Guests are welcome at our activities.

Meetings

We hold evening meetings on the 2nd Friday of each month February to November. Meetings will be face-to-face or by Zoom, depending on the current conditions and the location of our speaker.

Next meeting: at Beatrice Taylor Hall 10th October 2025 7.30pm for 8:00pm.

Griffin Pickard 'Creating and Preserving habitat for native bees in urban gardens'

See detailed notice further down the page.

Group Outings and Activities

Usually held at a weekend, these outings visit  local gardens, reserves or other places of interest or sometimes there may be work to be done!

Next North Shore Group Activity: Saturday October 11th – Working Bee on the Knoll

Now that the weather is warming up, it is a perfect time for us to do some maintenance on the Knoll at the Wildflower Gardens in St Ives. As they say ”an ounce of prevention……” and that applies to getting onto weeding, pruning and planting before the hot summer. Come along, your contribution to the tasks will be really appreciated and you’ll probably learn a gardening tip or two. We make these working bees pleasant and social and take breaks for a cuppa and then lunch together at the end.

Meeting Place: Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Gardens. Park near Caley Pavilion and walk the short distance down to the Knoll adjacent to Lamberts Clearing.

Time: 9.30 Saturday 11^th October till lunch time.

Bring: Secateurs, weeding knife, a trowel, sunscreen, insect repellent, a kneeling pad, a plastic bucket for collecting weeds, morning tea (hot water available if you don’t have it), lunch- maybe sausages for the bbq and a roll or something to accompany it.

Walks & Talks

Walks and Talks are open to the public. See their own page, here.

Propagation, Plant Sales, The Knoll Garden and Bushcare

The Propagation group meets on alternate Wednesdays, weather permitting. Native plants are available for sale (cash only) and growing advice is provided. This activity is carried out at the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden, St Ives in the white shade house located behind the Wildflower Garden Visitors Centre. See the NSG entries on the calendar on the APS NSW Activities page for propagation, plant sales and advice of dates. Contact Tania Lamble on 0415043671 for details..

Volunteers also maintain the Knoll Garden at the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden, St Ives. Please contact Wendy Grimm on 0419323035  for details.

A Ku-ring-gai Council-run Bushcare group in which members participate is also active in the Garden on non-propagation Wednesdays. Contact KMC (bushcare@krg.nsw.gov.au) for details.

Next Evening Meeting

Next meeting Friday 10th October 2025 7.30pm for 8.00pm at Beatrice Taylor Hall, Hornsby.

Griffin Pickard 'Creating and Preserving habitat for native bees in urban gardens'

Griffin is a student, researcher and communications officer for the Pollination Lab at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University. With a background in sustainability, he won a research scholarship to study a cryptic species of ground-nesting bee and never looked back. He is currently part of a team looking at the life history and pollination potential of Amegilla (Blue-banded bees), and the nutritional requirements and breeding of managed stingless bees. His personal research interests lie in urban ecology – how life adapts in disturbed ecosystems and how we as humans can be better custodians of the places that we lives.

Plants for sale, library & supper.

ALL Welcome

The Beatrice Taylor Hall is behind Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre at 25 Edgeworth David Avenue, Hornsby. There will be plant sales after the meeting (cash only, please bring change) and refreshments. The NSG Botanical library is also available for members to browse and borrow items.

Zoom meetings can be attended by non-members by contacting Sue Fredrickson to request the Zoom link. Sue can be contacted on paulandsuefreddo@bigpond.com or 0401 362 921.