Native Plants for NSW -
March 2023
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From the President
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Dear {Contact_First_Name},
We have a bumper issue this month, including a story I wrote on garden design - I'd be keen to hear from about your design approach! Phil and I made a visit to Mt Kosciuszko earlier this month and the flora is spectacular. I strongly recommend a visit before it's too late - apparently the flora is on the move, mostly moving up to search for cooler weather.
We are going to make a short video to help us share expectations about Health and Safety. Ralph Cartwright is leading the work. If you aspire to acting and would like to participate, please let me know. It will have a bit of humour in it!
Heather Miles, President
eNewsletter Contents:
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APS NSW Quarterly gathering - hosted by Sutherland group
When: 10am-3pm, 11th March 2023
Morning: Various locations at Bundeena. Afternoon: Bundeena Community Hall, 17-37 Liverpool St, Bundeena ($5 members, $10 non-members) 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"
10-12noon choice of a guided bush walk, a self guided artist's trail walk, or visiting a native garden.
12-1pm Lunch and plant sale. BYO lunch or purchase at the shops.
1-3pm APS meeting with a talk by Ann Young: Mosaics of vegetation - the rocks and dirt story. How do different plants and plant communities form mosaics across a landscape? How do different rock types and soils affect these patterns? How do we read the landscape to understand the beautiful and often intricate patterns of vegetation? What are the common elements in different environments? Anne will explore the varied and fascinating relationships between vegetation and the underlying rocks and soils. For more details and to register here |
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NSW Environment Leaders Forum (NCC) When: 5:30pm Wednesday 1st March Where: Sydney Town Hall
We all know that politicians have a major say in how the environment and native plants are protected. With the state government election coming up, Nature Conservation Council, of which we are a member, has created an opportunity to hear what the various sides of government have to say on environmental matters. More details here |
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Newcastle - AGM and talk
When: 7pm Wednesday March 1st
Where: Hunter Wetlands Centre, 1 Wetlands Place Shortland Gregg Heathcote will describe how Australian native plants interact with, and relate to, fungi in our ecosystems. He says: 'Fungi today continue to be indispensable to complex life on land and especially so in the nutrient-poor soils of the Australian landmass. Moreover they do so in the most fascinating fashion, so prolific in their arrestingly beautiful forms'.
More details here
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APS get togethers
20 May - AGM and gathering hosted by the Central Coast Group
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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Tree planting - Glossies in the mist
When & Where: - 3rd March (Exeter)
- 17th March (Canyonleigh)
- 22nd March (Canyonleigh)
- 4th April (Robertson)
Glossies in the mist is a landscape recovery project for our threatened Glossy black cockatoos. We happily invite you to a series of tree planting events in the Southern Highlands to rebuild flyways, food and nesting spots for these special birds.
For more details or to register email beth.mott@environment.nsw.gov.au |
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Glossy black cockatoos © State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) [2018]
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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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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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Southern Highlands APS get together |
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Mirbelia rubiifolia (J Farrer)
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Jennifer Farrer wrote a report on the Southern Highlands region get together that was held in November 2022.
She begins; 'This was the first Region Get Together since the COVID Lockdowns and everyone seemed very happy to be seeing each other again.'
'The Region Get Togethers are a wonderful activity to attend. There is so much to enjoy on so many levels. There are the formal information sessions, the opportunity to see how local gardeners tackle their particular growing conditions, the bushwalks in new locations and the chance to meet fellow plant enthusiasts.' Read on for her full report and some wonderful photos. |
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Early garden - Boronia, Callistemon, Grevillea and Corymbia (H Miles) |
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As part of the Garden Design Study Group (free to all members), the topic was posed – is your garden design influenced by diversity or uniformity?
Heather Miles thought about it, and decided that her garden and thinking had evolved through stages, over the years, and potentially diversity is now reigning supreme, but through a dose of entropy, rather than intentional design. This month she shares with us her thinking. |
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Peter Olde has given us some photos of Aceratium ferrugineum, a beautiful rainforest plant, growing in his and Margaret’s Oakdale garden. |
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Aceratium ferrugineum (P Olde) |
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Grevillea 'Poorinda diadem' (W Sheather) |
Grevillea experts, we need your help!
The APS NSW team recently had an email from Stephen Hodge. He writes: 'My grandfather, Leo Hodge, produced the 'Poorinda' range of hybrids in the 1960s - 80s. It seems that more than half have disappeared, and I've recently begun searching for as many as I can find, to grow in my own 2 acre garden here in SA for my own enjoyment and to help preserve my Pop's horticultural legacy.' Stephen has already secured a number of the hybrids, but he knows of the following that are in cultivation yet he hasn't been able to track down:
- Adorning
- Blondie
- Diadem
- Hula
- Marian
If you have any of the above, or any other rare 'Poorinda' grevilleas, and would be willing to supply cutting material to Stephen (at his cost) please email us so we can put you in touch. We hope to be able to help Stephen on his mission to preserve these plants. |
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Jennifer St Bushland (A Sinclair) |
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We've had a lot of conservation submissions done by a number of our groups recently, keep up the good work. Writing submissions about developments in your local area or raising awareness of an environmental issue are extremely valuable steps we can take to protect our native plants. Recently, Harbour Georges River group wrote to Randwick Council about a proposed development in Jennifer Street, Little Bay which threatens local bushland. Here is their submission and images to illustrate. |
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Weeds are not just small plants we can fairly easily pull or dig out. When you think of what makes a plant a weed, we quickly realise large trees can fit the bill - and even some of our own native trees! Weeds are plants that are not wanted and are usually growing outside their natural habitat. They grow quickly, may produce lots of seed that can be easily dispersed, may easily grow vegetatively from parts of the plant (e.g. sucker or grow from pieces broken off the plant) and suppress other plants from growing around them in various ways. |
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Crack willow (Salix fragilis), a type of highly invasive brittle willow, on the Happy Valley Creek, Ovens. (Paul McInerny)
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Learning About Native Plants – A ‘Hands On’ Approach |
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Flower Display 12/08/2022 (J Marshall) |
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For over 30 years, the North Shore Group of APS has been running a program to introduce people to the incredible range of native plants in its local Sydney region.
Called the ‘Walks & Talks’ program it consists of weekly meetings in which a one hour talk – usually about a particular plant family – is followed by a walk to illustrate the subject of the talk.
The group is fortunate to have the 123 hectare Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden available for this purpose. Emphasis is placed on participants actually handling plant species and for the talk component of the program labelled specimens are provided for examination. (Permission to collect specimens for this purpose has been obtained and only those plants growing in profusion are used!)
Sessions are usually timed to coincide with the flowering of species concerned. Powerpoint presentations are used in all sessions and sets of notes are provided that are freely downloadable from our website.
The Term 1 2023 walks and talks are 'Walk Only' sessions:
- March 13 Monday Introduction to W&T at KWG.
- April 17 Monday Bush Foods & Fibres.
- May15 Monday Insects & Inspiration.
Find the full program and details here |
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District Groups - 2022 - part 2 |
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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 highlights from 2022 from Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Coffs Harbour, Hunter Valley, Macarthur, Menai, Newcastle, Northern Beaches, Nowra South East, Southern Highlands, Sutherland and Tamworth groups. |
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Final words...
Do you know someone, or a team, who has undertaken innovative research that has led to the documentation and protection of Australian Plants? Entries are currently open for the Eureka Prizes (prize: $10,000). The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are the country’s most comprehensive national science awards, honouring excellence across the areas of research & innovation, leadership, science engagement, and school science.
Since the prizes were established in 1990, close to 500 Eureka Prizes have been awarded across a variety of scientific categories. Recently, a new prize 'Excellence in Botanical Science' has been launched. Further details here |
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