Native Plants for NSW -
September 2023
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Callistemon 'Prestige Pink' (H Miles) |
From the President
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Dear {Contact_First_Name},
The seasons are changing and the plants that surround us are changing with them. I would draw your attention to an article in this issue regarding native orchids discovered growing in a lawn in the eastern suburbs which had not been mown for some time. Tentative identification is Pterostylis erecta (initial thought was P. pedunculata) which, while not a great rarity, is not commonly found in suburban lawns. To me this stresses the importance of slowing down and taking note of our surroundings, both in the garden and in the wild.
There are many people across our organisation who contribute time and effort to maintaining and growing the society. In District Groups, members arrange meetings and outings, plant sales and newsletters. All are volunteers and we could not function without them. This month I wish to pay special tribute to Jan Williamson of North Shore Group who, while not a member of the Committee, has volunteered to take minutes from our Board meetings. Although our debates are not always models of clarity and coherence she has managed to make sense of them. Thank you Jan.
John Desmond, President
eNewsletter Contents:
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Darwinia grandiflora (M Swire) |
APS September gathering - hosted by the Illawarra Group
When: 16 September 2023. 10am for tours. 12:40 arrival for 1:10pm start for the meeting. Where: Morning tours @ various locations (limited numbers). Afternoon meeting @ Corrimal Community Hall, 15 Short St, Corrimal There is now a full program available, including speakers:
- Leon Fuller & Emma Rooksby Indigenous Plants for Streets
- Dr Ann Young Dharawal National Park - mining, past impacts & current management plan
$5 for members, cash payments preferred. Please register ASAP. Details here.
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Sutherland Group Open Gardens
When: 2-3 September 2023
Where: On Saturday, the four open gardens are centred around Jannali, and on Sunday the open gardens are in Engadine.
To celebrate the 60th anniversary, members have kindly agreed to open their gardens to the public to show the beauty and diversity of Australian natives on their diverse sites. Gardens range from level access to steeper sites, from sun to shade, and from well-established to more recent. Each garden has something different to show about gardening with natives.
Make a day out in Sutherland Shire and also visit Joseph Banks Native Plants Reserve at Kareela and Sydney Wildflower Nursery at Heathcote.
Entry to each garden is by gold coin donation.
Refreshments and plant sales at selected gardens.
More information here |
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North Shore Group - Walks and Talks When: 9:45am Mondays Where: Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden
Hear a talk by members of the North Shore group of the Australian Plants Society then be guided on a walk in the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden to see and learn about our focus species as they come into flower. - Sept 4 - Pea shrubs and vines (Family Fabaceae, Subfamily Faboideae)
- Sept 11 - Ferns and fernery tour
- Sept 18 - Weeds and bush regeneration
More details here |
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Stony Range open day
When: 10th September, 9 -3pm
Where: Stony Range Regional Botanic Garden, 810 Pittwater Rd, Dee Why
A day not to be missed at the oasis of Australian native plants in Dee Why! Features plant sales, displays, activities & refreshments.
In conjunction with the volunteers from Stony Range, Northern Beaches APS Group will sell healthy native tube stock ready for planting. Expert cultivation advice available.
More details here
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Stony Range (A Porteners) |
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Grevillea 'Outback Sunrise' (T Lea) |
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Open days at Illawarra Grevillea Park
When: 2,3 & 9,10 September 10am - 4pm
Where: Illawarra Grevillea Park, Bulli
Come and see the wonderful display at the Grevillea park. Banksias, Grevilleas and many other natives are in full bloom. There will be plant sales, book sales and volunteers on hand to help. A full list of plants for sale will be posted the week before the open days.
More details here
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APS annual get together
When: 18-19 November 2023 Where: Goulburn, home of the big merino Cost: $35 APS members for the event. Includes morning tea, Saturday lunch, gifts for guest speakers and incidentals. Saturday dinner $58/person for a 2 course meal.
On Saturday, we start at East Goulburn Public School with morning tea and a talk on Eremophila by Dr Lyndal Thorburn, leader of the Eremophila study group. The afternoon activity highlight is a tour of the Goulburn Wetlands. Saturday dinner we have a talk from guest speaker Dr. Brian Faulkner, Biodiversity Assessment Officer, Goulburn-Mulwaree Council - Threatened species of the Goulburn-Mulwaree district. Sunday activities include a bush walk or garden visits. The annual weekend away is always an enjoyable and social event, a great opportunity to catch up with friends from other district groups.
More details and the registration link here. Please register asap, note that there are limited numbers for Saturday dinner. |
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Belmore Park Goulburn (creative commons) |
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Re-greening our country and saving our species - planting events
When: Various weekends and week days, August - October 2023 Where: 'Moorlands' farm, Biala, NSW. By joining the Oatley Flora and Fauna Conservation Society members, who are planting 5,500 native trees and shrubs in the coming spring, you can add to the essential habitat for the endangered Superb Parrot which is breeding at ‘Moorlands’ located in the South West Slopes of NSW.
More information and registrations 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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Exploring ephemeral arid plants of Australia |
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The arid and semi-arid plants of NSW demonstrate some extraordinary adaptations to climate, soils and microclimate!
With El Nino on its way as well as long term climate warming, it’s good to understand which plants might cope with the tough, hot and dry conditions.
Heather Miles shares some of the plants seen on a recent 3200 km trip to western NSW and north west Victoria, including White Cliffs (the white opal town), Broken Hill, Menindee Lakes, Mungo and Mildura. |
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Blandifordia grandiflora (M Abell) |
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Dividing Christmas Bells
Mark Abell shares his adventures splitting a pot of Christmas Bells. He has had for some years now a large pot of Christmas Bells (Blandfordia grandiflora). It has been reliably flowering just on Christmas every year, and in the process getting more congested. Because the pot it is in has curved sides, he have been putting off dividing it for a few years.
As it was well away from flowering time and there was some rushes growing in amongst the Christmas Bells he decided it was now time to split it.
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Ample Acacias Member Walter Stanish has shared with us images of his residential garden wattle season in Thornleigh, by the Great North Walk. As a “new” pan-Australian native garden being slowly (re-)established since 2020, the profusion of blooms this year has been very motivating. Often small groups of walkers stop to view the various nature-strip natives which are loosely themed in arid/temperate and tropical beds.
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Acacia longifolia (W Stanish) |
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Mound Springs - the gravity defying eco system
Andrew Knop writes that they are very fortunate to have woodland plains near Narromine that feature a rare ecological treat – mound spring ecosystems associated with the Great Artesian Basin (GAB). You would usually have to travel into the semi-arid zone of western NSW to see these ecosystems, however if you are near Dubbo some striking examples of Artesian Mounds Springs can been seen on the Tantitha Rd between Narromine and Dubbo. He shares more about these fascinating ecosystems.
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Every month is biodiversity month
September is National Biodiversity Month, which hopefully means biodiversity is in the spotlight a little more than it should be every other month. This year, an expedition involving the Botanic Gardens of Sydney surveyed the Australian Alps, primarily to discover new species. A further aim was to collect plant material for propagation to maintain biodiversity and reinforce ecosystem resilience in the face of inevitable environmental change. Peter Geelan-Small shares more.
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Australian Alpine Landscape (Foundation and Friends of the Botanic Gardens)
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Pea Forage weekend report |
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Pultenaea rosmarinifolia (R Cartwright)
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Ralph Cartwright became a member of the Pea Study Group last year and he recently joined around 25 other APS members of the group for the Pea Forage weekend based in Gosford on the Central Coast. There were members from Victoria, Queensland and the ACT as well as more local people, and they found many interesting plants along a variety of different trails; many pea flowers and other species too. He wrote a report on the weekend, which he has kindly shared with us. |
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APS NSW Plant profile project |
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Screenshot of the plant profiles
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Way back, in early 2017, when we transitioned to the new APS NSW website, we decided to make the plant profiles, mostly authored by Jeff Howes and the late Warren Sheather, accessible to the public. We figured that the information was important to share with the wider community to increase their confidence to plant native. We gave the profiles a 'garden use' flavour, as well as include all the botanical and other relevant information. Read on to understand more about the project, and also how you can help.
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Final words... Two items as final words this month. Firstly, we noticed this lovely story shared in a native orchids facebook group about a bunch of Pterostylis orchids that popped up in a suburban Eastern Suburbs lawn. Also, for the young people in your life, there's a wonderful art competition called Wild at Art 2023 - threatened species art competition for kids. It's an opportunity for children to unleash their artistic creativity while learning about Australia's threatened animals and plants – and the threats facing them. Submissions are due by 7th Sept. |
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