Native Plants for NSW -
April 2023
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From the President
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Dear {Contact_First_Name},
What a wonderful time we had at Bundeena last month, hosted by Sutherland. Epic landscapes, intriguing bushwalks, creative art works, a lovingly sculpted garden and an excellent talk by Dr Ann Young. Thanks to Sutherland group, Richard and Sandra Laney, John Arney and John Aitken for making it all happen.
We are delighted to welcome a new delegate from Newcastle, Rhett Morson, to the board. Rhett has volunteered with environmental groups for many years. He brings a background in business with experience in finance and manufacturing and has just built a very eco-friendly house and new native garden. He is currently Chair of Eighteen04; a not for profit, which helps startups in renewable energy and other cleantech/sustainability.
Sadly, Sue Fredrickson, Lisa Godden and Peter Olde are stepping down from the board due to work and family commitments. However we are very pleased that Sue is continuing to assist on membership matters and Lisa as this eNewsletter's editor. Thank you to Sue, Lisa and Peter for their invaluable assistance over the last few years.
I've also let the board know that I will be stepping down as President and Secretary, from the AGM coming up in May. It's time for me to take a break although of course I will remain connected! We are keen to hear from people who would like to assist as delegates to the board, or as non-board members helping with secretarial or other areas essential to keep the Society running smoothly. Please be in touch to explore options.
Heather Miles, President
eNewsletter Contents:
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Northern Beaches - Huntsman
When: 7:15pm Thursday 6th April
Where: Corkery Building, Stony Range, 810 Pittwater Rd, Dee Why
Helen Smith, Technical Officer in Arachnology at the Australian Museum in Sydney, will speak on this fascinating topic.
Answering public enquiries is a regular part of Helen's job. While the first part of the talk will focus on our hairy huntsman friends, it will finish with a more general Q & A on spiders. More details here
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Central Coast - The Fungi Kingdom When: 2pm Saturday 8th April Where: Phillip House, Kariong
Anna Durkin has been a bush regenerator since 1994 – and came across fungi with all its beautiful and curious forms. Anna, a member of Sydney Fungal Studies Group, has been doing the work of a Citizen Scientist for some years and after identification, dried samples of species together with notes and photographs are sent to NSW Fungorum in the Orange Agricultural Institute. Much about fungi still remains a mystery to science. More details here |
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Open day at Joseph Banks Native Plants Reserve
When: 10am - 4pm, Sat 22nd April
Where: Manooka Pl, Kareela
Join APS Sutherland Group at the open day at Joseph Banks Native Plants Reserve, Kareela as part of the Sutherland Shire Citizens Heritage Festival.
We will have guided walks (hourly) on the natural and cultural heritage values of the reserve. Learn about the reserve’s namesake, Sir Joseph Banks, and his contribution to scientific endeavours. We’ll have a display of photos developed for the 50th anniversary of Joseph Banks Reserve in 2020. Plus we’ll have resources, indigenous plants and refreshments for sale.
There are other events on the same day as part of the Heritage Festival. We will be on the hourly Heritage bus route loop with a stop at the reserve’s entry in Manooka Place.
More details here
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APS NSW Quarterly Gathering and AGM - Hosted by Central Coast group
When: 9:30am-3:30pm, 20th May 2023
Morning: Various locations at Central Coast
Afternoon: Phillip House, 21 Old Mt. Penang Rd, Kariong NSW 2250 ($5 members, $10 non-members)
This gathering will include our AGM between 1-1:30pm
- 9:30-11:30 choice of a guided bush walk or visit to a native plant nursery (with sales available)
- 12:00-1:00 Lunch and plant sale. BYO lunch or purchase locally.
- 1:00-3:30 AGM, then a talk by Olga Blacha titled: 'Achieving a New Civic Australian Style Garden' followed by afternoon tea.
Annual General Meeting
The agenda including the minutes from the previous AGM is available here.
Our 2022 Annual Report is here.
To send your apologies, please email: secretary@austplants.com.au
Please email any financial questions by Wednesday 17 May and we will provide responses at the AGM.
Nominations for board positions
We welcome new board members, and non board members, to assist with running the Society. If you'd like to join the board or wish to nominate someone, please contact President Heather Miles to discuss what's involved. The form here needs to be completed and returned by Friday 5 May.
Proxy voting
If you cannot attend the AGM, and would like to nominate a proxy for your vote, please complete the Proxy form here and return by Friday 5 May to secretary@austplants.com.au
More details on the event here |
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APS get togethers
16 September - gathering at the Corrimal Community Centre, hosted by the Illawarra Group.
17-19 November Get together at Goulburn hosted by the Southern Tablelands Group. Some details here
More details will be available closer to the dates |
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Native Plants Queensland State Conference
When: 14-18th September 2023
Where: Cairns
Normally, Native State Conferences occur biennially in the alternative year to National Conferences, however due to Covid they have not held a State Conference for some years. Places are limited so please submit your application asap to avoid disappointment.
More details here |
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Planning is underway for the ANPSA Biennial Conference in Melbourne in 2024. See here for more information, save the dates! |
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And finally, don't forget there is a full listing of all APS NSW events including district groups on our website here |
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Visit to Melton Botanic Garden |
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Eucalyptus lansdownana x albopurpurea, now known as Eucalyptus albopurpurea or Port Lincoln Gum (H Miles)
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Melton is a relatively young, 25-HA, volunteer-managed botanic garden featuring dryland Australian native, South African and Californian and South American species. As well as gardens there is a lake (full of wildlife), an amphitheatre, botanic trails and nursery. The arboretum holds a nationally registered collection of more than 100 species of eucalypts. Heather Miles had an opportunity to visit this amazing place in January this year and wrote up her visit to share with us. |
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Banksia integrifolia struggling (H Miles) |
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Some NSW residents won't believe it but the weather forecasts now have us coming out of the wet La Nina conditions over the last few years and heading into the warmer & drier El Nino weather pattern. This will have lasting effects on our gardens and can lead to plant loss and damage. With a little thought and preparation it is possible to minimise the problems that can come from this change in weather conditions. Mark Abell shares some tips for preparing your garden for a drier future season. |
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If you needed more incentive to prepare your garden for the drier weather, there was recently an article published via the conversation and ABC news website on the noises that plants make; including when they die of thirst! This is a fascinating article, summarising the research that is being done on plant noises as well as how this may be used in future. Read the article here. |
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Soil may seem plain to the eye but it’s a complex ecosystem in itself - if it’s a healthy soil, anyway. Maintaining a diverse range of soil microbes is important for soil to remain healthy and support good plant growth. The most practical way for gardeners to keep soil and plants healthy is by adding both organic matter and inorganic fertiliser. |
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© State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) [2018] (L Foster) |
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Parra Hills group at Fred Caterson bushland reserve (J Farrer) |
This month, our Parramatta and Hills group with the support of Dan Clarke (conservation officer) have written to their local Mayor, expressing their concerns about redevelopment of sports fields impacting on Fred Caterson Bushland Reserve. You can read their submission here.
It's also worth noting that we have already received two replies from Councillors on the Hills Shire Council regarding the submission, one of which is particularly supportive of environmental protections. It's good to hear that the submissions are making an impact. |
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Lately we've been sharing many submissions, written in the name of conservation on behalf of APS and district groups. These submissions are often made possible by support from our Conservation Office, Dan Clarke. In case you haven't met Dan, we wanted to introduce him to you. Meet Dan, Conservation Officer, Botanist and Plant Enthusiast.
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Ferns of the Southern Sydney Basin |
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Fishbone Water Fern, Blechnum nudum (K Mills) |
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Ferns are a distinct group of vascular plants and have been around for about 360 million years. Those early forests of fern ancestors produced the coal that we so rely upon today. The ferns are separated from the other vascular plant groups, conifers and flowering plants, in that they do not produce seeds, but spore. Ferns today range from tiny filmy ferns not much larger than a fingernail to tree ferns over 20 metres tall. The largest fern is said to be the Norfolk Island Tree Fern Cyathea brownii. There are about 130 indigenous species of fern growing in the greater Sydney region, out of a total for New South Wales of about 190 species.
The terms used to describe ferns are distinct from other plants, even though the parts of a fern reflect those of other plants. For example, the stems, branches and leaves of ferns have their own terms, namely stipe, rachis and pinnae. The creeping root of a fern is a rhizome while the unopened frond is called a crosier (crozier), the latter a distinct feature of ferns. The spore of ferns is produced in structures called sporangia which form distinct patterns below the fertile frond, where it is protected from the weather. The arrangement of the sori (an aggregate of sporangia) is an important feature to identify species. Want to know more? Dr Kevin Mills shares all about the Ferns of the Southern Sydney Basin. |
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Wirreecoo Garden – a labour of love by Nowra Group |
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Located on the beautiful south coast at Huskisson, is the garden much loved by Nowra Group – called Wirreecoo Gardens.
It’s nestled in with the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum, a fascinating venture along the boardwalk to view the mangroves and a pond, at 11 Dent St, Huskisson, and open every day.
The APS Nowra group continues to maintain the garden with monthly working bees. For example in February this year, at a working bee, an energetic team of Giselle, Hugh, Maureen, Norm, Nick, Annabel, Colleen and Valerie, checked and controlled the Pittosporum undulatum popping up everywhere, removed Asparagus fern and other weeds, cleaned up the front section, tidied up the Lomandra, cleaned the panels, removed the rubbish and cleaned museum stickers from the seat and panel supported by some museum volunteers.
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Homalanthus populifolius (L Bentley)
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Study Group updates Dec 2022 - March 2023 |
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Templetonia stenophylla (S McLaren)
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This month, catch up on study group updates from Australian Pea flowers, Acacia, Grevillea, Wallum, Ferns and Hakea study groups. Verna Aslin shares snippets from each of their recent newsletters. If you want to know more, study group contacts are provided so you can sign up. |
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Final words...
Have you seen the video of a wander along Two Creeks Track? Tucked away in leafy Ku-ring-gai, on Sydney's North Shore, Two Creeks Track is a stunning walk from Seven Little Australians' Park to Middle Harbour. Travelling through bush paths, it takes you through broad ridges, steep slopes, deep valleys and wetlands which leads to a high diversity of vegetation types. These include dry heath, moist forest with rainforest elements, sandstone swamp, mallee woodlands and floodplain wetlands. Watch and marvel at this lovely walk, one of many videos available on our YouTube channel. |
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