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AugustSeptember
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November
A Talk on Frogs by Max Sargent.
Sat 10th Oct 6pm Evening walk in Morwell Wetlands with Max Sargent.
Wed 18th Nov
A Visit to West Gippsland APS Group. A talk on ‘Grevillea Cultivars’ by Neil Marriott at McMillan Campus of the Education Centre Gippsland, South Road, Warragul.
Thurs 10th Dec
??
Sat 12th Dec
Visit Jackson’s garden, Kate’s garden and have Christmas lunch at the Morwell National Park.
4th Victorian Weed Conference- Geelong. 17-18/10/09
APS South Gippsland Flower Show & Sale. 17-18/10/09
APS Ballarat Flower Show & Sale. 17-18/10/09
APS Foothills at Stringybark Festival. 18/10/09
Friends of Morwell NP- Koala Count. Wed 18/11/09
A talk on ‘Grevillea Cultivars’ by Neil Marriott.West Gippsland APS 28-29/11/09
APS Victoria Quarterly Meeting & AGM- Ballarat.
Next Meeting
A talk on frongs by Max Sargent
Date: Thursday October 8, 2009
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue: Horticultural Building at Morwell TAFE adjacent to Kernot Hall on Monash Way, Morwell.
Leader's Report
Around our garden, coming into flower is the Dwarf form of Melaleuca incana with its small fluffy brushes of cream flowers, Leptospermum ‘Pink Cascade’, Leptospermum ‘Tickle Me Pink’ which is a deep pink, Leptospermum ‘Outrageous’, Hibbertia pendunlulata with its yellow flowers. In full flowering mode is Hibbertia stellaris – orange flowers, Leptospermum scoparium ‘Jubilee Tea tree, Isopogon formosus, Hypocalymma angustifolium this is just a mass of flowers, Brachyscome multifida ‘Break-O-Day’ and Grevillea confertifolia showing its spidery mauve-pink flowers off beside the green flowers of Melaleuca diosmifolia.
What good rainfall we have had over the month of September, with the 3 days of steady rain there was enough to see the Moe River and the Latrobe River overflow their banks. Its been a long while since we have seen these rivers flooding the paddocks as we drive over the bridges into Moe on the Whalhalla Road.
I received a thank you letter from Helen Kennedy on behalf of the ASGAP 2009 Committee for our, APS Latrobe Valley, groups raffle donation of the framed photograph of the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne, Australian Section.
We hope their weekend went off okay and a good time was had by all who attended.
These two books are still out from our library, please check to see if you have them:
BOOKS. Date taken out. 1)Plants of Outback South Australia 11/8/2005 2)Field Guide to Native Plants of Australia 12/4/2007
Thank you to all members for returning the books they had borrowed.
We are having a talk on Frogs from Max Sargent on Thursday 8th Oct and if the weather is okay on Saturday 10th Oct, a 6pm walk around the Morwell Wetlands with Max as our guide.
We received a flyer on the Australian Plats Expo 2009, ‘Sustainable Gardening With Australian Plants’ on Sat 10th Oct & Sun 11th Oct 2009. These two days are jammed packed with demos and talks. We have printed out a copy and Marg will email it out with this newsletter.
Looking forward to seeing you at our October meeting from Wayne Wilkinson.
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Reminder from your Newsletter Ed, Please EMAIL all articles to: tanjilfencing@yahoo.com.au.
Plants in My Garden
By Mike Beamish
Prostantherarotundifolia
Species: Prostanthera rotundifolia
Family: Lamiaceae
Derivation:
Prostanthera: From the Greek prostheke, meaning an appendage, and anthos, meaning a flower, referring to the small appendages on the anthers.
rotundifolia: From Latin, rotundus, meaning round or circular, and folium, meaning a leaf, referring to the round leaves.Common Name: Round-leaf Mint-bush
Distribution: Widespread and locally common in sclerophyll forest, rainforest margins and exposed rocky areas, east from the Grampians in Victoria, Tasmania, NSW and Queensland.
Description:A shrub to 3 metres tall and 2 metres broad with highly aromatic foliage. Leaves are ovate, obovate or orbicular to 20mm long, usually slightly longer than wide, glandular, sometimes toothed, mostly glabrous (not hairy) except occasionally hairy along the midrib. Flowers are bright purple, sometimes pinkish and borne profusely in spring.
Opinion: I’ve always had one of these somewhere in the garden, either in the ground or in pots, it’s a staple for the area. My current specimen is probably one of a batch of cuttings taken from somewhere along the Wellington River up above Licola in the Great Dividing Range and has been in the ground under the Silky Oak on the western boundary for 4 or 5 years now. I’ve found they tend to die back in whole or part if conditions are poor and this plant has done just that, losing most of its branches over the last couple of years. However, one branch survived and has filled in all the vacant gaps around it, and this year has decided to put on a show. Flowering can be patchy too when conditions are a bit dry, but this year seems to have met its requirements and it has responded with a blaze of bright purple. I gave my mum in Morwell a cutting from the same batch a couple of years ago and it also is flowering its little roots off! Hers is on the western side of a six foot paling fence and gets heaps more light than mine, but must still like what it is getting this year a you can’t see the leaves for the flowers. These plants are good for the spring sniffles too. When you are feeling a bit blocked up, just crush a handful of foliage and stick your nose in it and you will get some relief in no time.
Sources:
Wrigley & Fagg - Australian Native Plants
Corrick & Fuhrer - Wildflowers of Victoria
Sharr- WA Plant Names & their Meanings
My Calothamnus
Calothamnus quadrifidus is an endemic Western Australian plant described as having an erect or slightly spreading habit to 2.5 metres high by 2.5 metres wide with attractive pine-like leaves to 3 centimetres. My plant is not given the opportunity to reach these proportions as I have taken to pruning it back to the flower buds every year just as the flowering starts in the spring. With about eight years of this treatment, the pruned plant is now about1.3 metres high but is getting more and more vigorous and this year I had to cut back about half a metre to see the flowers. Aside from keeping the plant (somewhat) compact and dense, it exposes the flowers to view, as they would otherwise be hidden inside the now quite thick foliage.
You can see in this photo the exposed flowers where I have pruned, and the longer foliage still to be cut in the top left corner.
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In the process of pruning, I also accumulate a barrow load of mulch to place on another section of garden.
Shortly after this haircut, I noticed a Wattle Bird visiting the plant, obviously attracted to the bright red flowers that it hadn’t noticed before. The foliage on this particular species has a rather attractive glaucous or slightly silvery-grey appearance to it that makes it stand out from the other garden plants in a pleasant way. The flowers are bright red and in the ‘half bottlebrush’ form typical of the Calothamnus genus, only growing on one side of the stem. It doesn’t all flower at once, with the buds opening steadily over many weeks to give an ongoing display of colour. It is a very hardy plant that requires no watering at all and no special care (other than the annual prune that I choose to carry out). It is flourishing in one of my driest gardens, one that receives only the rain that falls on it and no run-off at all. Likewise, I have deemed it uneconomic to part with good money to feed this one so it has to do with what it can find in the rather impoverished, sandy soil that it is stuck with. The closest thing to suffering I have ever noticed was some of the tips dying back this last winter. As I read up to write this article, I discovered that they are frost tender and may lose their growing tips if cold enough. Despite all this lack of attention, it always looks good and one can only wonder what proportions it would attain if I didn’t prune it so much. .
Of course, with a wheelbarrow overflowing with potential cutting material I couldn’t resist bunging a few cuttings into the hothouse. So…if you would like to try this plant in your garden, let me know.
By Col Jackson.
Annual General Meeting
Held at Morwell TAFE Horticultural Buildings
Thursday, August 13, 2009, 8.10pm
Apologies: Colin & Mary Jackson, Alan & Doris Chambers, John & Susan Stephens, Valerie Forsyth.
Confirmation of previous AGM minutes
Minutes of previous AGM of 14/8/08 were read.
Motion: to accept the minutes of the previous AGM. (Moved: M. Beamish Sec: C. Beamish, carried)
Business arising from previous AGM
1. APS LV is now a group member of the following Study Groups: Banksia, Correa, Dryandra, Eremophila, Grevillea, Hakea, Isopogon/Petrophile for the 2009/2010 financial year. No response as yet from Banksia, Dryandra and Grevillea. Newsletters received from Correa, Hakea and Isopogon/Petrophile. All APS LV members will be able to participate in Study Group activities, although provision of seed or cuttings by the Study Group may not be possible and at the Study Group Leaders discretion.
Correspondence:
In:
07/08/08- CGU Insurance, Certificate of Currency.
29/08/08- Jill Fidler, letter of resignation from APS LV.
03/09/08- Kuranga Native Nursery, invitation to tour.
13/09/08- Riddells Creek Landcare, complimentary book of Macedon Range Flora.
13/09/09- Report on ANOS Terrestrial Study Group outing to Moondarra.
08/11/08- Email APS Victoria COMM minutes.
08/11/08- Email APS Victoria AGM minutes.
10, 11 & 16/11/09- Emails from various Study Groups providing information.
23/11/08- Email APS Victoria Executive minutes.
15/12/08- Latrobe City Link article cuttings, Wilkinson & Stephens gardens.
01/02/09- Email APS Victoria COM update.
03/03/09- Email APS Victoria Executive minutes.
18/03/09- APS Melton & Bacchus Marsh, letter and flier for Plant Sale 30/5/09.
25/03/09- Email APS West Gippsland, invitation to speakers nights.
28/04/09- Email APS Victoria COMM minutes 23/3/09 & Executive minutes 18/4/09.
09/06/09- Richard Wiseman, email resignation from APS LV Secretary.
13/06/09- Email APS Victoria COMM minutes.
30/06/09- Colin Jennings, welcome letter to Eremophila Study Group
Out:
10/11/09- Emails to various Study Groups requesting information.
Business arising from Correspondence: Nil.
Reports: Leader’s Report: as printed in the APS LV newsletter issue 168, August 13, 2009.
Treasurer’s Report for the period 1/7/08 to 30/6/09 was tabled by Mike Beamish. Balance brought forward from 30/6/08 was $1692.50. Balance carried forward to 1/7/09 was $1667.41, a loss of $25.09 for the year.
Motion: to accept the Treasurer’s Report. (Moved: M. Beamish, Sec: W. Wilkinson, carried)
Election of Office Bearers: The Leader declared all positions vacant and handed the chair to Mark Watkins for the election. No nominations were received prior to the meeting; all nominations were received from the floor unopposed.
Leader: Wayne Wilkinson (nom. M. Wilkinson, sec. C. Beamish, carried)
Vice-Leader: Cathy Beamish (nom. W. Wilkinson, sec. H. Aumann, carried)
Secretary: Mark Watkins (nom. M. Wilkinson, sec. M. Beamish, carried)
Treasurer: Mike Beamish (nom. C. Beamish, sec. W. Wilkinson, carried)
Editor: Marg Wilkinson (nom. M. Beamish, sec. C. Beamish, carried)
Librarian: Harold Aumann/Delma Hodges (nom. M. Beamish, sec. M. Watkins, carried)
Public Officer: Mike Beamish (nom. C. Beamish, sec. H. Aumann, carried)
Publicity: Marg Wilkinson (nom. H. Aumann, sec. C. Beamish, carried)
General Business:
1) Motion: to lodge the Annual Statement and pay Department of Justice Incorporation Fees for 2009.
(M. Beamish, sec. M. Wilkinson, carried.)
2) Mark Watkins reported that a photo gallery has been added to the website and requests members to visit and comment. New photographs can be added to the site via Mark.
Meeting closed 8.30pm.