Crowea exalata ssp magnifolia Volume 35, No. 3 Spring Edition 2014 In this issue: Officebearers for 2014….p.2 From your President...p.3 Trip report N.E.N.P....p.4 Dodonaeas ...p.6 Four favourite grevilleas ...p.7 Pat Laher reports ...p.7 First and second flowering ...p.9 For your Diary...p.10 Membership form...p.12 Photo: Grevillea rosmarinifolia “Rosy Posy” photo ©ANBG Contact Us: Armidale & District Group PO Box 735, Armidale NSW 2350 President: Barbara Nevin Ph. 6775 2128 [email protected] Secretary: Helen Schwarz Ph. 6772 1584 [email protected] Treasurer: Carole Fullalove [email protected] From the newsletter editor : Dear members, this is your newsletter and all articles, snippets and photos are welcome. There is NO DEADLINE for this newsletter. Articles will be included based on a FIRST COME basis. Please send your articles, snippets, letters to me at [email protected] or send a hard copy to 5 Birch Crescent Armidale NSW 2350. PHOTOS should be sent individually as jpg files either via email or copied onto a disk. Thank you to all contributors to this issue! Verna Aslin Page 1 GROUP INFORMATION The Armidale and District Group of APS-­­NSW started on 6th August, 1977 as the New England Group of the Society for Growing Australian Plants. It has been running continuously since that time with a couple of name changes. We are a very friendly and helpful group who enjoy monthly forums and business meetings, garden visits and field trips to help members enjoy the search for knowledge about our native flora and our local environment. We range from raw beginners to others who have been gardening and researching for many years - all willing to share their knowledge. Business Meetings are held at 5.00pm on the second Tuesday of each month. Members are welcome to attend. Native Plant and Garden Forums are held in the TAFE Library Seminar Room on the 3rd Tuesday of each month (except June, July, December and January) from 7.30 – 9.30 where an interesting speaker provides a presentation. The speaker is followed by a delicious supper after which members talk about plants in flower from specimens displayed on the flower table and share information about gardening topics. Old and new members, visitors and families, are very welcome at these Forums and on our outings (see page 8 for details). Annual General Meeting is held in November. Solstice Function is held in June. Wattle Day Activity is held on a day closest to 1st September. Christmas Party is held early in December at the home of one of our members. We also lead regular trips into the bush and the occasional weekend escape to the coast or elsewhere. We participate in St Peter’s Garden Tour in November each year, opening one of our gardens to the public and holding our Giant Annual Plant Sale. We hold a Market Stall each month in the Mall. Come along and say hello. Our members have also been active in developing and maintaining the Native Garden beds at the Arboretum. We welcome volunteers who would like to help. See p.9 for our calendar and details of events. ALL YOU NEED TO JOIN OUR GROUP IS AN INTEREST IN OUR NATIVE PLANTS OFFICEBEARERS FOR 2013/14 President: Barbara Nevin Phone: 6775 2128 Vice President: Colin Wilson Secretary: Helen Schwarz Phone: 6772 1584 Treasurer: Carole Fullalove Membership officer: Colin Mulquiney Auditor: Phil Rose Markets in the Mall and Arboretum Coordinator: Patrick Laher Phone: 0427327719 Newsletter Editor: Verna Aslin Phone: 6772 7548 Hospitality: Glenda Mulquiney Publicity Officer: Gillian Traise Monthly Plant List Coordinator: Suzanne Robertson OHS and Environmental Officer: Peter Metcalf Webmaster: Neil Wilson Our website: http://www.aps-armidale.org.au/ Page 2 From your President Where has the time gone - so much happening. John and I had a ten day tour through the North Island of New Zealand. The countryside was very green with plenty of water everywhere - so unlike here where the drought continues and looks like lasting longer. They have a really big problem with gorse bush and pampas grass along many of the roads and waterways, and covering the hills where any ground was disturbed. It looked beautiful with the yellow and white but Oh dear! Came home to the terrible news that John Wrigley had died suddenly. We went to his funeral at the Coffs Harbour Botanic Gardens that he designed. One of the other things that he designed was the water garden at our own Bicentennial Arboretum. John wrote the Australian Native Plants books so we will miss him terribly. Our best wishes were given to his wife Marcia and their children. Recently we went to Queensland with the Acacia Study Group. We were based in Chinchilla and visited the Barakula State Forest. There were 24 of us and over the weekend we were shown 52 different wattles by locals Len and Joan Hubbard. They also are in drought so I felt really sorry for the cattle and brumbies as there was very very little understory and grasses for them to eat. Amongst all those that we saw were Acacia barakulensis, Acacia handonis and Acacia debilis. Next weekend we are off to the Central Coast for the get together. With many other plant related outings planned our year is passing quickly and that is wonderful. Keep your spirits up - rain is on the way. Barbara Vale John Wrigley John Wrigley, AM, BSc, FRAIPR, FRHS, (see portrait) spent more than forty years developing his knowledge of Australian flora. He was curator of the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra from 1967 to 1981 and was actively involved in many horticultural organizations, including the Society for Growing Australian Plants (later ANPS) of which he was elected an honorary life member. His book, Australian Native Plants (written in collaboration with Murray Fagg) has sold over 250,000 copies. He co-authored a number of other books on native flora with Murray Fagg. In 1983 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to the cultivation and study of Australian flora. His latter years were spent at Coffs Harbour, where he worked as a horticultural consultant. APS-Armidale Group Members may remember meeting him in 2011 when the Coffs Harbour APS group came on a visit. Photo courtesy Coffs Coast Advocate Page 3 Trip Report New England National Park, 31 May 2014 Contributed by Neil Wilson rising from below the scarp and Epacris longiflora in the foreground. We started on time after arranging cars and met David and Joy at Sandy ck. John, Collin, Ray, Sue, Carole and Neil Elaeocarpus holopetalus (Black Oliveberry) was present arrived to see the Callitris oblonga ( pigmy cypress pines). right next to the track in several places – a smaller leafed Having driven past them often, they are remarkably obvious relative ofElaeocarpus reticulatus ( Blueberry Ash) was also when you know what you are looking at. Several members present. As the track climbed, then fell, we moved through were uncertain about seeing these wonderful trees, but other vegetation zones with Nothofagus moorei being the everyone found the Callitris oblonga to be quite pleasing. most dominant below the low escarpment. Banksia John was used to seeing the Tasmanian ‘type’ which are only integrifolia sbsp.montanum (Syn var. compar) dominated in a metre or so high. We talked about the only other the slopes between the top of the range and the Nothofagus population found on the Corang River (near Nerriga on the moorei below. Southern Highlands) which have greener leaves. The rock strata changes as the track descends onto heaths dominated by Leptospermum trinervium , L. polygalifolium subsp. montanum, Allocasuarina rigida subsp. rigida and Kunzea opposita. This is the view on a sunny day in summer from the same spot with Wright’s Plateau in clear view : We also spotted Acacia nana subsp eborensis close by and were sorry there was no seed. Persoonia procumbrens and another Persoonia sp was at hand also. With a little looking, we found the Grevillea juniperina on the other side of the creek. Hakea microcarpa was also handy and had some I dropped my camera after we looked over the edge, into viable seedpods. the mist above the beech forests, seeing virtually nothing. Luckily it dropped only a few metres. Our next stop was at the Point Lookout rd about 400m after the corner. We discovered the Acacia nana subsp eborensis The heath in the background was typical. and Grevillea acanthifolia var stenomera but the Isopogon We turned a corner and dropped into a magnificent hanging procumbrens eluded us. We saw other interesting plants swamp dominated by Gleichenia dicarpa (pouched coral here such as Veronica sp, Petrophile sp and Melichrus fern) and small Eucalyptus pauciflora (snow gums). The urceolatus. photo below is from a previous trip.:I think it looked even As the rain became more persistent, we arrived at the Camp better in the misty rain on our trip. ground shelter for morning tea. A warm drink, some food and good conversation prepared 6 of us to set off for the walk. David and Joy decided it was too inclement and headed for home. We left a car at Wright’s Plateau Walk car park and drove up to Banksia Picnic area. The rain was soft but steady when we set off along the upper Lyrebird track. Banksia neo-anglica was spectacular as an understory to Acacia melanoxylon, Eucalyptus sp and Pepper trees (Tasmannia insipida). The track was quite wet but the atmosphere was wonderful; with several sections of twisted trunks of Banksia neo-anglica mystically set by the cloud Page 4 The track then descended and turned into the pyroclastic rock Three of us went on to the lookouts over the plateau and zone where obvious horizontal layers of ash had been returned to find the others at the saddle talking with the other deposited.