April 2020 Hopefully you are by now aware that your APS Maroondah Commi�ee has decided it is prudent to Kunzea Newsle�er cancel our Friday night member mee�ngs for the �me being. We are sorry if we have bombarded you with We will keep on providing you with a monthly emails on this subject but think it important to keep you newsle�er. There won’t be any writeups of up to date with our decisions. speakers, specimen tables or garden visits, but we We had wanted to con�nue to offer garden visits think it even more important to all keep in touch (but without the a�ernoon tea which would be usual at at the moment. the end of the visit), but the �ghter restric�ons which So rather than just reproduce ar�cles on , came into force in late March have made this we would like to fill the newsle�ers with stories impossible. Unfortunately, the two exhibi�ons rela�ng fromyou , especially good news from your toAustralian Plants Revealed – at Ringwood Federa�on gardens. Let’s make this a means of ‘talking’ to Estate and Karwarra Australian Na�ve Botanic Garden – each other while we are ‘socially distancing’. What have been closed. The Karwarra Garden has also been have you been doing in your garden while you closed. cannot go out? What is growing well – or badly? Do you have a picture of a (include the Autumn Plant and Book Sales name), or perhaps a selfie of yourself working in The GOOD news - Chris Fletcher has let us know that your garden? Maybe you have a ques�on about she has plenty of stock and is happy to sell from her something. You might be able to write a short home in Yarra Glen. She asks that people ring her before ar�cle about something that interests you. coming, on 0419 331 325. Please send items to Sue at [email protected]. If you can’t use email, you Also, Sue and Bill are s�ll selling books from home. can write it out and post it to Sue at 13 Conos Ct, So, if you want a book, please ring on 9872 3583. Donvale, 3111. Photos should be high resolu�on TheBAD news - unfortunately, the public autumn and sent separately from text so that they come plant sales (including the APS Yarra Yarra and Geelong up well in the newsle�er. sales) have been cancelled due to coronavirus restric�ons. Some Special Members of APS Maroondah Dallas Boulton I would like to acknowledge some lovely people who Pam Yarra welcomed guests, Nicky Zanen introduced helped with the exhibi�on held at Karwarra. Lawrie Smith to the speakers and Janet Hodgkiss has Jenny and David Williams were absolutely invaluable wri�en an excellent ar�cle. Brenda and Tony Moore did in se�ng-up the display and then a�ending every Friday some of the jigsaw. Marilyn Bull was set to open her a�ernoon to welcome and chat to visitors. They are splendid garden on Sunday 29th too. both ar�s�c and knew just the right places to hang the Thank you to those who a�ended the opening. It was pain�ngs. a very happy event. Peter Smith and Diane Hedin used their crea�ve There were some special people who helped with talents to design a children’s corner consis�ng of a quiz the exhibi�on at Ringwood Federa�on Estate too. where the floral emblem, bird and animal of each State Rodger and Gwen Ellio� who were invaluable to Alex of Australia had to be iden�fied. Smart, Sue Guymer who handled all the bookings, Peter Noel and Melva Griffiths spent a day picking bucket and Alison Rogers who did gallery duty and Rob Dunlop loads of banksias and then visited Karwarra twice. The for also volunteering. Debbie Jerkovic even arranged a banksias looked fabulous in the entrance. raffle. Lots of people were in awe of the talent of Carlene Both events were very worthwhile (even though Gosbell as they looked at her quilt highligh�ng waratahs they were both cut short) so thanks to everybody who and other Australian plants. visited and showed to the wider community that You can always rely on Bev Fox to bake and once Australian Plant enthusiasts are lovely people. again she supplied some goodies for the a�ernoon tea I know others would have liked to help but due to for the opening. Barbara Rooks arrived early and set-up circumstances unable to. If I have missed any helpers – the a�ernoon tea. Barbara is a “Friend of Karwarra”, and sorry. I believe in these occasions so watch out for that group did such a superb job in hos�ng the visitors. future special events! Perhaps YOU could help then. Exhibi�on at Ringwood Federa�on Estate Sue Guymer Bill and I were lucky enough to see theAustralian The Herbarium Specimens were interspersed with Plants Revealed exhibi�on at Ringwood Federa�on fine art prints reproduced from the collec�on of the Estate before it was closed early due to Coronavirus Na�onal History Museum. For instance,Epacris restric�ons. longiflora is a finished watercolour by John Frederick The exhibi�on was sub�tled “65,000 years of Miller from an original outline drawing by Sydney tradi�onal plant use and 250 years of science”, which Parkinson made in 1768-1771. really puts the enormity of it into perspec�ve. It was Now that the exhibi�on has closed, APS Victoria will extremely well displayed. Each of the Herbarium donate all the framed images to the Royal Botanic Specimens was accompanied by a plate with a photo of Gardens Victoria. This will enable the Gardens to display the plant, botanical details and plant name and uses for the images without risking precious herbarium First Na�ons people. specimens. There were also displays of informa�on and weavings by Aunty Irene Norman, proud Wailwan/ Wiradjuri woman and Elder from Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering place. These demonstrate the diverse use of na�ve plants by Australia’s First Na�ons people in everyday life and culture. It was amazing to see the condi�on of the Specimens from so long ago. I was par�cularly surprised to see the colour retained in some of them. For instance, a specimen of Helichrysum scorpioides (now called Coronidium scorpioides) s�ll have yellow petals in its delicate li�le flowerheads.

Coronidium scorpioides Sue Guymer Epacris longiflora Sue Guymer It was also very interes�ng to see the “journey” which the names of some plants have undertaken over the years. There are a number of reasons for the changes. In some cases, the material collected was Cul�var Project seriously misiden�fied and In 2003 APS Maroondah made a dona�on of $5,000 hence originally named towards a project which involved Michele Adler, Roger within the wrong or Spencer, Burnley Hor�cultural College students and perhaps even family. In industry mentors. The purpose was for the students to recent �mes, many name describe Ornamental Plant Cul�vars in Australia changes have arisen (cul�vated varie�es). through the addi�onal The results were published in “Australian informa�on coming out of Hor�culture”. The purpose of the dona�on was to DNA analysis, rather than enable a cul�var website to be published so that people relying only on physical could access the work that had been done over a characteris�cs. The number of years. specimen ofBanksia The website was ex�nguished when the TAFE dentata shows that is was program shut. But … Michele has sent us some good collected asIsostylis news. Her assistant at the �me, Jane McMahon, has dentata, and was called now found a way to put the results onto PANDORA. Sirmullera dentata, before Banksia dentata PANDORA, Australia’s Web Archive, was set up by the becoming a banksia. Sue Guymer State Library Victoria in 1996 to enable the archiving To think of the journey these fragile pieces of plant and provision of long-term access to online Australian material have endured – collec�on in the wild, being publica�ons. Since then they have been iden�fying taken back to the ship from the collec�on point, and online publica�ons and archiving those that we consider then a very long sea voyage back to Europe. have na�onal significance. The Library has commi�ed to Fortunately, they were then preserved very well for retain the publica�on in the Archive and to provide them to s�ll be intact 250 years later! public access to it in perpetuity. Attracting Wildlife to our Gardens Trevor Blake On being involved with Cranbourne gardens from when it opened in 2005, I no�ced some fascina�ng changes which reinforced some of the things we naturally do in our na�ve plan�ngs to try to encourage wildlife. The emphasis generally is on bird a�rac�on, but the insect life is absolutely cri�cal to healthy environments. As Cranbourne was pre�y raw in the early stages, I was on the lookout for visita�ons from any wildlife, apart from the rabbits that were not playing fairly. The Southern Brown Bandicoot was also showing its presence, some�mes annoyingly, but now they are treasured visitors and dwellers. On following the ephemeral creek Rockpool Waterway. Trevor Blake down to the natural dam system, which to so�en the untouched area. Within a very short �me was to be part of ducks and grebes began se�ng up home. There were Stage 2 of the Aus- also regular visits from other waterbirds, including a tralian Garden devel- black swan. opment, the bridge At the end of the creek system, which is also the end of across the waterway the steel cliff sculpture, is a stunning art piece made up of was a must to pause steel tubes of all sizes welded into a sizeable frame – and take in the spill- stunning! Almost from the moment it was finished, the ways and fabulous spiders moved in – webs were everywhere, then many of sculptural steel cliffs the smaller tubes were blocked with clay. Wasps were that boarded the doing their job parasi�sing the spiders and laying an egg creek. Around the in the anaesthe�sed spiders. The next visitors to this living edge of the natural steel wall were the blue wrens and grey fantails who use North end of Escarpment Wall. dam, sedges had the webs as a predominant component of their nests. Trevor Blake beenplanted thickly You create the habitat and the wildlife will follow!

The Art of Log Reloca�on Grevillea nudiflora The February 2020 edi�on of Trust for Nature’s Graeme Nicholls Conserva�on Bulle�n contained this very interes�ng This was my first experiment with a gra�ed item. standard plant.G. nudiflora is a prostrate plant that Logs are essen�al habitat for small creatures and are speads along the ground, but I wanted something to breeding grounds for the insects that lizards and other hang down from a 1 m high G. robusta that I had. creatures like to eat. If prac�cal, trees or branches are It now looks good in best le� where they fall. the garden with cascades If you have a pile of �mber on your property think of red that hang about spreading it out with the following �ps in mind: on for many months. • put them where there is li�le other ground cover or Unfortunately I later bush debris planted aG . ‘Peaches and • put them in areas of revegeta�on or na�ve habitat Cream’ too close to it, and where there are few old trees it has overhadowed my • put bark and leaves underneath and around logs. standardG. nudiflora,but This reduces grass from overgrowing the log and I think it is now too well ro�ng material becomes food for insects and established to try to animals move. I will give this • put them in small piles for rep�les to bask and so ma�er of placement a bit birds can perch and look out for predators or prey more thought in future. • for logs or branches with hollows, balance them off the ground. Birds and bats will use hollows that are a metre off the ground. Here and There Grevillea treueriana The Worm that Turned Graeme Nicholls Michael Cook This is a gra�ed plant about five years old. It is now Well! I was tearing up this old pizza box which was about 1 m x 1 m, and is probably as big as it gets. The li�ering our street, and pu�ng the pieces into the worm foliage is like sharp farm which Chris�ne brought to our Friday night needles, great for mee�ng over a year ago. deterring almost any living It has been very produc�ve, and the worms love the creature! It has been corrugated cardboard, which is poor quality paper for without flowers for the recycling anyway. past few months, but otherwise it will carry its showy, pendulous red flowers for the rest of the year. This is a stunning plant that needs a prominent posi�on in the garden nto show it off.

Kunzea leptospermoides Michael Cook It may be of interest to our members that Kunzea leptospermoidesis the only foliage the swamp wallabies won't eat due to the oils it contains. Because of this, it has become a weed in the Cranbourne Bushlands. We volunteers are regularly going on sor�es to cut and paste the species. Le� unchecked it seriously takes over in the sandbelt habitat. Toilet Paper Sue Guymer What is it? Andrea Dennis gave us a good �p. Given the current Bruce Schroder “toilet paper crisis”, remember thatHibiscus I'm not exactly sure what species this is, but it is a heterophyllus is known by the common name of Toilet plant from Maureen Schumann which she had labelled Paper Bush. Use this informa�on at your discre�on! asWahlenbergia gymnoclada. I have since obtained a plant of this species from Plants of Tasmania Nursery and it is quite different. Time for a Joke LikeWahlenbergia Alison Rogers stricta which flowers throughout summer, the The manager of the garden centre overhears one of plant from Maureen his workers talking to a customer: “No, we haven’t had does as well, but it is any of that in ages,” says the employee, “And I don’t quite a dense perennial know when we’ll be ge�ng any more.” type plant to 50cm tall, The customer leaves and the manager walks over to not open and wispy like his assistant and gives him a telling off. W. stricta. The large “Never tell a customer we can’t get them flowers are 2.5cm across something,” he says, “Whatever they want we can Unfortunately, the always get it on order and deliver it. Do you rabbits seem to love my understand?” The nurseryman nods. plant and although I “So what did he want?” asks the manager. have a guard around it, “Rain,” replies the worker. the rabbits control any growth that spreads Bruce Schroder beyond the limits of the guard. They are also keen on Please help to fill up spaces the Wahlenbergia gloriosa but don't touch the with bits and pieces of news immediately adjacentPelargonium sp.which con�nues to happily sucker up with tasty new growth! or ac�vi�es from you. Channels for Orchids Callistemon Flowering in Autumn Michael Cook Joe Wilson As we have so li�le growing space in our garden at Callistemons generally have their peak flowering in Botanic Ridge, I looked at our two slimline water tanks spring, o�en with a lesser flowering in autumn. which have six welded seams on each tank, necessary to We have a Callistemon give them structural strength and thought, "I can do sieberi (also now known as something with those hollows". Melaleuca paludicola) which So I bolted four treated pine upright supports to the has resided by the west end of tanks' galvanized C-sec�on steel supports. Then I cut our house for many years. It regular lawn edging into twelve lengths and treats us to peach-coloured painstakingly bolted them together with brackets to flowers most prolific in spring. form channels to add to the exis�ng hollowed channels. However, this year the spring I glued concrete expansion joint material to fill any gaps. flowering was fairly sparse. But The added structure takes up no more space than this autumn it has put on its best before. flowering for some years – both in terms of numbers of I used half orchid po�ng mix as a base in each flowers and also depth of colour. channel, followed by the same po�ng mix that Kuranga We assume that this intensity largely results from its and Cranbourne Growing Friends use (which I buy in “energy saving” in spring. bulk at Dandenong and share with Bob O'Neill) mixed with some perlite. Corymbia ficifolia ‘Wildfire’ I am now growing orchids in the channels. Watch Joe Wilson this space! How many of us have admired the beau�ful so called "Red Flowering Gum". This gum is now aCorymbia ficifolia. Corymbias generally have larger fruits than eucalypts with showy terminal flowers arranged in a corymb. There is a wide selec�on of gra�ed plants available, so you can select the colour form and size you want. Corymbia ficifolia is generally a summer flowering tree. But have you no�ced that some varie�es earlier than other? Many have finished their flowering now, whilst others are s�ll flowering, includingCorymbia ficifolia ‘Wildfire’. Gra�ing results in a very reliable tree, which makes them more suitable in a large range of soils and Report from Cranbourne South environments. Once established they become quite Ray Turner drought-tolerant. They make a good small shade tree and This general shot is taken looking up our drive from bring wildlife to your garden.C . ‘Wildfire’ is ideal as a near the front gate. The gra�edGrevillea eriostachya street or garden tree. Note that they are very popular in has survived and flowered quite well, especially a�er coastal areas.C . ‘Wildfire’ is said to grow 4-6m x 3-4m. I Eva pruned it harshly about 3 or 4 years ago. Down at consider it to be the best of the red forms. the bo�om right is a Beaufor�a sparsa which has had to put up with a lot over the �me, but each year it always manages to put on a good show. We have just brought in our mo�on detector cameras, and a�er all this �me I finally woke up and put them where water was. I have no idea why, but the camera poin�ng to the bird bath, where a lot of small birds hang out, just didn't Joe Wilson take a shot of one bird, even though it took shots of branches moving and Beaufor�a sparsa ustoppingitupallthe �me. I don't know if the delay on the camera is too long or the li�le birds can't trigger the camera. The other camera took heaps of photos of bronzewing pigeons, rabbits, foxes, the odd dog and one lizard.

Driveway plants Flowering at Montrose Bruce Schroder ‘Golden Sunburst’ Goodenia macmillanii There isn't much in flower at the moment but this Goodenia macmillanii is an unusual species from form of Hibber�a ves�ta is at its peak. It never seems to East Gippsland – unusual in that its flowers are large and be without one or two flowers do�ed throughout the pink, not the typical yellow we would expect of a bush. goodenia. I have known of it for many years but it was It is a selected form of the species commercially always one of those difficult to find and rarely available released a number of years ago with, frustra�ngly, the collector's plants. I had one many years ago but it didn't original label making no reference at all to the plant's last long in the garden, although I suspect it was drought botanical name - it was just marketed as ‘Golden condi�ons that did it in! I think it requires a bit of Sunburst’. It is a low spreading shrub approximately moisture and a cool root run. 30cm tall and about 100cm in diameter. It seems to That said, plants started becoming commercially strike quite readily from firm cu�ngs and grows well in available a couple of years ago now, produced ini�ally an open posi�on. by Na�ve Plant Wholesalers in Mt Gambier. Perhaps this was a different form to the one I originally grew because this one has gone gangbusters in my garden, suckering over an area of about 2 square metres and s�ll spreading. Flowering branches get about 45cm tall then tend to flop over as they age. At this point, I tend to cut mine back close to ground level which promotes more new growth. It flowers in late spring and all through summer, and seems to have relished the we�er than normal summer we have had this year. Tubestock plants are regularly available at Karwarra.

Hibber�a ves�ta ‘Golden Sunburst’ Bruce Schroder

Hemiandra pungens I don't know a lot about this plant – a bushy form of Hemiandra pungens. I obtained a couple of tubes from Karwarra Gardens Nursery about 3 years ago and they are establishing well in my garden, now about 30cm tall by 60cm wide. It looks like it will be a low mounding shrub, unlike the typical forms that have been available for years as flat carpe�ng ground covers in a couple of leaf forms. The flowers on my shrubby form seem to be larger than GoodeniamacmillaniiBruce Schroder the typical ground cover forms as well. Eremophila warnesii This is a small growing species from the arid areas of central western WA, reputedly growing 50cm tall x 75cm wide. Mine is a li�le taller than this a�er only 3 years, but perhaps it's a bit more vigorous because it's gra�ed, although it is certainly not romping away! It has very furry foliage, which has proven a li�le problema�cal with fungal issues in Melbourne's damp, dull winters. To date this has been addressed successfully by simply pruning off the affected HemiandrapungensBruce Schroder branches. I have not tried gra�ing it myself but Graeme Nicholls has successfully gra�ed material from my plant. I strongly recommend growing this one in an open, airy posi�on. Eremophila warnesii Bruce Schroder

6 APS Maroondah Group – founded in 1966 Kunzea April 2020 Gardening in the time of Coronavirus Helen Kennedy I’ve just finished reading a novel I really loved called A number of other pre�y blue-flowered scaevolas “Rules for Visi�ng”, by Jessica Francis Kane. The central are in flower right now, and the velvety white bracts of character is a gardener, a woman trying to come to Spyridium phlebophyllum are ligh�ng up the garden. terms with her family’s past and to reshape her life. And to my delight, a Reading it at this par�cular �me of world-wide health planted in a pot some years ago has finally bloomed, a alerts has prompted the following random thoughts and cluster of pink globes at the end of a long stem. There is observa�ons….. always something in flower, whatever the season. She says “You can’t garden without thinking about the future”, and these words really resonate with me as I plant out the last lot of lovely li�le babies from the Cranbourne Friends Plant Sale. Of course, I will s�ll be around to watch them grow and thrive, despite now being well and truly OBE (you’ll work that out if you don’t already know its meaning!) – and despite the threat of the new deadly virus. I count myself lucky to have a (large) garden to work in, especially if I am to be cut off from all the interes�ng things I normally do in the outside world, thanks to Calostemma purpureum Covid 19. For almost 50 years our garden has been a constant in �mes of good and bad, an ongoing source of Lots of �me to garden means I’m wearing old – and s�mula�on, pleasure, challenge – and of course dirty – clothes for days on end at the moment. Jessica frustra�on, and exhaus�on! Kane’s character recalls a well-known gardener, who As I write, I can count nearly 20 big yellow-crested “didn’t change her clothes because she thought it cockies in our tall trees. They are ea�ng the nuts on the inappropriate to ‘dress Angophora costata and shedding armloads of branchlets down’ for the plants’”. in the process. Their beaks are so powerful they can nip It’s a lovely idea, but off a sizeable branch as well.The Bursaria spinosa, aged also too late for me to and gnarled trees, are also covered in clusters of seeds, change the habits of a and the king parrots are feas�ng on them, knocking life�me – I hope the plenty of debris onto the drive. And a�er months of plants understand! And I almost no bees in the garden, I see that they are now wonder who did this back in force, gathering nectar from purple plectranthus gardener’s laundry?). spikes and elsewhere. So happily it seems that the Another quote: garden is feeding our cri�ers and they will not go hungry. “Poetry only exists in a I, however, rely on a supermarket with increasingly bare garden if it's tended by shelves. the people who live there”. I’m not sure that I totally agree with this view, because I have Spyridium phlebophyllum visited many beau�ful gardens over my life which were maintained by outside professionals, but it’s true that when I recognise the caring hand of the owner at work, I am always moved, even if it’s not a perfectly designed or maintained garden. Our own garden never fails to move me emo�onally – one way or the other! Every window looks out onto it, so we observe all its moods every day, without even going outside. I’m frightened when fierce winds lashing the trees threaten to drop a big branch on the house. I Cockatoos love watching the flights of lorikeets race overhead. Two The harsh summer just past meant endless leaf drop gang gangs drinking from a waterbowl give me special from our big corymbias – and great plates of bark pleasure. A warm gentle day invariably pulls me outside, everywhere. The stringybarks are s�ll shedding their seldom to just sit; there is always a weed to remove. I long sheets so there’s plenty to rake up. If we didn’t, walk around our garden almost every day, no�cing the li�le plants would simply be submerged, and scarce rain changes, collec�ng debris, planning what new plants can would barely penetrate. That’s where the exhaus�on go where… reading its “poetry”…. comes in! But there’s real pleasure in seeing paths and So, like many APS Maroondah people, we con�nue to plants emerge again. And in uncovering new spaces into work in our own space and care for its wellbeing. If we which some recently bought li�le yellow scaevolas will have to stay home for months now, we will never have fit perfectly! nothing to do.

Kunzea April 2020 APS Maroondah Group – founded in 1966 7 Upcoming Events There are no upcoming events – unfortunately. While we wait, we need to do all we can to hold together our sense of being a group, rather than becoming isolated from each other. Nobody knows how long this present shut-down will con�nue so we all need to make an effort to keep in touch as best we can. Telephoning is a great thing to do, or Face�me for those on the internet. Kunzea magazine is another way we can help each other. In order to keep it going in the absence of the usual regular features, we are totally dependent oneveryone taking a moment to share something of what they are doing to keep busy and sane! Without your helpKunzea will have to shut down too. Contact Sue Guymer as soon as you can with whatever bits of personal contribu�on you have. Her email address is [email protected]. Her mailing address is 13 Conos Ct, Donvale 3111. So something for everyone! We hope to start preparing the next Kunzea from 3rd May. Meanwhile –Stay home, Stay safe, Stay ac�ve.

Marion King on TV Seed List in MarchGrowing Australian Melissa King has become a presenter on “Be�er Our eagle-eyed Marilyn Bull has no�ced that there is a Homes and Gardens” which is on Channel 7 at 7pm on problem with the Seed List that is in the centre of the Friday nights. Many of you will know that Melissa is the MarchGrowing Australian which was distributed recently. granddaughter of our long-�me member Marion King. There are some species names which are put against In the episode shown on 13th March there was a the wrong genus (the genus immediately above). For segment in which Melissa spoke about growing up in instance, the following entries: Warrandyte, and then they visited Marion at her home. Gompholobium lo�folia, venustum It was good to see Melissa and Marion doing their bit Goodia stur�anum to promote Australian plants, and let’s hope that there Gossypium‘Candelabra’ will be more na�ve content on that show in future. These should be: Gompholobium venustum Goodia lo�folia Gossypium stur�anum Grevillea ‘Candelabra’ So if you are ordering seed, it is recommended to check against another source that you are ordering the right thing.

Australian Plants Society Maroondah Inc. Commi�ee Postal address: P.O. Box 33, Ringwood 3134 Debbie Jerkovic President 9885 7276 Email: [email protected] Bruce Schroder Vice President 0418 582 924 Newsle�er contribu�ons: Peter Rogers Secretary 9801 6946 Contribu�ons for the May 2020 Newsle�er should be sent to Joe Wilson Treasurer 9812 0209 Sue Guymer at [email protected] no later than Jan Nicholls Membership Secretary 9893 4422 Sunday 3rd May 2020 Sue Guymer Newsle�er Editor 9872 3583 Graeme Nicholls Newsle�er produc�on 9893 4422 Maroondah Group website: Bill Aitchison 9872 3583 australianplantssoc.wix.com/maroondah Alison Rogers 9801 6946 APS Vic website: Barry Ellis 0403012109 www.apsvic.org.au Dallas Boulton 9729 1538 Published by APS Maroondah Inc. Registra�on No. A0013122B