Next Meeting

Member’s Night and slide show

Leader's Report

Around the Garden

Well here we are in a new year with many adventures to look forward to in the garden! I hope you all had a wonderful festive season and did not indulge too heavily in the good things of life – sun, food, drink and relaxation! Susan and I had a very busy time, having many little holidays in a variety of locations – Point Lonsdale, Sandy Point and the usual visits to Melbourne. Susan went to Tassie with her twin sister and climbed Cradle Mountain. She even took some wildflower photos for me! That is usually my domain. I don’t know that she has fully recovered even at this point, however by all accounts she had a wonderful time. I must admit my nose was out of joint as I was not invited and had to stay home and tend the garden.

I must admit I am not a fan of summer in the garden. It is too hot to do anything energetic and too hot and dry for many plants. While we had an excellent year in regard to rainfall (914 millimetres here) the annual battle to save what you can is well under way in our garden. It is amazing how quickly the soil dries out and we have already lost several plants. As I have stated before the soil here is sandy and does not hold moisture for any length of time. This combined with the slope of the block means we have difficulty in keeping water up to the garden. Thank goodness for the water tank! We did have fifty millimetres in one rain “event” prior to Christmas however our area has generally been quite dry since mid November. Despite the lack of moisture the garden is looking quite good at present and as always in an Aussie garden there are flowers to discover in a quick wander. We have several flowering gums and while the Summer Beauty does not seem to really know it is summer, a deep red variety we have has an excellent display at present.

I had a recent visit from a young university student who required information in relation to Banksias in the Traralgon South flora and fauna reserve. Oliver, a local, has to complete some research in relation to the course he has undertaken. He is trying to establish a relationship between a noted decline in Banksia population in some areas and a lack of natural fire or controlled burning. It appears that areas that have not been through a bushfire or a controlled burn are struggling to produce offspring. Oliver is going to study an area burnt in a bushfire covering the north-eastern part of the reserve about four years ago. This is the area some of you will be familiar with due to the existence of Grevillea Chrysophaea. It will be interesting to see what conclusions Oliver is able to draw from his work and I am sure we all wish him well with his research. I will endeavour to follow up and let the group know the outcome of his study. Oliver may even consent to talk to the group on his findings at a future meeting.

Another interesting project I recently read about on the internet in relation to Tasmania is the “Millennium Seed Bank Project”. British researchers are collecting seeds from eight hundred Tasmanian native plants to be included in a massive World wide seed bank. The seed will be held at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, near London. The purpose of the seed bank is to ensure the continuation of the collected species if the need should arise. It is believed that these seeds may be able to be kept in storage and viable for “thousands of years”, which I find amazing. Further research revealed that the collection will involve all states and plants from Victoria are being added to the collection. This collection will target ten percent of the World’s plant species when concluded, concentrating on rare and endangered plants. Australia is one of twelve areas being targeted and according to information from the project we have 15% of the World’s total species and 22.9% of these are rare or endangered. So it seems we will be well represented if we need to call on this resource in the future. It is very refreshing to know that, despite what our membership indicates, young people are showing interest and that work is being done to preserve our plants for the future.

Potting Mix

If you want potting-mix, please place your order with Col as we need to get this organised as soon as possible. Orders can be by trailer load or bag. Cost will be worked out once we know the amount of potting-mix to be ordered.

Xmas Break-up Bus Trip

Cranbourne Botanic Gardens - Sand Garden

Cranbourne Botanic Gardens - Rock Pools Waterway

By all accounts or I should say all the feedback I have had, our Christmas break-up bus trip to the Cranbourne Royal Botanical Gardens, Australian Garden section was a success. In the future I would not have a BBQ there in the summer because of ‘ALL THOSE FLIES’, no amount of fly spray would have kept them away.

As it was our first time looking around the Australian Garden, I found I could have spent more time in some areas than others, as it was we did not get to see all of it. So this means another visit is in-store at another time of year, this was whole heartily agreed to by everyone.

What a dramatic desert scene when you first walk down the steps at the entry, to see the colours of the Outback on display. I found it fascinating how some of the garden sections were set out and what was used in them besides plants. I loved the way they encourage children to participate in finding things around the garden and even some adults enjoyed doing this too. The water feature was a hit with the young and a well known member that can not stay out of water, no matter where he goes with the group, I wonder who it was Col? We do have proof too.

The bus travellers were not allowed to fall asleep on the way home, as I had a little surprise for them. They were all soon sitting up and picking each others brains, it sounded so funny listening to all the whispering going on around the bus as they all tried to work out the sheet of what I call ‘Brain teasers’. Some were easy to workout and some not so easy. A good laugh was had by all when I gave them all the right answers. Then we had the lucky dip bag, each person on the bus got to pull out a gift from the bag. I tried to find gifts pertaining to gardening and getting enough variation in them too. I think this little surprise was enjoyed by all and this concluded another great outing for our group, A Big Thank You goes to our trusty bus driver, Wayne.

Plants in My Garden

By Mike Beamish

Rhododendron
viriosum

Species: Rhododendron viriosum
Family:Ericaceae
Derivation:

Rhododendron: From the Greek rhodon, meaning rose, and dendron, meaning tree, in reference to the terminal bunches of often red-coloured flowers.

viriosum: I can’t find an ‘official’ derivation for this, but one of the websites I looked at reckoned it means robust or strong, in reference to its performance as a rootstock!

Common Name: Australian Rhododendron
Distribution: Restricted to a few mountain tops along the Great Dividing Range near Cape Tribulation in northern Queensland.
Description:A low, often spreading shrub to 80 cm high and across, with ovate, dark green, thick textured leaves to 7cm long. Brilliant red trumpet-shaped flowers about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide appear in spring and summer.
Opinion: There aren’t too many plants in flower around the garden at this time of year, but one that has been putting on a spectacular display recently is this little Rhododendron. Formerly known as R. lochiae, it was thought that it was the only Rhododendron native to Australia, until a second species with curved trumpet-shaped flowers was described in 1996. Originally called R. notiale, this second species was shown to be incorrectly named and should have received the R. lochiae moniker, another good example of the confusion created by the boffins in attempting to apply the rules of Botanical Nomenclature. According to the literature, both species are easy to grow in a shady spot in the garden in well composted, acidic soils, or in a pot filled with a peaty mix, which can be brought indoors during the flowering period. Propagation is from cuttings or seed. Mild frosts are tolerated.
My plant seems to fit the bill well enough! I did have one in the ground underneath a Blackwood Wattle a few years back, but it never did well and soon departed for that big native garden in the sky. My current plant is now several years old and lives in a waterwell tub which has been parked under the flowering gum in the backyard for most of its life. I moved it around to the other side of the bed last year, to the lower (northern) half of the back yard, while I was working on the removal of the big Spotted Gum. It seems to have enjoyed the change of position as it has flowered prolifically this summer, as the photos indicate. It has always put out a few flowers in most years, but this year has been by far the best. No doubt remembering to give it a decent feed back at the start of spring hasn’t hurt it, either. I haven’t as yet had any success in getting cuttings to strike, but a lady who ‘borrowed’ some during the Quarterly Weekend visit to the garden in 2004 reckoned they did all right. More effort required on my part from the sound of it.

Sources: Baines- Australian Plant Genera
Wrigley & Fagg- Australian Native Plants, 5th edition.