Hello again fellow members and other readers,

It’s a great time to be out in the garden during spring, well on the sunny days when it’s not raining at least!

Again I’ll start off things in this newsletter with my favourite plant for September. I am keen to feature some of your favourite plants too so do you have a specimen from your garden that is in magnificent bloom right now?   Send a photo, date of flowering and a brief description and I’ll aim to include some next newsletter. Email to me, ‘Attention Mark Allison’ at mornpenaps@gmail.com

What’s your favourite flowering Australian plant?

September

Much as we have a number of Grevilleas that are flowering beautifully at present, as well as first time flowerers like our little local Hibbertia sericea and a Melaleuca incana, my favourite at the moment is our lovely Eremophila nivea. I just love its velvety foliage and the way it contrasts so well with plants nearby with green foliage. However the delicate little flowers are the highlight. We have it in an open position and even though it can be quite windy at times it has been growing steadily and flowering well for over a year now.

My wife Karen on the other hand would nominate our long flowering Leptospermum ‘Pink Cascade’ as her favourite right now. (Although she did admit my choice was a good one too.) We have two at the front of our property and given they are low growing they have spread out well and now soften the retaining wall edges. Plus Karen’s bees love them.

Planting day at Devilbend Reservoir

A group of just under twenty volunteers joined ranger Sam Pollard for the annual planting day at Devilbend Reservoir on Saturday 30th of July. APS Mornington Peninsula comprised about a third of the group.

Using about 600 plants supplied by Friends of Seawinds and the easy to use Hamilton tree planters supplied by Sam we were able to work in pairs and by late morning had completed filling in a section over on the south side of the reservoir. Thanks to those who were able to participate. (Photo – Verena Reich)

Plants for a Dry Climate

Our guest speaker for our Annual General meeting was to have been John Arnott from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne. Sadly he was ill on the day. A more than adequate replacement in Warren Warboys filled in. Using John’s Powerpoint presentation as a basis Warren was able to inform and entertain us on many ways we can droughtproof our gardens. A timely talk with a hot summer predicted. Warren covered five areas that we need to be aware of to maximise our chances of having a beautiful, thriving Australian garden. Firstly, knowing what can grow in our soil and ways to improve the soil in our garden. Secondly, being aware of the climate specific to your area. This led to making wise plant selections. Next Warren detailed practical ideas for mulching. Finally he spoke about the importance of irrigation and watering depending on all the previous aspects.

AGM

Our current committee members are the same as last year with the exception of Trish Allen and Pam Sayers who has retired from the committee after giving excellent service to the group whilst on the committeee. Thanks Trish and Pam. The committee was very pleased to be able to welcome Karen Allison to their ranks.

Weeding day at Devilbend Reservoir

A small group of our about 6 APS members as well as the Seawinds Volunteers, Fly Fishers, Friends of Dangean and Landcare joined Ranger Sam Pollard at Devilbend Reservoir on Saturday 27th August, armed with loppers and other tools helped remove unwanted vegetation and weeds. In our Secretary Jenny’s words “they attacked the boneseed and were rewarded by some of Ranger Sam’s yummy chocolate cake”.

Jaede Garden visit

Sundays are not our usual excursion day but on Sunday 18th September John Jaede and his wife Cate welcomed 16 members of our group to their garden, Mirrumbeena. The garden is located on the hill, overlooking Safety Beach, in Mt Martha. Proceedings started with a lovely morning tea. After a brief word of introduction from John detailing the history of his garden we headed out to wander the paths and look at his garden.

Given the garden is on quite a slope John has been able to create a dry creek bed through the garden with a couple of water features and sculptures to compliment the many beautiful native plants.

He even encouraged cuttings to be taken. Hope you enjoy the photos from myself and Verena if you weren’t able to be present.

 

These pictures are only a taste of the garden. You can see for yourself by coming to …….

Open Native Garden

38 Ellerina Rd Mt Martha

Sat. 5^th. and Sun. 6^th. November

10 am to 4 pm.

Light refreshments available

Richard Anderson from Merricks Nursery will be present to give advice and sell his plants.

Entry $5

All proceeds to Kwaya Uganda to help with volunteer work in the slums.

Enquiries :  Cate Jaede  0404857827

Bright idea

When I was in the Army doing what was then known as National Service, painting rocks white along the roadside was a popular make work way of occupying soldiers who might otherwise be idle. And now after all these years I’ve again been painting stones white, and  it’s not the Army but Jane Edmanson who is responsible. Many of you, I’m sure will have seen on Gardening Australia recently, Jane showing us a way of marking the name of plants without having an unsightly label attached.  She demonstrated a flat stone painted white on one side with the plant name written on in pencil and the stone then placed white side down with perhaps a little mulch covering or semi-covering it. It works really well. If you feel a little classy you can actually print the plant name on a label and attach it.

Thanks to long time member Philip Robinson for this item.

New President of APS Victoria

Our own Chris Long is now the new President of APS Victoria, swapping his previous role as Treasurer of APS Victoria for the top job. Congratulations Chris!

That’s all for this edition as I am off to admire Japan and its beautiful but different gardens during October.

Remember to send in your favourite flowering plants for September/October/November to our email address – mornpenaps@gmail.com and be sure to mark them Attention: Mark Allison. Also hit the Like button or make a Comment if you wish. In the meantime happy reading and enjoy your garden during spring.