Welcome to the March enewsletter |
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Native Plants for NSW – March 2021
The monthly enewsletter of the Australian Plants Society NSW |
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Ferns enhancing a garden pond (photo: Ian Cox) |
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In our March issue
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Welcome to the enewsletter
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From the President Activities – meetings and plant sales -
Time and gardens
Event posters from the 1980s -
Propagation: responses from our experts group Our fauna profiles Study Group spotlight – Ferns -
Study Group updates: Garden Design and Hakea
- On the APS NSW website.
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Welcome to the enewsletter
Welcome to the March enewsletter. Unfortunately, some bigpond users may not have received the last issue. Please check if fellow members are receiving the enewsletter and remember each issue is also saved as a pdf file here. As new members join every month, some information is repeated in each issue. Stories, photos, events and feedback are welcome. We'd love to include more from outside Sydney. Please email the editor Rhonda Daniels at enewsletter@austplants.com.au |
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From the President John Aitken
With the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions many groups will be able to hold physical meetings. It was wonderful to attend Sutherland Group's February meeting and catch up with many members I hadn't seen or spoken to since March last year.
Hopefully, our Saturday 20 March gathering with Peter Olde OAM will be our last Zoom meeting (photo below). To avoid Zoom bombing incidents, members must register for the event. Our following quarterly gathering on Saturday 15 May, which also includes our AGM, will be held at Kurnell focusing on the flora that Banks and Solander collected at Botany Bay in 1770. In the morning, enjoy guided bushwalks by Sutherland Group through Kamay National Park. More information in the next enewsletters.
The Board is currently undertaking a strategy review of APS NSW and will engage with representatives of district groups, and later members, to ensure that we all identify with and take ownership of the future direction of our society. |
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Activities – meetings
Across all our APS groups, there are various approaches to meetings early this year – some in person and some by Zoom. Please check the calendar on the website here for details and be prepared for changes.
Friday 12 March – Photographing Australian native plants, North Shore Group
The Zoom meeting will include a talk by our new member David Roberts, experienced amateur photographer. David will provide some thoughts and ideas on taking photographs of plants, general photographic principles and plant-specific challenges. We will also have a short plant ID session. From 7.45 pm for 8 pm start. Please email paulandsuefreddo@bigpond.com for the Zoom link.
Saturday 20 March – APS NSW quarterly gathering: New grevillea hybrids with Peter Olde OAM
From 3 pm by Zoom.
Peter, an excellent and entertaining speaker, will inform us of the many new hybrids of grevilleas that have been developed over the last few years. He is a world expert on grevilleas and leader of the ANPSA Grevillea Study Group. Peter co-authored the three volume Grevillea Book and, from 1993, has been an Honorary Research Associate at the National Herbarium of NSW. Peter has discovered and described many new species of Grevillea and collected over 5,000 specimens from all over Australia. Grevillea oldei was named in his honour. Many members have visited Peter and Margaret's magnificent Australian native garden, Silky Oaks, at Oakdale.
To avoid Zoom bombing, members must register for this meeting using the link here. You will receive an email about joining the meeting. If you have any difficulties registering, please email office@austplants.com.au Saturday 15 May – APS NSW quarterly gathering at KurnellSutherland Group will be hosting this physical meeting at Kurnell.
Catch up on talks on our YouTube channel here including the talk on balancing fire management by Mark Schuster at North Shore Group in February here. |
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Activities – plant sales
Saturday 13 March – Plant sale at Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden
North Shore Group is having a low-key plant sale at our shadehouse at Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden. Our plants have grown well over summer and we have a wide range (although not huge numbers of each species) of home-grown and bought-in local plants needing new homes.
The sale is for APS members only and by prior booking only for 10 minute intervals from 9 am to 4.30 pm. This will allow us to be COVID-safe, and avoid over-crowding in our small shadehouse and the very small car park. We will prepare a list of the plants available and their growing details to help buyers choose on the day. Please book with Sue Bowen on suzanneebowen@gmail.com or 0478 957 951. Please bring your own carry boxes or bags, and bring wet weather gear if raining. We prefer payment by credit card.
Saturday 13 March – Sutherland Council Community Nursery open day
The nursery is open Monday to Friday, but this is an open day for those who can't make it to the nursery during the week. Come in and see a selection of plants indigenous to Sutherland Shire, with tubestock from $2.70. Limited parking available on site. Social distancing and COVID-19 guidelines apply. Enter from 345 The Boulevarde, Gymea. Details here.
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 5–28 March – Autumn open garden and plant sales at Boongala Native Gardens, Kenthurst
Enjoy a walk around Boongala Native Gardens and Rainforest which displays a diverse collection of native flora from around Australia. A large range of native plants in gro-tubes and larger sizes is available for sale. Guided rainforest tour available at 11 am and 1.30 pm daily. Entry to gardens: adults $3, Rainforest and bush tucker tour: adults $5. Details here.
Saturday and Sunday, 10–11 April – Collectors' Plant Fair at Clarendon
This popular event with many plant sellers is back in 2021. Details and ticket sales here.
1–2 May and 8–9 May – Open days and plant sales at Illawarra Grevillea Park at Bulli Photo above: Brachyscome multifida 'Break of day' Photo below: Rhododendron lochiae, both propagated for sale by North Shore Group (photos: Sue Bowen)
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Walks at Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden
Be guided by members of North Shore Group to see and learn about native plants. These walk-only sessions are free and no prior knowledge is required. Walks are easy to medium, from 10 am to about 12 noon. Meet at 9.45 am Caley's Pavilion. Please book your place by the Saturday before the walk with Wendy Grimm by email wagrimm@tpg.com.au or phone 0419 323 035. - Monday 15 March – Introduction to Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden
- Monday 19 April – Wildlife
- Monday 24 May – Bush foods and fibres
Join the observant walkers below. |
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Time and gardens
One of the themes for the recent Garden Design Study Group Newsletter 114 was Time and the editor Lawrie Smith introduced the discussion noting ‘time’ often figures prominently in conversations and texts when discussing gardens and landscape. ‘Time’ has many connotations and interpretations. Here were a few illustrations.
- How has ‘time’ matured the design of long established gardens of native plants
- No ‘time’ to wait! Today we want instant gardens
- Planning a garden to develop over ‘time’ for future generations
- Incorrect plant selections blocking views and breezes over ‘time’.
Jeff Howes, who has been gardening on the same 800 square metres in northern Sydney for over 40 years, was prompted to share a few thoughts to promote discussion on the longer time frame of environmental landscaping.
Read more here and Jeff's tips on what he has learnt trying to grow native plants here. |
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Event posters from the 1980s
A long-time Sutherland Group member decluttering at home rediscovered several posters promoting our large public events from the 1980s. The spectacular flower displays attracted much public interest. In a sign of changing times, our name was the Society for Growing Australian Plants, and there was no website for more information. If you have a story to share from those spectacular days, please email the editor at enewsletter@austplants.com.au
See the posters here and read about the role of life member Betty Rymer. |
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Propagation: answers from our experts group
We get many emails about propagating native plants. Glenda Browne shares the message with our experts group in case they have special knowledge (which they usually do). Read some of the recent questions and responses here including a propagation calendar, and growing Grevillea x semperflorens and Acacia leprosa 'Scarlet Blaze'. Following our experts' group story on sourcing seeds last issue here, we have added Harvest Seed & Native Plants and Wollongong Council's Greenplan nursery at Wollongong Botanic Garden to our resources here. |
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Our fauna profiles
As well as our plant profile database here with new plants added every month, we also have profiles of 16 fauna species including birds, reptiles and insects. Most are by Warren and Gloria Sheather. With the importance of animals large and small for the health and survival of plants and ecosystems, we'd like to add more.
Check our fauna profiles here. If you'd like to contribute any photos and a brief description, please email secretary@austplants.com.au Botany Bay diamond weevil The Botany Bay diamond weevil (Chrysolophus spectabilis) is a native Australian species very common in eastern Australia. Both immature and adult stages live on Acacia (wattles). The photo shows a pair mating on the stem of Acacia cardiophylla. The species has some historical significance as one of the first insects collected by Sir Joseph Banks in Botany Bay in 1770. Read more here. |
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Study Group spotlight – Ferns
This issue we feature the Fern Study Group, with content from their January 2021 issue (Newsletter 146).
Monthly meetings in Sydney – cake and ferns
The Fern Study Group has monthly meetings in Sydney. Many involve cake, in fact, the newsletter notes 'our meetings are really more like cake meetings than fern meetings'. Become a member here and check the newsletter for dates. At a Sydney meeting last year, Matt Renner, Research Scientist at the National Herbarium of NSW, spoke about ferns and bryophytes, and their historical relationships. The ability of ferns to survive in areas of low light (through a system called neochrome), appears to have come from bryophytes or a close relative.
Ferns of the Illawarra Peter Hind provides a comprehensive description of the ferns of the Illawarra and Robertson. The region ranges from subtropical rainforest to snow gums and subalpine swamps, and this diversity is reflected in the ferns found in the region, with over 100 species of ferns and their allies recorded.
How many new varieties? Member Rod Pattison, with the support of Peter Bostock, has collected over 80 different forms of Drynaria rigidula in the wild of South East Queensland. Most are desirable for horticulture as they are attractive ferns and can also tolerate some neglect.
Growing from spores Dedicated Queensland member Claire Shackel describes the difficulties associated with growing ferns from spore, noting that some spore have a very short time of viability while some are not shed when dried so have to be scraped off, and it can take 6 months before you know if you have prothalli (germinating spore). Photo below: Gleichenia dicarpa at Narrow Neck (photo: Ian Cox) |
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Study Group updates
Explore our wide range of national Study Groups and their newsletter archives. Read how to join a group for free here. Our Study Group liaison officer Nicole Maher summarises recent newsletters.
Garden Design Study Group Newsletter 114, February 2021
Group Leader Lawrie Smith recounts his work creating the ‘Epiphyte Forest’ to provide a distinctive character for the Queensland precinct at World Expo 88. Sixty epiphyte clad poles, up to 16 m tall, were clustered in irregular groups. To create the poles, more than 700 cylinders, each a double cage of steel mesh a metre tall, were craned up and slid down over steel poles. Sphagnum moss was inserted between the mesh, along with a computerised drip irrigation system. The epiphytes were grown and maintained in nurseries until delivery and installation at the Expo site. The scene was enhanced with bird calls, special lighting and clouds of mist. As Lawrie notes, “This installation was arguably the first major ‘green wall’ that are so much in vogue today”.
Hakea Study Group Newsletter 75, February 2021
Member Una Gaff from Gilgandra has helped her hakeas which grow on shallow sandy soils overlying much heavier clay through drought conditions by building a low circular wall about 3 m in diameter around the base of the plant and filling it up with water every four months or so, to give the plant a deep watering. Paul Kennedy shares that the mild and wet conditions in Victoria allowed him to continue planting hakea seedlings out up to the end of the year, using the trick of putting wire cages around them so he can easily place shade cloth over them on really hot days. While they need constant watering initially, the growth rate in the warmer summer months means the hakeas are typically well established before the colder weather arrives.
New edition of Banksias book
We still have hard cover copies of the new edition of Banksias by Kevin Collins, Kathy Collins and Alex George for sale at $55 + $12 p&h. For more information and to buy the book, visit our webstore here. |
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More reading
- Cockatoos as weeders: Dr Gregory Moore from the University of Melbourne explains how many onion weed bulbs a cockatoo can eat an hour on The Conversation website here.
- The National Trust's distinctive logo of three eucalypt leaves represents protecting the environment and was designed by the late Michael Bryce AM. Read more here.
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On the APS NSW website
Our website has our membership benefits, how to join, District Group details, and resources including our plant profile database. Members get a membership renewal email and can also renew online here. The form in Australian Plants is for the journal only. Recent stories include: |
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Grevillea x semperflorens, likely one of the first named Grevillea hybrids, from our plant profile here by Warren and Gloria Sheather. |
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