Welcome to this summer edition of our newsletter. Hope you are having a wonderful time in your garden with family and friends over the festive season.

Since the last newsletter Karen and I have spent time walking and travelling around Japan. Whilst there we had the opportunity to visit many beautiful gardens.

This means that we have missed seeing plants in our garden in bloom over October and the early part of November. So it was a pleasure to have a member of our group, Brenda Martin send in some photos and a report about her garden. Thanks Brenda.

October – Plant of the Month – Brenda Martin’s garden

After all the rain we have had, and all the cold and windy weather, my garden has excelled itself this year!
I moved to Frankston South about 4 years ago and promptly ripped out all the lawn (no mowing for me!) and all the roses and most of the exotic plants. Replaced by some large rocks and mulch, dotted with native grasses, wattles, westringias, grevilleas and a few eucalypts as a basis.
Over the past few years I have bought any natives that appealed to me and put them in wherever I fancied. Somehow it seems to have worked and when, finally, we had a sunny day this October, I went out to the garden and was amazed and delighted. All the shrubs were in full bloom, bees, hover flies and butterflies were everywhere, and even the clown-like New Holland Honeyeaters, Spinebills and Wattlebirds were busily collecting nectar –  a ‘living’ garden. It made my day.
Some of my favourite plants in flower at the moment are:

Alyogyne  huegelii (mauve blue), several Correas, including Chef’s Cap and Fat Fred,
Eremophila nivea

Grevillea ‘Ned Kelly’, G. Intricata, G. ‘Superb’, and others.

A brilliant pink Leptospermum, flowers covering the whole bush (don’t know which one), Myoporum floribundum, weeping over the pond, Thomasia pygmaea (a delight, especially after our talk recently) and Ricinocarpus pinifolius (Wedding Bush) – pictured below.

Give me Aussie plants any day!

Plant of the month – November

Returning home from Japan it was exciting to see what was flowering in our garden as in Japan autumn colours were all the go. A relatively new section of our ever developing garden was flowering well. Many plants for the first time. Well done to our Melaleuca wilsonii, M. armillaris, Isopogon cuneatus, Hymenosporum flavum (native frangipani), Dampiera trigona and Banksia blechnifolia but one other stood out. Also flowering for the first time since we planted it was an Eremophila makinlayi, from friends in Melton, so it was an easy choice as my plant of the month. (Not so easy was the removal of many weeds that had sprung up in our absence however!)

Plant of the month – December

Many are excited about their Christmas tree in December but we were excited by the beautiful white flowering of two of our plants. The first was Melaleuca linarifolia (Seafoam) which is at the the bottom of the driveway in a heavy clay situation, surviving where previously two other less hardy plants had failed to their detriment. The second was a Myoporum floribundum (struck from a plant table cutting by Karen) with its lovely weeping branches. Sadly the hot spell has knocked out the flowers of the Melaleuca seafoam so here is a picture of the tougher weeping Myoporum floribundum.

Meetings and excursions

During our absence in October we missed two activities. The first was a visit to Gidja Walker’s in Rye on October 1st. Fortunately Ray Turner has sent me some photos. Here are a few of the photos for those who also may have missed this excursion. Thanks Ray!

Our guest speaker for the meeting on October 18th was Trevor Blake. Despite having what was described as ‘technical difficulties’ he delivered an informative talk about the Malvaceae family. If like me you weren’t sure of Malvaceae family members think Hibiscus and Alyogyne and you’ll be starting down the right garden path!

On November 15th, just after returning home we were lucky enough to attend a talk by the entertaining and informative Cathy Powers. In her ‘Grasslands and their Flora’ talk she was able to make many comparisons between grasslands in her native USA and Australia. Her talk was supported by a lovely PowerPoint presentation. Fortunately she didn’t have any technical difficulties!

APSV President

2017

Our committee is meeting on January 9th with the aim of finalising our calendar of events for 2017 so stay tuned. Remember you can click the Like button or make a Comment if you wish. In the meantime Happy New Year and enjoy your garden during summer.

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.

Isopogon formosus

Banksia blechnifolia

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.

Hi fellow members,

Much has happened this year and now that the weather is not that inviting outside it’s a good chance for me to prepare this bumper edition newsletter and in turn a chance for you to sit and have a good read about the goings on of our group. Hopefully you’ve managed to attend a meeting or go on one of our Saturday excursions sometime this year. If not read on and you can catch up. (Note : If you click on the title Newsletter 1 – 2016 you will be able to see an even bigger and grander version of this newsletter!)

What’s your favourite flowering Australian plant?

August

I hope to feature some photos and descriptions of your favourite flowering Australian plants as a regular feature each newsletter. To kick things off here’s a couple of photos from Karen’s and my garden. It’s a Banksia occidentalis, sometimes called red swamp banksia. What we love about it is that it gives you double the joy when it flowers. That’s because it starts out this beautiful greyish-green

and transforms into a lovely spear of red and gold.

We have it growing on a slope and in reasonably free draining soil. It was one of the first shrubs we planted at this property just over four years ago and it is frequently in flower, greeting visitors as they come up our driveway.

So now it’s over to you, our readers, what is your favourite flowering Australian plant right now? Send a photo, date of flowering and a brief description and I’ll aim to include some each newsletter. Email to me, ‘Attention Mark Allison’ at mornpenaps@gmail.com

Next

A large part of the rest of this newsletter will be reports from our meetings and excursions. However keep reading to the end as I have saved a treat for you. Thanks to Ray Turner, a lovely article and beautiful photos about Ray and Eva’s love of Verticordias.

Merricks Nursery Garden Maintenance Workshop

On Saturday 19th March just over 20 members attended a garden maintenance workshop at Merricks Nursery run in two parts by Richard Anderson and his offsider, Michael. Firstly Richard took the group around the property and showed us a couple of ways to maintain and revitalise plants. With his kangaroo paws he waits until flowering is completed then with a brushcutter cuts them back virtually to ground level. Then in early winter new growth from the rhizomes will begin. His treatment of grassy lomandras was even harsher. At his disposal he had a flamethrower and was able to burn the lomandras right back so that they would come back with renewed new growth.

Next we went into the workshop and Richard’s partner, Michael, demonstrated several ways of sharpening tools starting with shovels and spades.

Next Michael moved onto secateurs, hedge shears, knives and a variety of other cutting tools.  Whilst doing this he was also able to show us a wide variety of sharpening tools, implements and stones at his disposal. This kept quite a few people busy noting these items and the stores in which they could be purchased. All in all it was an informative talk and demonstration.

After about an hour members were able to browse the nursery and make purchases.

Report – Mark Allison, Photos – Verena Reich

Bushfoods

Rodger and Gwen Elliott were the guest speakers for the meeting held on Tuesday 23rd April. Their topic was growing and enjoying Australian bush food plants. They detailed a wide variety which had either edible leaves, flowers, seeds or roots. Plants of interest included –

Lemon scented myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) whose leaves are full of fragrant citrus scented oil. Grows best in slightly acidic soil.

River mint (Mentha australis) which has mint fragrant leaves. These grow well in a slightly shady location.

Round leaf mint bush (Prostanthera rotundifolia) can be used as a herb in meat and fish dishes or in potato salad. It is a quick grower and should be pruned after flowering.

Round leaf mint bush (Prostanthera rotundifolia)

Mountain pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata) has leaves and berries which are edible and can be used as an alternative to traditional pepper, perhaps in a stir-fry. They need acidic soils and a semi shaded site.

Warrigal greens (Tetragonia tetragonioides) can be eaten as a leafy vegetable. Due to high oxalate levels it should be blanched then rinsed in cold water before cooking again. It is carpet like in growth and makes a good groundcover.

Plants whose flowers can be used included Banksia marginata and Viola hederacea. By soaking flowers from banksia marginata in water a honey flavoured drink can result. The flowers from Viola hederacea are suitable for cake decoration.

The next section  of their talk centred on edible fruits. The fruit from the Lilly Pilly can be eaten raw but is a good addition to muesli or can be used in pies or preserves. Davidson’s Plum (Davidsonia pruriens has very tasty and good sized fruits high in vitamin C.

Macadamia integrifolia

Another obvious choice was the macadamia nut (Macadamia integrifolia or M. tetraphylla) and of course wattle seeds can be baked and ground to provide a useful powder that can be used in baking.

Finally plants with edible roots or tubers were touched on. The pale vanilla lily (Arthropodium milleflorium), nodding greenhood orchid, chocolate orchid and murnong (Microseris lanceolata) which provides a tuber which is better cooked than raw, were all mentioned. Probably an acquired taste!

Words – Karen and Mark Allison

Plant Sale

Out second annual plant sale was held again at Seawind in Arthurs Seat. Several local growers, Sun Valley Plants, AustPlant, Friends of Seawinds, Merricks Nursery as well as Vaughans’ Nursery from the Grampians were in attendance and received excellent customerage. Our information stand was also well visited.

Words – Mark Allison, Photo – Karen Allison

Melton Botanic Gardens Excursion

On Saturday 21st May a busload of 24 plus a few in private cars made the trip out west to the Melton Botanic Gardens. Proceedings started with a lovely welcoming morning tea and a brief introduction by David Pye about the history and structure of the gardens. Built along Ryans Creek and the adjoining lake with its bird sanctuary island the garden has an extensive eucalyptus arboretum, indigenous plant section, a children’s garden, a Californian, Central and South American specialising in succulents, an Australian dryland garden, a Mediterranean section, South African section, Victorian Volcanic Plains garden, indigenous grassland section,  as well as South and Western Australian sections.

After that we split up into two groups led by Barbara and David Pye with assistance by other members of the Friends of Melton Botanic Gardens for a tour of the gardens.

It was an excellent time to be there if you are a fan of eucalypts. We were treated to some beautiful specimens in full flower.

Eucalyptus desmondensis

Eucalyptus albopurpurea (Coffin Bay Mallee)

The Eucalyptus kingsmillii may not have been in flower but its seed pods were equally impressive.

Suitable soils/gravels/sands have been sourced and imported to provide the best possible growing conditions for a number of the other specialised gardens. The next photo is a good example of this.

Signage was excellent and included scannable barcodes for mobile phone users to access further information.

Eucalyptus megacornuta (Warted Yate)

At the far end of the gardens a group of indigenous locals were working on a new project. From there our return walk came along Ryans Creek and its billabong.

The opportunity to make purchases from the attached nursery, managed by Margaret Cook and her fellow volunteers, was appreciated by many members. The Friends of Melton Botanic Garden are certainly keen propagators.

After stocking up a picnic lunch was a peaceful way to conclude the visit before the bus trip back to the Mornington Peninsula.

Perhaps a spring time visit would be enable us to see other sections of the garden in bloom.

Report and photos – Mark Allison

Australian Succulents

Our guest speaker for the Tuesday evening meeting held on June 21st was the knowledgable and entertaining Attila Kapitary. He was ably supported by an extensive PowerPoint slideshow showing photos of Australian succulents spotted on his many ventures into arid and drier parts of Australia. Names such as Adonsonia, Calandrinia, Carpobrotus and Dioscorea and Portulaca may not have been familiar to many of us but given that many of these are edible it was worth hearing and learning about them.

At the conclusion of Attila’s talk we had the opportunity to admire his wonderful display of succulents, some Australian and some from other countries. Some members availed themselves of the chance to make some purchases. As Attila had pointed out the advantages and ease of growing succulents from cuttings many were keen to have a go themselves.

More information – www.australiansucculents.com

Report – Mark Allison, Photo – Michelle Kapitany

Sweetwater Creek

Saturday 16th July saw our group in Frankston as guests of the Friends of Sweetwater Creek. Proceedings started with a welcoming morning tea

followed by a brief talk by spokesperson, Sally Hammond, focusing on the history and activities of the Friends of Sweetwater Creek.

The main action followed with a guided walk along some of the paths within the reserve.

Plantings and areas of bushland regenerated by burning off were highlighted as we went along.

Sweetwater Creek Reserve is a very peaceful place and offers several kilometres of walking tracks so if you couldn’t come on the day why not go for a visit next sunny day.

More information – www.sweetwatercreek.org.au

Report – Mark Allison, Photos – Verena Reich

Verticordias – The Turner of Hearts

V. chrysantha at Nature’s Window, Kalbarri WA

Regeneration of Verticordias on the farm, near Hyden WA

Our Verticordias at Cranbourne South.

V. monadelpha pink form, Cranbourne South

V. mitchelliana, Cranbourne South

V chrysantha, Cranbourne South