Next Meeting

Date: Thursday May 14, 2009
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue: Horticultural Building at Morwell TAFE adjacent to Kernot Hall.
A Talk on New Zealand Ferns by Warren Simpson.

Leader's Report

We sincerely apologise for being so late with this newsletter, but due to the passing of Wayne’s mum ‘Win’, everything else had been ‘put on the back burner’ so to speak. We would like to thank everyone for their condolences and cards which were very much appreciated.With things settling down now life will get back to some kind of normalcy.

Around the Garden

Around the garden, Adenanthos sericeus (Woollybush) is still putting on a quiet show even though the main flowering is from Spring to Summer while nearby a small plant of a Crowea – white form is showing its flowers off too and our 3 Crowea ‘Festival’ plants situated in different gardens around the house are putting on their usual great show. Strolling around the gardens you can not miss seeing Correa pulchella “Autumn Blaze” from Kangaroo Island with its bright orange flowers, Correa “Win’s Wonder” (Mum’s favorite) of deep pink flowers against its varigated leaves. Then the coral and pale salmon flowers of Correa pulchella, both these plants are a delight to see at this time of year as is Correa “Little Cate” covered in pink flowerbells. A Hypocalymma xanthotelum covered in Fluffy Bright Yellow flowers has a Brachyscome multifia “Break-Of-Day” with deep mauve daisy flowers poking through along the front edge, making an attractive display. “Will Banksia”, is on the bank near the clothesline, has bounced back as the westside of the plant has a lot of leaves showing the effect of the very hot summer we have had but dispite this it’s covered in a mass of flowers at varying stages. And of course we can not forget Grevillea lanigera “Mt Tamberitha” flowering profusely outside our bedroom window and over in the bushier part of the garden below the shed in a side by side position (Trying to out do each other) are Grevillea “Olympic Flame” and Grevillea rhyolitica “Deua Flame” with their red spidery shape flowers.

See you at the Talk on New Zealand by Warren Simpson, from Wayne Wilkinson.

Plants in My Garden

By Mike Beamish

Isotoma
axillaris

Species: Isotoma axillaris
Family: Lobeliaceae
Derivation:

Isotoma: From the Greek, isos, meaning equal and
tomos, meaning a piece cut off or a slice, referring to the corolla lobes being nearly equal, unlike true lobelias.

axillaris: From the Latin, axilla, meaning arm-pit, botanically referring to axillary, growing from the leaf axils.

Common Name: Rock Isotome
Distribution: Found in Queensland, NSW and Victoria.
Description:A small, rounded, bushy annual/perennial to 30cm, with light-green, lobed leaves to 8cm long. Masses of blue, occasionally pink, star-like flowers occur for long periods over spring, summer and autumn.
Opinion: Nice plant, this one! Easy to grow from seed, it will look after itself and self-sow anywhere throughout your garden. I have several planted in various spots and several more have appeared, particularly in my pots of Silky Oak seedlings in one of the cold-frames, how they got there is anyone’s guess. They flower better in full sun, but will still do ok in the shade, dying back if too dry and resprouting from the roots when a bit of moisture is received. My plants originated from seed borrowed from Mt Alexander, on the Calder Freeway, this side of Bendigo. Scattered onto a bit of potting mix, they don’t take long to get going and are soon ready for planting out. The literature says to sow in July ready for the following summer, but I reckon they would do the business at any time. Be careful when you handle the plants though, apparently the sap is not good for the eyes and can cause skin irritations in sensitive people. Lucky I’m as sensitive as a brick!

Sources: Wrigley & Fagg- Australian Native Plants
Corrick & Fuhrer- Wildflowers of Victoria
Sharr- WA Plant Names & their Meanings