S'TUDY GROUP IVEWSLETTER PROSTANTHERA & WESTRINGIA STUDY GROUP NEWSLETTER NO. 16 ISSN 0818 3341 September 1989 PATRON LEADER George Althofer Brian Timmis 60 Thornton Street "Coach & Horses Inn" WELLINGTON, NSW Jellore Street BERRIMA, 2577, NSW Ph. (048) 771 242 EDITORS Barry Conn & Brian Timrnis MEMBERSHIP: The Prostanthera and Westringia Study Group is for all those who are interested in the cultivation of Mint bushes and Westringias which have been collected from the wild. FEES: $4:00. Please make sure that you are a financial member. Fees Last Paid: 1 119 g.? DUE The Society for Growing Australian Plants Officer S.G.A.P. Victoria one thing became cleat, pIants are introduced by the Study Gmups & the nursery trade. Study Groups collect a great deal of information FRONT COVER about their plants, but somehow this has to be spread back to members generally. The illustration on the Front Cover of this It may take many years of collecting and issue of the Newsletter is Prostanthera organising, but sooner or later some form teretifolia. of reporting must come. Barbara Buchannan Many thanks for the Newsletter, as usual you are keeping up the quality of this publication. I feel however, very disturbed by the lack of support for this Study Group from the S.G.A.P. The fact that the group has only received $100 of the $1000 promised should be a matter of The following comments have been great concern to all members. I urge all received from several members in response members that the production of a quality to the article - 'THE STUDY GROUP article costs hard cash as well as much AND S.G.A.P....' in Prostanthera & hard yakka. Westringia Study Group Newsletter 15, page 3. We here publish extracts from all George Althofer comments received. [eds] Like Barry, I really do not want to know about S.G.A.P. politics, only about plants, but I do appreciate that some form of administrative framework is necessary to spread and share what information about plants we have, so there is bound to be some politicking. I think my view of the importance of Study Groups is best illustrated by the fact I belong to 5 and only refrain myself from more by the difficulty of being an active member in ***** all, as well as the cost -they do all fall Attached please find cheque for $5.00 due together now. As Plant Introduction being our annual subscription to your Study Group. We are sorry we cannot Good luck, may the Groups and coffers make it more, but as a District group our be enriched from your plea for better funds are limited and we try to support all financial consideration from N.S. W. Study Groups. I have a great belief in the Region. A little help and encouragement necessity of Study Groups to the Society is a marvellous incentive to carry out the and realise they need financial support as study groups ultimate projects. well as member participation. I am most impressed with your Newsletter both for its Still a member of N.S.W. Region, I feel presentation and information. How do you it is unrealistic that the body is not produce it on just a $4 fee, I do not know, supporting Groups with financial help but hope you do not have to subsidise it when it is well able to do so. It supports financially yourself. scientific research so why not Study Groups. Enthusiasm of leaders can be Jan Sked dampened when the Executives of the State Regions turn a blind eye on their needs. We are very sympathetic to the financial Joyce Ward status of Study Groups. A point you bring out is that without Study Groups the society has no meaning. Our Study Group, no longer exchanges Newsletters with N.S.W. Region as we were not receiving their magazine and a Study Group cannot afford to be too generous with Newsletters. We exchange with one Region, three Region pay fees and two ignore us. One N.S.W. Local Group subscribes to all Study Groups. This policy needs to be highlighted and commended. Australian Daisy Study Group Where are we Going? I think I am at last convinced that funds in the form of a grant or other will never be forthcoming from S.G.A.P. N.S.W. Region, I have been asking for four years. The N.S.W. region committee agreed that a $25 annual subscription cheque be forwarded to all study groups, I believe the cheques were written then destroyed. Also as requested in writing by the then Treasurer of N.S.W. Region, I prepared and sent a detailed letter to be presented to the Special Projects Sub-committee to see these plants in our gardens unless requesting the balance ($900) of the $1,000 heads are pulled from the sand and our promised to me by the then President in a money is injected into study groups or letter dated 10th September, 1987. some other form of research. I point out that funds and materials have Brian Timmis been made available to certain people. I have been unable to obtain a response from the N.S.W. Region. I can no longer financially support my past activities including field trips for collecting and study, propagation and growing on to preserve the species and the cutting exchange to members. I feel sad when I consider that, on one hand, we have a Regional committee of far too many people controlling large amounts of our money, and on the other hand, a very active Study Group with the resources of the Royal Botanic Gardens' Botanist Dr. Westringia davidii. Barry Conn who shares all with us. I follow with a list of species, some unknown, some overlooked, most are beautiful and of considerably good Further Observations horticultural potential. on Study Group Funding e.g. Prostanthera albijlora P. althoferi Robert Miller P. carrickiana P. centralis I have a few ideas that may solve some P. splendens of the problems associated with Study P. verticillata Group Funding. P. wilkieana Westringia davidii As one of the major custodians of the W. saxatilis Prostanthera Study Group Living Collection I have an intimate knowledge other related genera of enormous of the costs associated with the horticultural potential include maintenance of a diverse assemblage of forms and species in pots. Hemigenia Hemiandra The Society's expectations to-date of the and Plectranthus role that Study Groups have within the Society is of supplying plants to the The botanists will always have their Annual Flower Show. This is a worthy herbarium collections preserved in their goal. But Study Groups are increasingly archives. We the amateurs are not going being recognised as providing a resource (no matter how amateurish) to the Study of the enthusiastic members who really the Australian Flora. I strongly feel that if believe in Growing Australian Plants! the Society is to Progress it is through the Study groups becoming increasingly more professional in their approach: a) keeping precise records b) providing a quality plant resources for Displays and Botanical Study c) dissemination of information in a well presented format d) quality specimens at flower shows create a demand for a greater diversity of species and forms entering the Horticultural Trade e) and most importantly fostering the recognition of the beauty of our natural heritage increases the likelihood of their conservation. HELP After all, are not these the major goals of our Society? Funding is essential if an The Central Highlands Group increasingly professional approach is to be S.G.A.P., Victoria, are most keen to have implemented. This could be achieved by a talk on Prostanthera. Do we have the appropriate bodies deciding on an anyone living nearby who could help out. agreed amount and this being forwarded to The contact is: the study groups annually. Additional funding should be made available for ERICA NATHAM specific projects on request (and, of course, R.M.B. N817 on merit). BALLARAT, VIC. 3350. I feel this form of funding often evokes the No telephone number given. response of "what value will we get from our monetary outlay" and accountability is always a problem. I feel study groups could be paid on a merit basis. Paid commercial hire rates for providing quality plants at Annual Flower Shows. This would alleviate the accountability and value for money worries. In addition publications formatted in a concise manner should be subsidised. This is a workable idea which would ensure a dynamic society by encouraging IN THE BACKYARD tank at first. Only the wet season saved My Garden and Other Problems us - me and the plants. Barbara Buchannan Your conditions at Bemma sound fairly simi!~. Although last winter was mild Many thanks for the last Newsletter which we got temfic frosts too, so your notes has lots of interest, my only trouble is that on frost hardiness are very welcome. I virtually need a map of N.S.W. beside How about P. teretifolia I wonder? I had me, as indeed with the 'Cradle of Incense', 3 plants very similar in leaf - P. I simply have a blank where N.S.W. is teretifolia, "P. rhylstonii", and 'from concerned. One day I do hope to get to Rhylstone', the first two mauve flowered, Burrendong and to lots of other places. I the last pink. There was also a plant in have a Prostanthera lanceolata leaf nearly Kawarra native garden that flowered much sessile and 3% - 4" long. George Althofer later, round now as I remember. Can suggests in the 'Cradle of Incense' that it you make sense of this quickly or shall I is a form of P.