Next Meeting

Our March guest speaker is David Piko on Digital Photography. David will be talking in detail on equipment, explaining some of the photographic terms like F stop, discussing the best ways to optimise depth of field and he will put up a few of his shots to illustrate what he is explaining. David is happy to discuss specific problems individuals may have with their equipment so people are welcome to bring their cameras to the meeting.

Date: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue: Horticultural Building at Morwell TAFE adjacent to Kernot Hall on Monash Way, Morwell.

Leader's Report

Around our garden

What a difference this Summer has been compared to 2009’s and now we are into Autumn, though the ground is still very dry deep down. As long as we get our Autumn rains our plants will keep growing and producing flowers that we can enjoy. Such as Grevillea Ellendale which is up on the bank that we can see from the kitchen window, while below it is Grevillea alpina ‘Warby’ growing through its pot into the ground near the backdoor. Correa decumbens and Banksia marginata ‘Mini Marg’make their presence felt in the garden beside the steps. Our Grevillea ‘Bronze Rambler’ has covered an area of approximately 4mts x 5mts over the bank near our water tank and out in the front garden is Crowea exalta, Eremophila maculata, Grevillea ‘Canterbury Gold’ and Grevillea ‘Evelyns Coronet’.

Many Thanks to Mike for sorting out our calendar for this year and Many Thanks to Warren for getting our March speaker.

We will have to discuss our plans for food for our Inverloch weekend and we need to know who wants a bed and WHAT we are doing on the Saturday afternoon, Saturday night will know doubt find some of us trying to empty some of Mike and Col’s TASTY or palettable (not) bottles of red wine.

Our first meeting of the year went off better than we expected considering all the heavy rain we got, the BBQ faucilities at Lake Hyland are excellent, being all under cover. We managed to walk some of Mathieson Park where Ken Harris showed us the Woolimi Pines that have been planted by the Friends Group. It was interesting reading about the old homestead and the area around there in the ‘Early Days’. We do plan to go back in better weather to walk around the tracks and maybe find the Frogs in daylight.

Looking forward to seeing you all at our next meeting, regards from Wayne Wilkinson.

Plants in My Garden

By Mike Beamish

Syzygium australe

Species: Syzygium australe
Family: Myrtaceae
Derivation:

Syzygium: From the Greek syzygia, meaning a union, a yoke or pair of animals, referring to the petals which more or less cohere to form a hood. Pronounced siz-IDG-ee-um.

australe: A Latin word meaning southern.

Common Name: Scrub Cherry, Brush Cherry, Woolgoolga
Distribution: In the sub-tropical forests of northern NSW and Queensland.
Description:A shrub or small tree to 18 metres tall, usually smaller in cultivation, with a dense crown of elliptical to obovate bright green, glossy leaves to 8cm long. Some varieties have attractive bronze-coloured new growth. Flowers occur in summer and are white and fluffy, followed by pink to dark red, edible oval fruits to 2.5cm long.
Opinion: I think my plant is not the typical bush form, but one of the dwarf cultivars that appeared in the nursery trade a few years back. “Bush Christmas” rings a bell, but don’t quote me on it! The plant has lived on the eastern fenceline in the backyard for a number of years, where it gets a goodly bit of sunlight, but is still protected and shaded by its neighbours at various times during the day. It is still only about 1.5 metres tall and shows very little inclination to grow any bigger, though it looks as healthy and happy as a pig in poo. It does have the bronzy new growth, but has only flowered sporadically in the last 2 years. This year it has put on a better show, so hopefully we’ll get some fruit off it, maybe even enough for some jam? I have just taken some cuttings, even though the plant is flowering, to see how they go while the weather is warm. If I do get some fruit, I’ll save a couple to see whether the seed is viable too.

Sources: Sharr – WA Plant Names and their meanings.
Greig- The Australian Gardener’s Wildflower Catalogue.
Wrigley & Fagg- Australian Native Plants, 5th edition.
Baines- Australian Plant Genera.