habitats in devastated areas. Work is being undertaken at a local level by concerned groups, with the publication of various booklets and pamphlets. While these works are of value to local people, they generally include only the more easily recognised plants and fail to give a picture of the overall situation in Melbourne. With the completion of this book which contains detailed information of over 1100 species, both flowering and nonflowering, we have endeavoured to provide readers with an insight into the varied plant communities which once existed throughout the greater Melbourne area, and an idea of the original vegetation of each area. No attempt has been made to produce a genuine botanical 'flora', with its often difficult to follow identification keys. We believe that a book with simple, easily read text, and illustrations to aid identification, would far better suit the purpose of encouraging people from all walks of life to become involved in reversing the trend of the last 150 years, and hopefully rebuild the integrity and diversity of our quickly diminishing remnant bushland vegetation.