Australian Plants Society Latrobe Valley Group Inc.

Transcription

1 Australian Plants Society Latrobe Valley Group Inc. No. A C June 2018 Newsletter Issue No Leader: Mike Beamish Phone: (03) Next Meeting Golden Grevillea Photo: J Stephens Subject: Aerial views of Latrobe Valley. Speaker: Ray Hodges Location: Federation Training Horticultural Building, Morwell. Date: 14 th June Time: 7:30 PM A long-term member of our group, Ray is also a keen aviator with his own small aircraft. Not only does he regularly fly around the Valley for his and Delma s own pleasure, he also provides a fire-spotting service during the summer months. Come along and experience a new perspective on the environment of Latrobe Valley. Contents: Page 2-3 Leader s Report Mike Beamish 3 Editor s Notes Col Jackson 4-5 Plants in my garden Mike Beamish 5 Rainfall Registration Charts 5 APS Latrobe Valley Group Calendar 6 What is the meaning of prostrate Col Jackson 6-7 Other APS events pg. 1

2 Leader s Report Hello Folks, From all the feedback I ve heard, everybody was happy with the presentation on the Gippsland Heavy Industrial Wetlands at Firmins Lane, Morwell at our May meeting and the subsequent excursion on the 25 th. The weather was superb for the excursion; after a week of grey, drizzly gloom, we scored a beautiful, sunny day with virtually no breeze. It was just a pleasure to wander about the pathways, soak up the rays and listen to Belinda enthusiastically explain what we were looking at. Even a couple of members who couldn t make it to the presentation put in an appearance at the wetlands! You should all know by now that it was Rosemary Race s last outing with our Group. Rosemary has purchased a property on the outskirts of Portland in the south-west of Victoria and departed at the end of May, so we finished the day off with an informal presentation of a card and club mug, then headed off to Mid Valley Shopping Centre for a coffee. Here are a couple of shots of the Group enjoying the Wetlands. Got cold quick, didn t it! The heater has been resurrected from its summer slumber and has been churning through the remains of last year s wood pile, haven t had to touch this year s yet. I had a painful reminder to wear gloves when playing with firewood; when picking up a few pieces to cart inside, I unknowingly disturbed a wintering queen European Wasp, which made its presence felt by drilling into my thumb. The bitch of a thing didn t survive the attack and for a few minutes I didn t think I would either, by jingalow it hurt. But it soon settled down and now just itches like billy-o. If you aren t familiar with these beasties, be warned! They are fertilised queens, full of eggs and about twice the size of worker wasps, which over-winter in dark, warm crevices, waiting for the warmer weather in spring to establish new nests. Hence, they love stacks of firewood to hide in. The new western nature-strip bed is finished, all planted out and mulched. Apart from killing the grass, the northern nature-strip bed is still waiting for some attention. The pruning of the front garden is virtually finished, only one small patch in front of my garage, which still has some ivy to remove and a couple of branches in the big Casuarina to remove. It would have been done by now if my little mulcher hadn t thrown a wobbly and destroyed its starter assembly; I was surprised that I could get a new starter assembly for the very reasonable price of $55, probably an indication that this experience is not uncommon with these Chinese mechanical marvels. I m not looking forward to getting into the backyard; there is lots more pruning and mulching in my future and the ivy has invaded from next door and will be a pain to remove. The vegie patch is over and done for the winter; the last of the tomatoes, mostly green, are now on my kitchen window-sill in the hope that they will ripen, I don t want to turn them into pickles. The sweetcorn stopped growing with the onset of the chill, so I picked the couple of dozen small ears and they are now in the freezer. We have used the couple of pumpkins and gourd zucchinis, but they didn t have much flavour pg. 2

3 and I won t bother trying to grow them again, it s just too cold and the season too short for them to develop properly. We still have radish and beetroot to graze through as they gradually mature and the leeks and garlic will stay in the ground until next season. The vacant beds have been covered with some of the mulch that I ve been producing, which should break down slowly over the winter to feed next seasons plantings. Next Activity: On Thursday, June 14, 2018, 7.30pm at the Federation Training Horticultural Building in Morwell, we will be treated to a presentation of some aerial photography of the Latrobe Valley by Ray Hodges. Some of you have been in the air with Ray in the past, perhaps there will be some familiar shots in the presentation, hope to see you all there. Happy Aussie Planting, Mike Editor s Notes. As I write this, Mary and I are trying out our caravan with a trip along the south coast, starting at Queenscliff and heading for Adelaide, and maybe further, depending on time available. This may seem like a crazy way to spend this time of year, but I do love wild, stormy oceans and, lets face it, a heated caravan with all facilities is hardly roughing it. Unfortunately, we are a little early for the Southern Right Whale birthing season but we are hopeful we may yet have a sighting. With lots of coastal walks we are seeing a few flowering plants including this She-oak (right) and a lovely, hardy little Correa alba (left) that is hanging on to any hole in the limestone rocks at the top of this cliff. No part of these plants would be higher than about 30 centimetres and they are a testament to the tenacity of plant life in the face of salt-laden strong winds and poor soils. One of my duties as newsletter editor is to a copy to the webmaster. After the last one, he sent back a note advising that our newsletters are now posted at where you can access our newsletter history and, rather than clicking on one pdf after another if looking for a particular one, he has put in some contents for guidance. There is also a new district groups page that will help those travelling the state to see where the various groups are. Click on the link above, Google apsvic district groups or go through the APS Vic website. It brings up a map with the locations of the district groups in Victoria. Clicking on any one brings up a window with details of that group (eg. meeting nights, contacts). You will have already noticed some changes to the newsletter this month. I have been toying with the idea of updating some of the format of our newsletter for a while now and have been experimenting with some different outlines for the front page. Before this issue, I ran the proposals past my in-house test group and have gone ahead with the preferred version. Let me know what you think and don t worry about hurting my feelings. Mary says I don t have any. See you when I m looking at you, probably at the August meeting, Col Jackson pg. 3

4 Plants in my Garden 143 By Mike Beamish Species: Family: Derivation: Hakea: salicifolia: Hakea salicifolia Proteaceae Named after Baron Christian Ludwig von Hake, , a German patron of botany and a councilor in Hanover. From the Latin name for a willow, salix or salicis, plus folium, meaning leaf. Thus, leaves like a willow! Common Name: Willow-leaved Hakea. Distribution: Widespread along the coast and ranges from Jervis Bay, NSW, northward to the McPherson Range in south-east Queensland. Naturalised in many places around Australia and overseas. Description: A small, willow-like tree to 5m tall with narrowly elliptic to lanceolate leaves up to 15cm long and 17mm wide. Flowers occur from late winter to spring in single axillary umbels and are white with no hairs on the perianth, followed by woody capsules up to 3.5cm long and 2.5cm wide, covered in warty lumps and containing 2 winged seeds. Opinion: This species is considered to be an environmental weed in some areas, as plants retain a large quantity of seed in their woody capsules, until the branch dies and seed is released to invade the surroundings. This is why it has become naturalised in many places. There are even a couple of specimens in the Boolarra Bush Reserve around the old landfill tip site, no doubt a result of a gardener dropping off prunings at the tip in the distant past. Twasn t me! pg. 4

5 My plant is at least 5 metres tall and sits next to driveway entrance on the northern side of the block. It has copped a bit of pruning over the last couple of years to clear it from over the top of the driveway, so I could get the motorhome off the road. This hasn t detracted from its appearance at all, it is lush and green and sends out fresh shoots with purplish colours to replace the ones I remove. I reckon it would make an excellent hedge if you were prepared to keep it in shape. The missus always complains when I prune it, accusing me of removing the screen for the roving eyes of passers-by. The flowers are not particularly striking, but there are plenty of them and they waft a nice scent through the garden when they are at their peak. They are the easiest of plants to propagate from seed and the seedlings are often used as rootstock to graft more difficult species of Hakea onto. Let me know if you d like to grow some, I ll gather some seed for you. Sources: Holliday Hakeas: A Field and Garden Guide. Sharr: WA Plant Names and their Meanings. Elliot and Jones: Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants, Volume 5. Wrigley and Fagg: Banksias, Waratahs and Grevilleas, etc. Rainfall for 2017 (in mm) JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JLY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Total Wayne John Diane Mike Carolyn 0 Brian Rainfall for 2018 (in mm) JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JLY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Total Wayne John 0 Diane Mike Mary Brian Latrobe Valley Group Events Calendar Month Day Date Activity Time June Thu 14 Latrobe Valley aerial views Ray Hodges 7:30 PM July Thu 12 WA Northern Sandplains/Kwongan Heathlands Mike 7:30 PM Beamish Aug Thu 9 AGM and Members Night 7:30 PM Sep Excursions to plant sales and/or gardens TBC SepOct Excursions to Yea Wetlands and Mt Cannibal TBC Oct Thu 11 Italian Foodies Part 2 Brian and Judy Hetherington 7:30 PM Nov To be confirmed Dec End of Year function venue/activity to be confirmed pg. 5

6 What is the meaning of prostrate? By Col Jackson. What does prostrate mean in our gardens? Most of us expect a prostrate plant to hug the ground or at least remain below knee height. It feels like it is starting to stretch the imagination then, when the prostrate plant is two metres high and four metres across. Admittedly, the upright form of Coast Banksia (Banksia integrifolia) is regularly seen at about 10 or 12 metres and can get to 25 metres in some situations. That aside, when I bought my prostrate form I never expected it to take over so much garden. I am not really complaining because it is a delight, I just wish I had known then what I know now! It has proved to be a very hardy plant at the top of a well-drained steep batter. The arching branches display a contrast of white and olive-green leaves with the often-shown undersides being covered in fine woolly hairs, a display that lasts all year. The younger stems are also covered in hairs leaving them with a pale rusty-brown look. The cones are an absolute joy to behold, little columns of white-whiskered lips closed around bulging fruits, finally opening and spitting out the seeds with a laughing cheekiness. As a plant selected for its characteristics, it would be unreliable to try to grow from seed, so cuttings are the go. Timing seems to be critical as I once took several batches of cuttings over a few months with 100% failure until finally the time was right. Suddenly I had a batch with 100% success. I seem to recall Hartley Tobin once telling us that Banksias could be propagated from cuttings for one week in spring and one week in autumn and it s likely the case with this one. I found it flowered rather sporadically for the first several years and didn t really hit its straps until it had a bit of size and maturity about it. Now it puts on such magnificent displays in the autumn and the spring that I am prepared to overlook the fact that it pushes the limits of prostrate. Some APS related coming events of interest. 16 June APS Mornington Peninsula host a one-day event with an excursion in the afternoon, and an optional informal pub evening meal. Commencing at am. Benton Square Community Centre, Bentons Rd, Mornington. 16 to 27 June ANPSA 2018 Kimberley Tour Kununurra to Broome. Details from Nicky Zanen, nicky.zanen@hotmail.co.uk or phone pg. 6

7 Some APS related coming events of interest. 30 June & 1 July APS Ballarat District Group Winter Flower Show and Sales. From am to 5.00 pm, at the Robert Clark Horticultural Centre, Ballarat Botanic Gardens. 21 & 22 July Cranbourne Friends Royal Botanic Gardens Winter Plant Sale am to 4.00 pm. (Mel 133 K10) 18 & 19 August APS Foothills hosts APS Victoria Quarterly Gathering Plants and Gardens of the Dandenongs and Foothills including the Victorian COMM and AGM. 1 September APS Wilson Park Australian Native Plant Sale, Wilson Botanic Park, 668 Princes Highway, Berwick. From 9.00 am to 3.00 pm. No entry fee. 8 & 9 September APS Yarra Yarra Australian Plants Expo, Eltham Community & Reception Centre, 801 Main Road, Eltham am to 4.00 pm. Check website for plant lists. 22 & 23 September Bendigo Native Plant Group Australian Flower Show, Kangaroo Flat Primary School, Freeman Drive (off Olympic Parade), Kangaroo Flat Bendigo am to 4.30 pm. 6 and 7 of October APS Grampians Group Pomonal Native Flower Show, Pomonal Hall am to 5.00 pm on Saturday, on Sunday. 13 & 14 October South Gippsland Native Plant Sale and Flower Show, South Gippsland Historical Automobile Club Pavilion, Leongatha Recreating Reserve. 10 am to 4 pm both days. 20 & 21 October FJC Rogers Seminar Goodeniaceae, co-ordinated by Wimmera Growers of Australian Plants and APS Grampians. Contact fjcrogersseminar2018@gmail.com or Royce Raleigh, Chairman of FJC Rogers Goodeniaceae Seminar 2018 Committee Phone October APS Mitchell Plant Expo and Sale. Kilmore Memorial Hall, 14 Sydney Street, Kilmore. From 9 am to 3 pm. (date changed 19/2/18) 27 October APS Echuca Moama hold the Native Flower Showcase at the Echuca Masonic Lodge Hall, 426 High Street, Echuca. From 9.00 am to 4.00 pm and entry is $ & 28 October APS Ballarat District Group Spring Plant Show and Sales. From am to 4.30 pm, at the Robert Clark Horticultural Centre, Ballarat Botanic Gardens. A display of flowers and foliage and a large range of plants for sale. Hand painted floral art, books sales and other stall holders. 27 & 28 October Cranbourne Friends Royal Botanic Gardens Spring Plant Sale am to 4.00 pm. (Mel 133 K10) Date saver: The ANPSA 2019 Conference hosted by Western Australia will be held between 30th Sept to 4 October 2019 in Albany, WA. pg. 7

8 Leader: Mike Beamish Deputy-leader: Col Jackson Secretary: Treasurer: Delma Hodges Newsletter Editor: Col Jackson Website: John Stephens Librarian: Marilyn Ingram Publicity Delma Hodges HOMEGROWN NATIVE PLANTS MAYBE SOLD AT EACH MEETING.COPYRIGHT: ARTICLES OR INFORMATION ARE NEEDED FOR EVERY MONTHLY NEWSLETTER. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE SOURCE AND ORIGINAL AUTHOR. SEND YOUR ARTICLES TO THE NEWSLETTER EDITOR; note SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS THE 25 TH OF EACH MONTH. MEMBERSHIP FEES; per ANNUM: TO BE PAID BY 30 TH JUNE FOR BOTH LATROBE VALLEY GROUP Inc. AND AUSTRALIAN PLANTS SOCIETY (SGAP Victoria) Inc. Produced with the assistance of Latrobe City Council. pg. 8