Native Plants for NSW -
January/February 2023
|
|
|
|
|
Patersonia glabrata (H Miles) |
From the President
|
Dear {Contact_First_Name},
Welcome to 2023. I trust the last few months has been full of family and celebration. I've been celebrating another birthday (I thought they stopped after a certain age!), a wedding, a baby on the way, as well as pruning trees and walking in the bush with some occasional weeding!
Recently, I walked Two Creeks Track, a 9km loop from Lindfield to Roseville Bridge/Middle Harbour and back. It is an excellent track full of lovely wildflowers - flannel flowers, pea flowers, Persoonia and Angophora costata with its stunning orange bark.
And finally, I am pleased to announce that John Desmond joined the board as Southern Highlands group delegate on 6th Dec 2022. John has a keen interest in native plants as a key element of a functioning biodiverse environment. As well as gardening with native plants his interests include bushwalking and birdwatching. His career encompassed the public sector, finance industry, and consulting to a range of entities at various levels of government. Professional qualifications are B.Com., B.A., Grad.Dip., M.Env.Law., FCPA.
Heather Miles, President
eNewsletter Contents:
|
|
|
Northern Beaches - Meeting & talk: A history of garden design, using Australian native plants When: 7:15pm, 2nd Feb 2023 Where: The Corkery Building, Stony Range Regional Botanic Garden, 810 Pittwater Rd, Dee Why
Landscape historian Stuart Read will speak at the group's first meeting of the year.
Stuart will talk on the history of garden design using Australian native plants, including waves of fashions (it didn't just start in the 1960s), players who were influential, and examples of gardens that remain so. You might be surprised how early and how widely natives were used. More details here |
|
North Shore - Meeting & talk: Some like it rough - understanding & restoring disturbance-loving native flora
When: 7:45pm, 10th Feb 2023
Where: Beatrice Taylor Hall, behind Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre, 25 Edgeworth David Avenue, Hornsby
Australia's flora is under increasing threats from human disturbance including vegetation clearing, fire, and soil degradation. But not all native species suffer from this abuse. In fact, our Threatened species registers are filled with species which actively require disturbance. Why is this so? And, in a world of excessive disturbance, why are so many disturbance-loving species in decline?
Peter Ridgeway, a restoration ecologist working in Western Sydney, will delve into the strange ecology and history of disturbance-loving flora and showcase current projects that are restoring some of these rare and wonderful species.
More details here
|
|
|
Parramatta Hills - Meeting & talk: Walking the Cumberland Plain
When: 2-4pm, 25th Feb 2023
Where: Gumnut Hall Gumnut Place Cherrybrook
Peter Ridgeway will talk about his experiences walking 179 km across the Cumberland Plain in 2019.
Carrying his food and water and camping under the stars, he crossed one of the least-known landscapes in Australia, all within view of its largest city. This was a unique journey across a landscape few Australians will ever see. More details here |
|
APS NSW Quarterly gathering Hosted by Sutherland group
When: 10am-3pm, 11th March 2023 Where: Bundeena The first gathering for the year will be held at Bundeena, which is one of southern Sydney's best kept secrets. Bundeena is named after the Dharawal Aboriginal place name, said to mean either "daughter from the hills" or "noise like thunder" In the morning there will be activities, including a bushwalk and garden visit. 1-3pm is the APS meeting with a talk by Ann Young: Mosaics of vegetation - the rocks and dirt story. ($5 members) More details here |
|
|
And finally, don't forget there is a full listing of all APS NSW events including district groups on our website here |
|
|
A Tasmanian Bushland Garden |
|
|
Over 20 years ago a group of Australian Plants Society members purchased an old dolerite quarry and its surrounding 20 ha bushland to build a Tasmanian bushland garden with funding coming from donations and grants. Located in the hills of Tasmania’s Southern Midlands, 50 km north-east of Hobart, drivers are suddenly confronted with the garden’s impressive iron gates as they round yet another bend.... Harry Loots visited this amazing place recently, and has written up his experiences and shared a number of photos. |
|
|
|
|
Hardenbergia violacia (M Fisher) |
Malcolm Fisher has shared the personal journey he has taken with his own garden, turning it from regular suburban block to a re-wilded native space for animals and insects. Read the full story here (article originally published in the Jan 2023 edition of The Tawny Frogmouth and Jan/Feb Caleyi and republished with permission) John Elton has also shared with us this month his experiences growing Eremophila standards. Growing Eremophila standards is all quite new to him but he's having a ball experimenting with how different plants can look when grown on a stick. Read on to see what tips and tricks he can share with us. |
|
|
|
|
Persoonia pauciflora (D Beckers) |
|
Botanic gardens are not only sanctuaries for admiring the beauty of plants. They also play a major role in conserving rare and threatened native plant species through collecting plant material and developing propagation and planting programmes to maximise the survival of those species.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Acacia buxifolia and Hardenbergia violacea (A Knop) |
|
A common theme which impacts every land manager's plans and calendar is the monitoring and mitigating threats. This applies in all scenarios where landscapes are involved, from a farm or national park to a suburban block or even an apartment complex.
Many environmental threats are surprisingly universal:
- Invasive species impacts
- Connectivity and fragmentation
- Biodiversity and habitat loss
These apply to a home in the suburbs as well as a national park. Andrew Knop has written an article on these environmental threats that we face. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Impact of fires (H Miles)
|
With the NSW state election coming up in March 2023, now is the time to write submissions on conservation issues to get your voice heard. Here are some tips from Rhonda Daniels, Dr Eddy Wajon and Dan Clarke on how to write an effective submission, letter or email. |
|
|
|
|
Many of us will have heard about encountered Health and Safety (H&S) procedures in our work lives – all aimed at keeping people safe.
We recently reviewed our H&S policies and procedures in response to insurer requests and we had gaps. As a fully volunteer organisation, APS NSW is not actually covered under the Work Health and Safety legislation. However, we do have a duty of care for ourselves and those on our activities. According to SafeWork NSW, a duty of care requires the same kinds of policies and procedures as if we were covered by the legislation.
So, we are upping the ante on H&S. The board and district groups have been working together to develop the approach in a commonsense way. This applies even if we meet in a facility owned by a council or other organisation. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
With 19 local groups around NSW, there is always a lot of regional activity – bushwalks, meetings, talks, garden visits, plant sales, bush care and propagation. Read on for some highlights from 2022 from Armidale and district, Harbour Georges River, Illawarra, Parramatta and Hills, North Shore and Southern Tablelands groups. |
|
|
|
Armidale Bicentennial Arboretum: Grevillea 'Lady O' & Xanthorrhoea glauca (H Miles) |
|
|
|
|
Final words...
Late last year, Rhonda Daniels and John Aitken wrote on behalf of ANPSA to the Governor-General, requesting that native flora be used in arrangements for official engagements. This was sparked by a photo of the Governor-General signing in new cabinet minsters, with an arrangement of roses on the table. The letter and response from the Governor-General can be viewed here. |
|
|
|
|
|
.jpeg)
