Our next meeting will be in conjunction with the West Gippsland group in Warragul on Wednesday the 15th November at the McMillan campus. The evening will be on 'bush foods' by Gil Freeman and should prove to be interesting. Don't forget and turn up at the usual venue, you could be lonely!
Unfortunately this month has been quite dry, with only nineteen millimetres of rain to date of which ten millimetres fell yesterday. Needless to say my garden that I was enjoying is now becoming a bit of a burden. Having already lost some plants we are hand watering beds on a rotational basis to ensure that others don't follow. It just seems a bit too early for such drastic measures, as we are usually starting to worry about plants and lawns etc in December or January. Talking of dead plants, I am certain that our "Summer Beauty" was destined to fail from the start. When I tried to pull the dead tree out it broke very neatly across the graft which indicates to me that it was not successful from the start. Also the tree tended to shoot from the stock and I quite often removed growth from the base of the plant which would also indicate that the tree was under stress. Our surviving "Summer Beauty" is very healthy and displays none of the signs of its sibling. Last week I purchased a "Summer Red", (grafted - hybrid between ficifolia and ptychocarpa) as a replacement. Needless to say I studied the graft on the various plants on offer before making my selection. Fingers crossed!
Despite the dry spell some plants appear to be thriving at present. What is personally exciting is that two of our three Xanthorrhoea australis have spikes and should be in flower soon. A number of the Leptospermum family are also happily flowering at present, including our several "Pink Cascade", a superb mauve L. rotundifolium and our local white variety which I believe to be Leptospermum continentale. Our Geraldton Wax plant (Chamelaucium uncinatum) obviously likes our environment and is flowering prolifically as are two mint bushes (Prosanthera nivea var. induta). Many of our local plants, including Pimelea humilis, Pimelea linifolia, Stylidium grammifolium, Billardiera scandens, Drosera auriculata and others are brightening up the landscape locally. Last week, while hurriedly passing through the property next door I came across a blue sun orchid, probably Thelymitra aristata, however later I tried to locate it again, without success.
Thanks to Mike and his numerous "Plants in my Garden" contributions, our newsletter has continued to be an interesting read. However I would like to reintroduce the "members spot" where you, the members, put pen to paper and contribute on any topic that takes your fancy. Articles submitted in the past were wide ranging, with some being quite scientific while others were simply telling about an aspect of the member's gardening experiences. They were all fascinating and gave an insight into development and interests of each contributor. While there is no pressure to contribute, please think about what you may be able to write, however small, and assist us in keeping our newsletter informative and interesting.
Some of our group are making a quick pilgrimage to the Grampians next weekend (4-5th of November) to see what is "out" at present, particularly in regard to orchids. We will be camping (hopefully) at the Plantation camping area, about 14 kilometres north of Hall's Gap near Heatherlie quarry. Some lucky souls will be staying for a looong weekend while others unfortunately only have the normal two days. Any members wishing to join the group are welcome to come along. Contact myself or Colin for details.
The informal meeting was enjoyed by all who attended. It is good to have a meeting like this once in a while just to chat and enjoy the company of people with the same interest. Thanks to members who attended the plant table was full to overflowing and thanks to Col, who provided the necessary materials; many went home satisfied with a cutting or two (or more!) ready to place in their hothouse or shade house.
Don't forget we have a new book in the library - "A complete Guide to Native Orchids of Australia Including the Island Territories". This is a fabulous book, worthy of adding to any enthusiast's collection and one I must purchase. However at present I must confess I am "hogging it", as the kids say.
Hope to see you all at the next meeting (Pst -
Warragul!).
John Stephens
By Mike Beamish
PseudanthusSpecies: Pseudanthus pimeleoides
Family:Euphorbiaceae
Derivation:
Pseudanthus: From the Greek pseudos, meaning false, and anthos, meaning flower, referring to the type species having clustered terminal flowers resembling a single flower.
pimeleoides: From the genus Pimelea and -oides, meaning like.Common Name: Rice-flower Pseudanthus
Sources: Baines- Australian Plant
Genera. Sharr- Plant Names and their Meanings.
Corrick/Fuhrer- Wildflowers of Victoria.
A plant that has done it tough but never the less managed to succeed at my place (I can't really say "in my garden") is the Blue Hibiscus or Alyogyne hugelii. I purchased two plants originally, a specimen each of a purple and a white flowering form, I think at the Wilson Park plant sale. In my usual form, I bought them in 3-inch tubes (cheap!) then potted them up while I tried to find a spot for them in the garden. That spot was ever elusive and finally in desperation I plonked the pair of them in just above the foot of the batter below my shed site. The soil can best be described as "rugged" with very few, if any, redeeming features. Consisting of clay mixed with a little broken up mudstone rock it is a shandy of the layers that were bulldozed out of my shed site. Being on a 45-degree slope, I think the soil's only claim to fame would be that it is "well drained".
Almost right from the start both plants were in trouble. No sooner did they reach up above their protective wire guards than the local wallabies would chomp or break them back down. It appears that I have a particularly vindictive strain of wallaby residing at my place. Other people I speak to, even those living close to bushland, seem to have little or no trouble with their local wildlife. However, the black bandits that frequent the gullies at home seem to take a perverse pleasure in chewing otherwise beautiful Australian flora to within an inch of its life. Of course, they seemed to sense that I preferred the deep purple flowering plant to the plain white one and focussed their most destructive energies on that, tearing it down time and time again.
Eventually though, the white one grew vigorously enough and the purple one managed to sneak a single branch up high enough to outdo my furry friends and we are finally seeing a real display of flowers. The white flowering form is only really white as the flower matures, in its early stages it is a truly breathtaking delicate soft mauve cone that finally opens to display pure white petals around the yellow style. On the purple plant, the flowers start as a really strong purple cone that fades a little to a more bluish tone as the flowers open up and mature.
I could not describe them as "tidy" plants. They both have a rather unruly nature that refuses to be tamed by my yearly pruning. They are, however, real survivors that have made it through despite all that life has thrown at them. Even with poor soil, no watering and a breed of wallaby that never gives up, they are looking better than ever before and catch my eye and my heart each day as I come back in my driveway.