Welcome to our Winter Newsletter. Lots to report so lots for you to read and look at. Needless to say our program has been greatly interrupted due to Covid 19 lockdowns and restrictions. Hopefully you have been able to attend one of our meetings in person or via Zoom. Excursions have been difficult to to avoid cancelling but reports and photos from those we have managed to run are contained in the newsletter below. Our featured photo at the top is a Grevillea dryandroides from Ray and Eva Turner’s garden.
Tuesday 16th February – Kwongan and the WA Wheatbelt
Our speaker was our Treasurer, Chris Long. For our first meeting back we were pleased to have a reasonable number of attendees via Zoom due to yet another Covid19 lockdown. Here’s a summary from Chris himself so I don’t need to say more.
“Glenys and I attended the week long Biennial ANPSA conference in Albany in 2019.
We chose the 7 day Kwongan and South West pre-conference tour and the 2 day Granites and Lowlands post -conference tour. With a few days in Perth at the beginning and end we were away for a wonderful four weeks.
Our first tour began in Perth and we went north to Jurien Bay where we stayed 3 nights and visited Hi Vallee farm, Mt Lesueur and various other roadside reserves. We then went further north and east (inland) to Three Springs and Mingenew then turned south through York and on to Albany.
There were two full day excursions as part of the conference and we went to Stirling Range one day and the Banksia Farm at Mt Barker and Greens Pool on the other.
Our post conference tour left from Albany and delivered us back to Perth through Cranbrook and Narrogin with stops at various reserves along the way.
We saw many wonderful plants in our travels, especially in the low growing vegetation of the Kwongan. Here are photos of just a few of them.”
Stunning photos Chris. Thanks for sharing not only at our meeting but also here for this newsletter.
Many members shared photos of plants in bloom from their gardens. Here’s a video of our February Virtual Plant Table –
Sunday 21st February
Our excursion was cancelled due to the covid19 lockdown.
Tuesday 16th March – Amazing Drought Hardy Plants in Habitat
The informative and entertaining Attila Kapitany was our guest speaker. About 20 members attended in person and a further half dozen watched on Zoom. Beginning with Xanthorroeas, Attila shared many amazing photos of rare and new drought hardy plants he has seen on a number of excursions in outback and country Australia. Attila had some of his books and a variety of succulent cuttings, both native and exotic, for sale.
If you missed his visit here’s a link to his website. http://australiansucculents.com
You can see a video of the March virtual plant table here. Members also brought a good array of cuttings from their gardens.
Sunday 21st March – Excursion to Bridgewater Bay
Our leader Robyn Tyson led a small group of members on a walk along two trails at Bridgewater Bay in Blairgowrie. Here are a few photos of plants we saw along the way.
The coastline here was well worth the walk.
Being the equinox we were also able to see a rarely seen rock platform at low tide. Note the mushroom effect as the ocean came over the platform.
Tuesday 20th April – Mt Martha Bundys
Jonathon Ricciardello from Mornington Peninsula Shire was our guest speaker for an afternoon meeting which was held at Bentons Square Community Centre. He spoke about the Mt Martha Bundys. The Bundy (Eucalyptus carolaniae) is a critically endangered species that is only known to grow in Mount Martha! They are now being banded to protect them. The MP Shire is growing them at their nursery.⠀
Here’s a video of the beautiful plants photos members sent in for April.
End of Autumn Flower Collection
Ray and Eva Turner found a few more photo worthy plants in their collection at the end of April. Here’s a few of them.
Once again you have made us envious of your wonderful garden Ray and Eva. Thanks for sharing.
Sunday 25th April – Excursion to Hopetoun-Norfolk Flora and Fauna Reserve, Mt Martha
Member Roo Rawlins led a small group on a guided walk through this reserve in her local area to see Mt Martha Bundys and other points of interest. Here’s photo recollection video from member Rob Powell.
Wednesday 28th April and 5th and 12th May plus Saturday 15th May – Native Garden Course
Over these dates members Robyn Tyson, Verena Reich and Karen Allison ran a gardening course open to the public. 12 participants gained much from attending these sessions, as well as being able to view 4 open gardens of our members on the Saturday. Thanks to our facilitators and also to the owners of the four gardens the group visited.
Saturday 1st May – Plant Sale
Our annual plant sale was again held up at Seawinds Gardens. A good variety of local and other nurseries provided an excellent selection of plants for members and others to purchase. Even though it was a Covid19 restricted event we had over 400 people check in for our best sale ever. The fantastic sunny weather certainly helping, as we have had some very poor weather in recent years. Thanks to all who helped on the day or beforehand.
Tuesday 18th May – Mycorrhiza
Sapphire McMullan-Fisher returned to present to a limited number of members (due to Covid19 restrictions) with an informative and enthusiastically presented talk and slide show. Again the session was available to other members via Zoom and quite a few took this chance to be involved. Unfortunately there were a few technical difficulties at the beginning.
Sunday 23rd May – Fungi Excursion to Greens Bush
A small group met at Greens Bush for a Fungi Walk. Here’s a selection of photos from the walk.
When your photographic subject is low to the ground and small you certainly have to be creative to take a good shot!
Tuesday 15th June – Sweet Pittosporum – What a Weed
Speaker Professor Roslyn Gleadow via Zoom
Once again lockdown meant we had to rely on Zoom to keep our meeting program on track. We were fortunate indeed to have the very knowledgable and down to earth Professor Roslyn Gleadow as our presenter. She gave a detailed talk, well supported by her PowerPoint presentation on her research into the invasive nature of Pittosporum undulatum and how climate change is having a big impact on its spread, as well as controls.
Sunday 20th June – Woods Bushland Reserve
As a follow up to Tuesday’s presentation twelve members joined MP Shire Natural Systems Project Officer, Gerrard Cook, for a walk around Woods Bushland Reserve. Gerrard gave us a good insight to the Shire’s strategy for controlling Pittosporum undulatum and helping preserve this valuable bushland, pointing out various sites with varying degrees of success.
There was lots to see. At ground level fungi and drosera.
Up above our heads a large bracket fungus was spotted.
Even higher up lots of mistletoe were seen. That being said lots of mistletoe branches had crashed to the ground due to the recent storms.
Sadly one neighbour’s lack of control may have long term effects along one border.
That’s all for this newsletter. Keep an eye on our website for updates to the Calendar. Hopefully not too many interruptions due to COVID19 – keep your fingers crossed!
APS Mornington Peninsula 