The Friends of Dandenong Valley Park have been busy over the Summer months with the propagation of native plants in preparation for Autumn planting. On Monday 7th December 1998, a dozen Friends of DVP gathered at 30 Knights Drive Glen Waverley, for a working bee and end of year B-B-Q dinner. Carol Buckingham firstly instructed the "Friends" in the techniques of seed collecting and taking cuttings from the indigenous garden near Highbury Road. We collected seeds from Kangaroo Grass, Wallaby Grass, Tussock Grass and Tall Sedge.
We then returned to the Hudson home where various sausages, steaks and salads were washed down with some good wine. The "Friends" chatted about projects completed in 1998, plus holidays and other activities planned for the Christmas break. |
We finished the meal with dessert and coffee or tea, then it was time to plant the cuttings. Using scissors we cut 30-50mm long cuttings, then stripped off all the lower leaves, leaving one or two at the tip. To aid root formation, the base of the cuttings were dipped in Clonex Rooting Hormone Gell. The cuttings were each then planted in a tube containing native cuttings mix.
The cuttings are held in the hot house for a few months until they take root. They are then put in the outside nursery to harden off. In Autumn the cuttings will be planted in the Friends of Bushy Park Wetlands indigenous garden at the end of Highbury Road. The Goodenia ovata will form a dense hedge along the northern edge of the indigenous garden and hopefully will act as a barrier to hold back the weed infestation from the adjoining "pasture". |
