February Ararat Halls Gap Rd. To Stawell. Robins Rd. Pomonal

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1 February 2018 NEXT MEETING 6:00pm Tuesday 20th February Beverley and Kevin Grace s Picnic and Garden Visit From the President... A warm welcome to all our members, I hope you are coping with the summer heat OK. Tunnel Rd Ararat Halls Gap Rd 2018 looks like a good year ahead for APS Grampians Group; the guest speakers that the committee has lined up for us looks a very impressive list. A mix of home group speakers and special guests are on the agenda for the forthcoming twelve months. HGraces' Birdrock Rd How to find Graces Barney's H Robins Rd To Stawell Pomonal We also have planned working bees for the Hall Garden, Jane s Garden and for FJC Rogers seminar. There is also a weekend away to the Little Desert in September, our October Plant Show, (this year focusing on Endangered Ecosystems: Rainforests and Grasslands) and then the FJC Rogers Seminar later in October. Our first gathering for 2018 is at Beverley and Kevin Grace s [see map above] on Feb 20 with a walk around Beverley s property followed by a BYO picnic tea. To avoid the hottest part of the day I suggest we start no earlier than 6:00 pm for the exploring of Beverley s garden, followed by what ever you bring to eat or share. Also, don t forget a chair to sit on and whatever you want to drink. Kevin Coming Soon Tuesday 20th March. Meeting is at Stawell Neighbourhood House with Cathy Powers talking about Citizen Science. Dinner will be an option at the Gift Hotel from 6:00pm and meeting at 7:30pm. Tuesday 17th April at Pomonal Hall with Geoff Lay talking about Fungi. There will be the option of having dinner at Halls Gap Hotel at 6:00pm before the 7:30pm meeting. The rest of the programme will be finalised at the committee meeting in February and be included in the March newsletter. Australian Plants Society Grampians Newsletter 1

2 December 2017 Meeting Report A cool change was starting to appear as members arrived at Murray and Marie Hosking s home at Deep Lead. Relief was in the air, it had been a hot day. Some members found the energy to stroll around the developing Plants in Hoskings native gardens and offered advice to Murray and Marie for future garden plantings. Others sat in their chairs and shared advice on how they were going to keep their gardens flourishing if there were more hot days in the coming months. After sipping on cold drinks and enjoying our dinners, everyone felt ready for the highlight of the evening raffle time. Many plants were donated for this, thank you to those who brought the plants. Winner after winner leapt out of their chairs to go and find the plant or plants, that they would care for and water over the summer months. Lots of planting will be done in Autumn. Another highlight of our meetings is dessert time, thank you to Marie for a delicious white chocolate cheesecake, Linda for a berry, merry pavlova and Wayne for a tarty apricot pie. There were other delectable desserts on the table, and many had a try of all. We have some good cooks in our group. Thank you to Marie and Murray for hosting this event. Prostanthera rotundifolia Andrea Anigozanthos hybrid Ranunculus? Grevillea synapheae Volunteer of the Month As gardeners we try to provide the ideal conditions for our plants to thrive, but how much do we really know about what plants need? This is a Platylobium obtusangulum, a common local species which I have always found to be extremely difficult to propagate and establish in the garden, yet here it is happily growing out of brick paving. Australian Plants Society Grampians Newsletter 2

3 NATIVE GARDEN DESIGN Episode 1 Pete and I, like many of our group, are developing new and rejuvenating existing garden beds and garden areas. We are new to this, so over summer, I have been doing some research. I have a few ideas for Pete to put into practice when the weather cools down. There is a lot of basic information to be found on web sites, books and from more experienced gardeners, so I m thinking about exploring this topic further and starting a series on Australian native garden design. I invite you all to join in so it can become a Grampians Group series which we can share via our newsletter. Who started encouraging people to grow native Australian plants and develop the Australian garden style? I found interesting stories about the work done by garden designers like Edna Walling and Gordon Ford. Edna Walling designed a variety of gardens including native Australian gardens. In the 1950 s she changed her emphasis from exotics to native plants prompting their use in the suburban gardens. Edna encouraged a relaxed style of garden that united the garden to the house. A view of the garden should be seen from every window in the house she felt. She liked mass planting and her aim in design was to keep Edna Walling 1966 Portrait by Daphne Pearson maintenance to a minimum. Edna s fundamental design ideas were to find a feature in your garden, such as a rock, a slope, an existing tree and find your inspiration from these. Walls, steps and paving were important in her garden designs. She met a gardener, Ellis Stones, who had the gift for placing stones. He worked on many of her projects. Our group also has such a rock whisperer. Edna felt boulders, rocks and stones are an important part of an informal garden scene, bringing the earthiness and sense of country into the garden. Gordon Ford pioneered the concept of the bush garden in the 1960 s. His skill was to make his gardens look like they have A Walling Garden showing many of her favourite design elements always been there. He felt gardens should have gravel paths, curving gently and have smaller dirt tracks leading away from the main path. There should be open areas; he called them voids which accentuate the surrounding native trees and extensive planted areas. He used water, as in rock pools, to add a meditative feel to areas in the garden. Australian Plants Society Grampians Newsletter 3

4 Like Edna Walling, he used boulders and rocks in his garden design. These were used in many ways, as part of an embankment, as edging for a pool even simply one rock placed along a path in the right spot. Rocks in the garden add solidity and variety to the scene and if moss and lichen grows this makes a lovely contrast in texture, he felt. Gordon liked planting in layers, which he thought was the way to create different effects. Examples are: eucalyptus trees to provide the vertical effect, multiple planting of denser plants like correas and grevilleas to provide a unified feel, then low growing plants like grasses and lomandras to be the contrast to the shrubs. Even a single planting of a tree like a Hakea laurina, especially when in flower, can create a sight to be admired. Part of a garden designed by Gordon Ford, Eltham. ANPSA Garden Design Study Group. After looking at other garden designers ideas about native gardens, I have concluded that there is no one style but many concepts of a bush/natural Australian garden. There are many interesting ideas to explore in the months ahead before a plant can go in the soil. So for now, I will be looking for rocks for our gardens areas, reading about the characteristics of plants to make a layering list and accepting that nature is controlling what I can plant here in Pomonal. I nearly forgot another recurring idea throughout my reading was that having a native garden does not mean that maintenance is not needed! References: ANPSA Garden Design Study Group. The New Native Garden. Paul Urquhart 1999 The Natural Australian Garden. Gordon Ford Andrea Shelley Rocks used as informal steps ANPSA Garden Design Study Group. Australian Plants Society Grampians Newsletter 4

5 Exercise your brains with this crossword, compiled by Pete Shelley. Answers next month Across Down 1 Acacias 1 You can see one anywhere in WA (with 20 across) 5 Native pine used for boat building 2 Makes a great herbal tea (with 22 down) 6 Fruit or seed of the Fabaceae family 3 The state whose emblem is 15 across 8 Natives that honour a young man s name 4 Leptospermum, common type of tree 10 5 Paul Kennedy has at least one of these 11 Multiply 7 Begin to grow 13 These are better for the garden than watering 8 Part of a tree 15 State floral emblem (with 30 & 27 across) 9 Embryonic plants 17 Sweet potato 12 This African animal won t be in your garden 18 Part of a plant 14 Common rain forest plant 20 With 1 down 15 Ravensthorpe WA has Banksias on theirs 23 Genus common name also, a waterfall at Lorne 16 Type of grass or flour 25 Every gardener needs one 19 The mammal emblem of Queensland 26 Pollinator 21 Usually plentiful in a garden, but not a feature 27 With 15 & 30 across 22 With 2 down 29 Dry 23 Part of a flower 30 With 15 & 27 across 24 Raised or wicking, it s up to you 32 Essential part of a watering system 26 Twitchers will go miles to see one 33 A rural asset 28 Insect 34 Trim 31 Dad looks after the kids Australian Plants Society Grampians Newsletter 5

6 Letters to the Editor Andrea and I thought it might be interesting to have a Letters section in the newsletter. It gives everyone a chance to contribute without having to go to the lengths of writing a whole article. Anything you think others may find interesting concerning plants or gardens. You may wish to report that a special plant has flowered (you may include a picture also), report a disaster in the garden, pass on a useful tip or vent your outrage at what the cockies, roos or rabbits are doing to your garden! You may wish to make comments good or bad about the newsletter itself. What improvements or additions you would like to see. We won t know if this is a good idea till your letters start pouring in! You can send your letter via , text message or old fashioned paper via any of the methods listed below. Phil Williams FJC Rogers Plants Before Christmas we had a couple of working bees to pot on some rather sickly cuttings for the FJC Rogers Seminar. As you can see below they have thrived and we now have hundreds healthy, vigorous plants. At the next working bee will prune and pot on the many into larger pots and have an accurate count so we know how many labels we ll need. Remember this is your newsletter and it will only be as good as the articles that you put in it. Thanks to Andrea, Pete and Kevin for their contributions. If there are articles you wish to contribute or if there are things you would like to see in our newsletter then Phil Williams at pwn3381@gmail.com or by phone or by snail at P.O. Pomonal 3381 APSVic Grampians Committee Office Bearers President: Kevin Moulynox ( ) Vice President: Neil Marriott ( ) Secretary: Andrea Shelley ( ) Treasurer: Danielle Chipier ( ) Ordinary Members Phil Williams Wendy Marriott Linda Handscombe David Handscombe Neil Macumber Sandy Moulinox Peter Shelley Anita Evans Ross Simpson Australian Plants Society Grampians Newsletter 6