Native Plants for NSW -
March 2022

Out and about!

Dear {Contact_First_Name},

It does look like we are now opening up across the country. District Groups are starting to ramp up their programs for the year and we've made the call to open registrations for the ANPSA Biennial Conference and tours in mid-March.

One of the pre-Conference tours is to the South Coast of NSW with a visit to the stunning formal native garden of Christina Kennedy at Horse Island. The image above is from that garden. Registrations will open mid to late March.

Heather Miles, President

Highlights: 

• Events and activities
• Conservation - results of the recent poll
• Financial support for native plant initiatives
• District Group highlights of 2021 - part 2
• Pterostylis, an easy native orchid to grow
• Fascinating fossils
• Can you help?

Events and activities

Quarterly gathering, Saturday 12 March

Quarterly gathering hosted by Menai Group with Chris Gambian from the Nature Conservation Council on how we can influence the conservation of native plants and Lloyd Hedges on Glossy black cockatoos and conservation efforts. 

Starting with a plant sale and walks from 8:30am at Illawong Rural Fire Station, 687 Old Illawarra Rd., Illawong

The afternoon program of events will be held at Illawong Community Hall. 

Note: Proof of vaccination is required and the wearing of masks inside the hall is strongly recommended.

Details here.

Illawarra member catch up Sunday 13 March - 10am

Members in the Illawarra area are encouraged to meet with Board members on Sunday 13 March to discuss future activities in the area. Meet at the Wollongong Botanic Gardens at 10.00 am near the Café de Wheels near the main Murphy’s Ave entrance.

Quarterly gathering & AGM Saturday 21 May 

Trip to Central West, 1 - 4 April

See 6 farms whose owners are dedicated to using native plants to regenerate their land. This trip is now full, but we have created a waiting list, so please register if you'd like to be kept abreast of spots opening up.

ANPSA Biennial Conference

10 September to 17 September

While the full program is not yet announced, details of several add on tours are now available, including video previews of the tour itineraries and flora to be seen.

You can also join the waitlist to stay up-to-date as soon as tickets go on sale in March.

Please reach out to anyone in the conference team if you have any questions or something to contribute: office@austplants.com.au

Conservation - the results are in

Thank you to those members who took time to respond to our short poll, sharing your ideas and views on the direction we should take on our future approach to conservation activities. 

We were delighted to find out that over 70% of respondents are already undertaking their own conservation activities, including participating in bush care and on the ground conservation, memberships of other conservation groups and private projects. 

The most popular initiative respondents wanted APS NSW to focus on is partnering with organisations for bush care.  

Please see the full results for a more detailed breakdown of responses. A number of respondents indicated their interest in being part of further discussions. 

On the 6th March 2022 a discussion group will be held to determine the future direction of the conservation approach of APS NSW. Those who indicated interest will be invited, and if you would also like to be included please register your interest by emailing office@austplants.com.au

Financial support for native plant initiatives

APS NSW may be able to contribute financially to a project your group has planned. The project must meet the society’s aims – namely, to assist in growing, propagating, conserving or promoting native plants.

You'll find more information including how to apply in the full story. Or contact us to discuss, at office@austplants.com.au

District Group highlights of 2021 - part 2

Each year, we invite district groups to share their highlights and challenges of the previous year. These are reported in the Annual Report, available in April. 

Here are brief excerpts of the remaining reports, continued from the January eNewsletter. 

Blue Mountains

Highlights were donations of plants to community groups and schools, advocacy success on two different issues and squeezing in a few face to face activities like visits to Mt Tomah and Mt Annan botanic gardens. 

Coffs Harbour

The trips to National Parks the group organised were well attended, and a particular highlight of 2021 was the Glenugie Peak visit to see the extraordinary floral diversity due to the geology and topography of the area.  

Menai

Menai had a busy year with involvement in Glossies in the mist conservation project, weekly propagation gatherings and tremendous success in their entries in the royal easter show flower competition. 

Northern Beaches

Highlights were a number of walks the group managed to run, despite covid restrictions. They also had some great talks, one of the favourites given by John Martyn on 'Rocks and trees of the Northern Beaches'. 

Nowra

Nowra managed many events, with a propagation day, two meetings in person, visits to members' gardens as well as national parks and nature reserves. A particular highlight was meeting Clarence Slockee at the Wollongong Botanic Gardens 50th anniversary celebrations. 

South East

South East group met 8 times in 2021 and at the AGM Lyndal Thorburn gave a presentation on her special adventure travelling in WA. They also commenced working on the Proteacea Project, a garden bed we are maintaining in the Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Gardens. 

Sutherland

Five meetings were held in person and five via zoom, which were well attended. Sutherland was able to arrange two local bushwalks and hold their week long trip to Charlottes Pass early in the year before restrictions came into place. 

Tamworth

Tamworth dedicated a lot of time in 2021 to the Threatened Species plot in the Tamworth Botanic Garden. They were able to fund weed spraying and hold a number of working bees planting trees grown by a group member and installing tree guards to protect from goats. 

Pterostylis, an easy native orchid to grow

Have you ever wanted to try your hand at growing beautiful Australian native orchids, but not known where to start? Mark Abell shares his tips and tricks for propagating the easiest genus of native orchids to grow, Pterostylis. 

 APS NSW members receive special prices on Neutrog products. 

Fascinating fossils

It is a rare event when a whole suite of ancient Australian plants is discovered in one place. This recently occurred in ironstone slabs left lying in a field after agriculture at McGraths Flat in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales.

Harry Loots shares more about this location and what the fossils discovered, dating from 37.3 million years ago, tell us about the area. 

Can you help?

Last month we called out for your support. As a volunteer run organisation, we are still keen to hear from anyone who may be able to assist with the following tasks:

• Producing this eNewsletter. We are seeking a small team of writers and website managers to put this together each month. Creative? Like writing stories? Want to add value to our communications with members? We'd love to talk with you. 
• Website manager or co-manager. A vital role to keep marketing ourselves to the outside world. Help needed to optimise and grow our readership from the current 12k visits per month. 
• Social media. Love engaging with others about plants? Enjoy taking photos and posting?  We'd love your help with Facebook and Instagram, as well as YouTube. 
• Secretary to the board. An important role which means working with the President (bad luck!) on board papers, preparing the annual report and more. If you've ever wanted to know how an organisation operates, this could be for you. You don't need to be a board member to do this job.
• And there's more!!!

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