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Society for Growing Australian Plants - Warrnambool & District Group April 2015 Newsletter

SOCIETY FOR GROWING AUSTRALIAN PLANTS Warrnambool & District Group Inc. Newsletter

APRIL 2015 No 403

Incorporation No: AOO1312OX ABN: 51672752196 Web: www.warrnambool.org/sgap

DIARY OF EVENTS: 24th April - Neil Marriott speaking

about the new Native Botanical

Garden planned for Halls Gap.

28th April -Committee Meeting-Artis’

22nd May - AGM- Cherree Densley

speaking on “Regeneration after A

Spot Fire on Mt Clay”.

26th May - Committee Meeting-Halls

8th June - Correa Crawl to Portland/

Mt. Richmond area.

26th June - Members Hands on

Propagation Night. Come along and

learn how to put cuttings in.

19th August 7.30pm at HIRL at

Hamilton. We are invited to attend

their meeting where Cathy Powers

will be speaking on diversity and

distribution of native orchids.

25th Sept - Brian Lacy “Brian &

Betty’s Gardening Story”

Hi members, EDITORIAL We are very fortunate this month to have Neil Marriott as our guest speaker, Neil is well known of course as the APS (Vic) Conservation Officer. He will be speaking to us about the proposed WAMA Wildlife Art Museum and Botanical Garden planned for Halls Gap. Joyce and I had the opportunity to join in a tour of the site last year lead by Neil and as we were suitably impressed by the proposal, I took the opportunity to invite him to come to Warrnambool to discuss it with us.

The WAMA Project through community and educational programs will:

* Recognise the achievement and contribution of Australian and international wildlife artists.

* Cultivate a world-class, scientifically-based collection of Australian native plants.

* Promote the collection and preservation of Australian wildlife and natural history art in all its artistic forms.

* Provide an enriched view of Australia’s unique place in the history of man’s exploration of the natural world from earli-

est steps to the present day.

* Foster recognition and understanding of Australian wildlife and natural history, both nationally and internationally. You can read more about this exciting project at: http://www.wama.net.au/vision-objectives.html

Put this date in your diary: Cherree Densley will lead a Correa Crawl on Monday June 8th to the Portland/Mt. Richmond area. Meet at 10.00am at Shell Service Station in Portland, on the right after the divided highway. BYO everything.

Thank you to Coral Moore, Bev Bell and Cherree Densley for doing a native flower display for us at the Anglican Church “Festival of Flowers” in Port Fairy this weekend. Check it out if you get the chance.

Going cheaply are sausages left over from our Xmas function, been in freezer since at Lemmens Ph: 55624848 Don’t forget to bring along specimens from your garden for our display table, this shows people what we can grow here in Warrnambool and helps us promote our native plants through our newsletter. Also join with our guest speaker at the

RSL at 6.30pm for dinner, I will book a table for 12. Hope to see you on Friday 24th. Cheers, Kevin

Members Night: Friday 24th April from 8.00pm

Speaker, Neil Marriott speaking about the new Botanical Garden & Art Complex planned for Halls Gap

Correa reflexa ‘Grannys Grave’

The Warrnambool & District SGAP holds meetings on the 4th Friday of each month at the Mozart Hall Warrnambool at 8pm.

‘Plants of the Great South West’,

book on plants of South West Victoria

$20, available from

Kevin Sparrow at

[email protected]

Ph: 55626217

Like us on

Facebook

2 Society for Growing Australian Plants - Warrnambool & District Group April 2015 Newsletter

One of our new members (Louise Sheba) has prepared a

report outlining a number of ideas for attracting new members.

She met with the committee in February and at the March

Committee meeting we discussed how to advance some of

these. Picking up one suggestion Kevin is keen to expand both

the content and reach of the website and we have approved

work to commence on this – utilising an in-house IT expert

(Kevin’s son in law!).

Two other suggestions by Louise are outlined below. The

committee is seeking feedback on them at the April meeting

before taking the ideas any further.

The first suggestion concerns “branding” of our group (in

marketing language). At present we have various names. Our

official name is our incorporation name - Society for Growing

Australian Plants – Warrnambool and District Incorporated.

This is quite a mouthful. Variations of it appear in our ABN

name, the website and other publications.

The committee wants to get views on adopting as our

(unofficial) name Australian Plants Society, Warrnambool

District. This is a simpler title and brings us in to line with

(some) other groups. If approved by the group this standard

name would appear on all publications, website, and other

material such as tee-shirts and coffee cups. In the past we have

opted to retain SGAP in our title but perhaps it is time to move

on (?).

Secondly, at the time of our formal incorporation (2001) we were required to

adopt a set of Model Rules to govern operation of the group. These did not

include a Statement of Purposes. Were we to repeat the exercise today such a

statement would have to be included in model rules. Recognising this the

committee feels we should adopt a formal Statement of Purposes at the next

AGM. Members may be aware that APS (Vic) have just distributed a 2014

draft of their Model Rules and I have drawn on their Statement of Purposes to

suggest the following for our group:

These 4 statements are taken virtually word for word from those of APS (Vic).

The last one is the clause which ensures we are not unduly limited in future

activities.

SGAP Discussion Paper By John Sherwood (on behalf of your Committee)

Draft Statement of Purposes

Name of Group: Society for Growing Australian Plants – Warrnambool

and District Incorporated. (JS comment - We need to use our official

incorporation name here)

The purposes of the Group are to:

(i) promote and maintain interest in growing Australian plants in home

gardens and public places of southwest Victoria.

(ii) encourage and facilitate the conservation and study of Australian

plants in their natural environment.

(iii) further the dissemination of knowledge and to act as a source of in-

formed opinion on relevant issues.

(iv) carry on any other activity for the furtherance and extension of the

purposes of the group.


Today the lake floor and

surrounding countryside

are a wildlife paradise of

a different drier kind.

Bluebush species on the

lake floor provided an

important stock food for

early European settlers

in the 1850s but have

proved resilient to

grazing pressure.

Surrounding vegetation

– particularly on the

eastern lunette (the

Walls of China) has been

degraded – with major

erosion of the lunette

resulting. Cypress pines

(3 Callitris species) were

extensively cut for

fences and buildings in-

cluding the beautifully

preserved Mungo woolshed. Mallee eucalypts (at least 3 species), Casuarina

pauper (“belah”), needlewood hakea, desert cassia (Senna artemisioides) and

butterbush (Pittosporum species) are common woodland trees. John spotted

several beautiful bird species for the first time - including the white winged

wren, red-capped robin, apostle bird and chestnut rumped thornbill.

There is a road around the lake with many information boards. A “must do” for

visitors. One of the highlights was Vigars Wells – a natural soak which attracts

many birds and marsupials for a late afternoon drink! This also provides walk-

ing access to the mobile sand dunes and expansive views over the surrounding

countryside.

Report on Last Meeting—John Sherwood on his trip to Lake Mungo

Lake Mungo is part of a now dry chain of lakes that form part of the

Willandra Creek system – a former anabranch of the Lachlan River. The

Creek formerly flowed to the Murray during ice age periods. SE Australia

receives higher runoff particularly from the Great Dividing Range and in

wet times the chain of lakes progressively filled. Over the last 100,000

years the lake has had a series of wet and dry episodes. During the wet con-

ditions wildlife flourished in and around the lake. Humans were attracted

there because of abundant resources and archaeological finds have resulted

in the entire lake system being declared a World Heritage Area. Two out-

standing finds are the world’s oldest evidence of ritual burials Mungo

Woman was cremated, the bones broken and re-burnt. Mungo Man was

buried after the body was sprinkled with red ochre. Both burials happened

40 – 42,000 years ago during a “lake full” stage. One of the world’s largest

ancient human trackways (over 500 footprints of men, women and

children) was discovered in an adjacent lake. These date to 22,000 years

ago – the last time the lakes were full.

Above: Ptilotus sp. Nulla Nulla


President: Bob Artis, Brown St, Allansford. 0417 321225 Vice President: John Sherwood. 26 McConnell St, Warrnambool

Secretary: Marilyn Berry, Tooram Road, Allansford. 3277. Phone: 55651562 Email: [email protected]

Treasurer: Mike Halls, 127 Rooneys Rd, Warrnambool 3280 Phone: 55626519 Email: [email protected]

Newsletter Editor: Kevin Sparrow 35 Swan Street, Warrnambool. Phone: 55626217 Email: [email protected]

Publicity Officer and Librarian: Dorothy Mattner. Public Officer: John Sherwood. Phone: 55628064

APS Reps: vacant , History Book Coordinator: Joyce Sparrow. Other Committee Members: Kerry Artis

Please submit your articles for the newsletter by the end of the second week of the month

Warrnambool & District SGAP is a District Group of the Australian Plants Society (Vic) All members are required to also be a member of APS Vic.

Botanical Name: Swainsona formosa

Common Name: Sturt’s Desert Pea.

(Named after the famous explorer)

I grew this plant from seed, treated with

boiling water in October and sown. A

difficult plant to grow in southern Victo-

ria, requires well drained soil (best grown

in a deep pot) and a sunny sheltered loca-

tion. Grows naturally in hot sunny, sandy

locations in outback Australia. Best

treated as an annual as plants will usually

die off as the cold weather hits. This one

took a long time to develop flowers and

so far looks like producing more on the

next shoot. Hopefully it will set seed so

that I can germinate it again later in the

year. I notice that Bunnings have some for

sale but wonder how long these will last

this late in the season.

Plant Of The Month By Kevin Sparrow Fred Rogers Seminar Update By Kevin Sparrow

Planning is continuing for the Fred

Rogers Seminar to be held next year on

the 8/9th October 2016. Our group

together with Hamilton group will

jointly host this event and the subject

will be “Native Terrestrial & Epi-

phytic Orchids”. The seminar will be

held in Hamilton and will consist of

speakers and workshops run by indus-

try experts on the Saturday followed by

bus trips on the Sunday. As you can

see (above) the committee has chosen a logo and the venue will be

at the at the Hamilton and Alexandra College in Hamilton.

Presently we are working on putting together an agenda of expert

speakers on a variety of interesting subjects based around orchids .

If you are interested in attending this seminar, please contact me at

[email protected] and I will put you on our mailing list so

that you receive the invitation email when it is time to make your

booking. No obligation of course. As this seminar is likely be very

popular, it will be “first in best dressed” and bookings cut off when

numbers have reached our limit.


March Display Table Report By Kerry Artis

Marg Craig showed us Alyogyne huegelii in the pink form which is looking very nice and responds well to being pruned.

Pandorea jasminoides is flowering well and is a good climber, Acacia subulata seems to flower all year round and has a

lighter leaf colour than the other Acacias .Banksia media is looking lovely and is resistant to salt spray, Banksia littoralis

(photo right) likes to have some moisture and Grevillea ‘Robyn Gordon’ is never without a flower.

Kevin Sparrow brought along Banksia tricuspis which opens at the top of the cylinder type flower first and then follows on

down to the bottom (photos of flower progressive opening bottom right). It has leaves like pine needles and needs to be well

drained as it doesn’t like wet feet. Correa ‘Federation Belle’ is a hybrid and forms a shrub to 1.5 high bearing bright pink

flowers with cream tips. Swainsona formosa Sturt Desert Pea is the floral emblem of South Australia. It is an annual plant

bearing large, red, pea flowers and its seeds need to be soaked in hot water before planting. Other plants of Kevin’s were

Banksia integrifolia, Correa ‘Mannii’, Eremophila maculata var maculata, a Callistemon that was grown by cutting from

Mattners, Eremophila maculata, Eremophila glabra, Scaevola aemula ‘Mauve Clusters’, Eremophila glabra, Correa

‘Marion's Marvel’.

Chrysocephalum semipapposum (photo bottom left) was shown by Lorraine Charles. It has yellow flowers and is a peren-

nial, clumping plant growing in most soils and needing a sunny, dry position. Lorraine also brought along a Goodenia spe-

cies that is easy to grow from cutting, has yellow flowers and likes shady, moist conditions and Correa calycina var calycina flowers for most of the year

and is a medium shrub with greenish flowers which the birds love.


Tour of the Myers’ Garden Dunkeld and Royal Mail Kitchen Garden Tour

Join with SGAP Hamilton

Tours of Myers’ garden in Dunkeld can precede a tour of the Royal Mail kitchen garden on Wednesdays and Fridays.

If you wish to go on a tour of the Myers’ garden followed by the kitchen garden tour at The Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld, please let us know

which of the following days would suit. The cost is $15 per person regardless of whether you do the Myers’ garden tour or not. You could

join the tour at the kitchen garden at 11.00am if you would prefer.

Myers’ garden tour begins at 10.00am. Kitchen garden tours begin at about 11.00am. Please indicate which of the following days would suit

and send them back to me by email as soon as you like. If you prefer, ring me on 55741223.

Thanks

Liz Cummins

Secretary SGAP Hamilton

YOUR NAME:…………………………………………………………………………………………

TOUR

DATE

Wednesday

6th May

10am Myers

Garden

Wednesday

6th May

11am Kitchen

Garden

Friday

15th May

10am Myers’

Garden

Friday

15th May

11am Kitchen

Garden

Friday

22nd May

10am Myers’

garden

Friday

22nd May

11am Kitchen

garden

Indicate YES

or NO if this

date would

suit


Planting Opportunity For SGAP To Plant Out Hub Embankment At Community Gardens

Recently we received an invitation to plant out the

embankment area at the Community Gardens at

Albert Park surrounding the building Hub with a

selection of local native plants. The committee at

the Community Gardens has expressed an interest

in forming a partnership with our group and this is

an ideal opportunity for our two group’s to work

together.

While Community Gardens is primarily a

permaculture, recycling and vegetable growing

group, the planting of indigenous native plants

actually fits very well with this scenario, especially

if you include the planting of “Bush Tucker” and

aboriginal traditional use plants.

It also gives us an opportunity to erect some signs

in the garden to explain what these plants and their

uses are. This gives us a valuable public presence,

something we have been lacking in the past.

Some of the plants that can be featured include

Kunzea pomifera (Muntries have an edible berry),

Rubis parvifolius (Native Raspberry) Microseris

lanceolata (Yam Daisy), Carpobrotus rossii

(Native Pigface has an edible fruit that forms after

the flower finishes.

We would need to source enough suitable plants

for this but it could be planted out over time if necessary as plants became available.

[EDITOR] By the way, we are also funding a sign at Swan Reserve to be erected in the Banksia Bed which will explain the Proteaceae species and identify

the plants growing in the bed.

Yellow area indicates the area to be planted out around the Hub Building, a new monument is planned to

recognise the original inhabitants and the significance of the site to their people.


The old quarry at Albert Park above the Community Garden site has links to the Warrnambool community as a place once used by many in their childhood

days as a place to explore and escape with friends to adventure.

After many years as a city council dump the site was neglected and has since become infested with various woody and herbaceous weed species and pest

animals including foxes, cats, and rabbits. Weeds include bird, wind, water, and pest animal dispersed species, with a now saturated weed seed store and

almost complete weed cover (see Figures 1 & 2), apart from the occasional Acacia melanoxylon and small patches of indigenous tussock grass (Poa sp.).

Recently the bulk of the woody weeds and weeds of the quarry central basin area have been removed to expose impressive sandstone cliff areas and an

amphitheatre-like area with many potential future uses.

The staged rehabilitation process (see Figure 3) will utilise fire to reduce weed biomass and potentially trigger the germination of long-stored indigenous

seed stores. After initial spraying and burning, the rim of the quarry area will be planted with triple-row and clump plantings of Allocasuarina verticillata

which has useful weed suppressing qualities. These will be used to form a barrier to and interrupt the continued movement of heavy Kikuyu sward down

quarry embankments. Direct seeding of Poa, Themeda, Austrodanthonia, and Lomandra species will be used post-fire to out-compete germinating weed

species.

Quarry rehabilitation Project at Albert Park by Peter Austin

Figures 1 & 2 – Weed infestation issues at the community garden quarry area.


Quarry rehabilitation Project at Albert Park by Peter Austin

In time the whole area surrounding the quarry area will be planted to

Allocasuarina, Acacia melanoxylon, and Banksia marginata (see Figure 4).

She-oaks will be selectively coppiced over time to provide high nitrogenous

mulch that will be chipped for use in the community vegetable gardens in a

renewable and self-sustaining process, to meet ongoing mulch requirements.

After some 5 years the site should reach a point where the embankments and

central quarry area later stage plantings could occur. The transformation pro-

ject will take many years to arrest the ongoing and re-occurring weed issues

on site, however there is scope in later stages of the rehabilitation process for

plantings to showcase the indigenous/endemic plant species on the embank-

ments and future central amphitheatre landscaped areas.

The idea with plantings would be to showcase and educate the potential uses

of local indigenous species for visiting community members gardens, rather

than try to have a botanic gardens-like plant collection. Mass plantings of

species utilising site niches would encourage locals to utilise such species in

their home gardens by providing planting ideas, and promoting low water use

and fauna attracting species.

Figure 3 – Staged rehabilitation process.

Figure 4 – Overall planting plans.

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