Nforest Study Group -
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ASSOCIATION OF SOCIETIES FOR GROWING AUSTRALIAN PLANTS NFOREST STUDY GROUP - - NEWSLETTER NO, 21 JULY 1993 Group Leader DAVID JENKINSON ISSN 0729-5413 "BOOYONG" l?MB 155D Annual Subscription $5 BYABARRA 2446 " Forecasting is very difficult, especially If It is about the future " ( The prolific philosopher Anon. ) A S G A P CONFERENCE AT SYDNEY 25 TH SEPT. TO 1ST OCTOBER As previously mentioned, our Group was given the opportunity to gain some publicfty at the conference, on the evening of Tues 28th Sept. I appreciate the ofi-er by Heien Joyce ~f iasbraod to organise this display, and also Heler! Ttanter of Robertson (the Yarrawa Brush lady) is also willing to assist. Thank you too, Helen. I hope to be there as well, so between us all we should be able to have an effective PR event. However, we need appropriate material for the display - CJI you help 7 Helen suggests the following items would be needed f- Rainfor-est Basters; A Cmprehensive 1 ?st of Ralnhrest Wurseries; Catalogues of Individual Nurseries; (0 K John, Hugh L Nan, David and Ule rest of you - hare Is a golden opportunity ta publie- ise your enterprise) ; Relevant Books: Seed to Sell at a Nominal Price; Cham listing G~QUDActivf ties and the Benebits. to 0thGs e.g. meetings, field trips, newsletter topics, etc. and anything else that you feel would add to our display. If you have any items.to assist us, would you be able to get them to me or to Helen Joyce - (6 Lansdowne St. Eastwood 2122). We could recompense you for any reasonable costs involved. Ue would be 1 imited In displaying 1ive plants though (delicate carpets) but flowers, fruits and foliage should be OK. Please think about this opportunity and assist where possible. If you happen to be going to the conference, your physical presence during the evening would be appreciated too. NEW MEMBERS We have a goodly number of new recruits to welcome this month - we all extend the warmest of welcomes to you all and trust that you will become most involved with our various activities. New memers are - Karl Andersaon Comboyne Rd Kil laba kh 242g Don McCfintock Lot 1 Nursery St Narara 2250 Val Call as 6 Gowarsa C1 Wauchope 2445 Robert Miller and Miss A Stevenson 7 Sylvan Grove Picnic Point 2213 Rob Conley 23 Kwirtana Cr Part loarlunga Sth SA 5167 Phil Parsons PO Box 141 Deloraine Tas 7304 Tarn Menshall 210 Princes Mwy Mflton 2538 Klaus Querengasser PO Box 73 St Lucia 4067 Lorne Waeg 351 Brookffeld Rd Kenmore Hills 4069 Gordon Rowland 63 Nelson St Rozelle 2039 Rhoda Jeavons %!I ZSBD Kulnura (Gosbord) 2250 Peter Steele 8 Wilga PI Port Macquarie 2444 I have written to Maria Pesavento at Atherton thanking her for her contributions over the years and expressing regret at her resignation from the Group (her circumstances have changed and she is now more involved wfth dry country plants). Others who have presumably departed the Group, as they have not renewed their subs. despite a couple of reminders, also are thanked for their previous mmbership. Maybe they will rejoin at a later time. AN UPOATE ON INDIVIDUAL AND LOCAL PROJECTS SUGGESTiON Helen Joyce fs Jnterested in researching Stenocarpus sinuatus and some of the other Proteaceae, but wonders if we could do a list of endangered species, this my be an incentive for members to do somethinf%hem. I could (eventually) do a list but won- der if somsb~dy~ap ?$kc tc kkp ea the 7rop3rativ1 of a !i$tir;g 25 tkir cnn pzrticular ?reject ? I know that Lloyd Bird has lots of info. on this subject, and 4t may be ideal if a mal~ibernot too far from Xpswich who could easily liaise with Lloyd would like to start this one? If Lloyd is agreeable of course. North qld. Proteaceae are a major Intesest for Njck Hockey, and as ffnance becoms available te him he wants to buy as many of them as possfbie to plant out in his rainforest plots, and would be happy to record details of growth rates, water" & fertil'izer requirements, frost It wind tolerance etc from hfs exper4ences at Bowravfl'le NStl, as well as collatfng other growers resrrlts. Paul Brady Is happy to partkcipate with m on looking at Euphobf aeeae as there are a nuder of Glachfdlon ferd'inandi on the5r black, some of ccnsfderable s-fze, Waulld smbody further north do sarnething 54mllar wf th G, susnatranun, because the more I hear about this plant, the more Impressed I an with fts phencmnal gmwth rate. This one 1s Pound from the 61SW north coast to Iron Range, as well as W and NT and it would be best if someone at an area where it grows naturally did that research. Information on my chosen project was also sent to me by Elizabeth Baxter, Betty Rymer, Steve Tornquist, and Tony Stockley - thank you one and all for your assistance. A NBJ STUDY GROUP FORMED THE GARDEN DESIGlY STUDY GROUP - AND IT SEEKS OUR ASSISTANCE The Ieader --DSana Snape of 3 .%TuffSt East Hawthorn lllc 3123 - has wrftten to me seeking the assistance ar" our Group, saying that one of thefr pr-lor'l ties ts to establ lsh a 14st of "provenuWust, natdve plants .that are cons'idered befng rrl fable under the cglnd4 tians generally described far them In the varfous Iltera ture-.,Palants shauld also be reasonably rzladily avaf ?able frctn Nur- series, SMP, Seedbanks etc. Would our RFSG compile such a llse far the Deslgn Bsoup ? ft certainly doesn't have to be a comp- lete list, just those m thlnk of as belng quite reltabie and generatly avaf"labTe. Haybe the Ilst could be cldvlded fnto categ- orles - trees, shrubs, clbmbers, ground covers, etc. Oh! I omitted to say that .ft 4s Rainfarest species that ne nowfnate. If some of our Group has the time to put something together and so encourage the Designers to seriously consider RIF plants, could you send details to me so we can Pass it on through this Newsletter too 7. Diana suggests that we should initially concen- trate on species suitable to Victoria as that fs where the bulk of their membership is so far located. MERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF CORRESPONLJENCE SINCE THE LAST NEWSLETTER Which is just great 1 Most of it has been acknowledged In this one, but Ifve kept some of it till later, due to lack of space. SO please bear with me if your contribution has not yet been passed on, and do keep your Ideas and knowledge coming along, so that I can duly pass it on to the Group. NEWS FROM MEMBERS It's dry around South East Qld. at the moment, at least in from the coast. Both ESTHER TAYLOR and NORM McCARTHY mentioned this problem recently. Esther has had to spend a lot of time at the end of a hose, while Norm is fortunate In having a bore with good quality water but says that while this is keeping everything alive, nothing seems to progress without rain. Toowoomba has had a mere 10" in the 9 noranths to late April. NEIL NOY from Wockhall7pton rajses a coup1 e of 1 terns of concern - there has been a recent reprint of David Jones 'Rainforest Plantsu and the cover photo appears to feature the Introduced Guinea Grass In the foreground, could it have beon introduced from the roadway from which the photo was taken? Neil wanders $four Group should look at the impact of q&ck gro~fngand seedjag exotic grasses on R/F verges and also in Euc. forest regeneratfan. Also, the subject af B?odiversib is not belng given the attention that ft shauld be getting. A Roma cattle producer, Jock Douglas is chair of Qld. Land Care Council and is actively promoting conservation of faiod.iverslty to that States cattle producers as he believes that government authorities are not active jn that field New member, DON McCLINTOCK of the Gosford (near Sydney) area has 24 acres with some remnant Sydney Bluegum forest and wants to gain an fnsight into the regeneration and propagation of rainforest generally.(His district once had valuable rainforest, but it was cleared pretty quickly in the early days for agriculture. Even though it was productive, it is now being subdivided for urban livfng. Ed.) According to BEVERLY CROFT of Tyagarah, northern NSW has been dry as \$ell, This has sloi.ied down their planting, though local environmental lssues have taken up a lot of their tfme. Byran Shire has now got the "development bug" due to the complacency of residents who allowed their then "Green" Council representatives to be changed, Those who are worried that the Shire will end up as another western Sydney are taking a positive view rather than constantly knocking every proposal, They have produced an alter- nate 'Visdon and Plannfng Policies" booklet far Byron Shire (23 pages, 85 pasted) which they are tryjng to gain wider support, It is felt that with sensSble planning and strfct environmental pretec"ton, the area could stffl fit in a higher popirlatioft but retain its natural areas and .its prime agricultural land, Another of our new members, GBROON RONLAND, has recently graduated and is now designing native gardens. He is now coming around to the realisation that rainforest plants are often more suited to inner city gardens than many of the other plants that people are more familiar with. (Ed. See later item on the Garden Design Study Group who are also interested in this field) The one and only rainforest In Sweden, that of TNQNAS CARLSSON fs thriving, Unlike one of our Syney members who lost his Capparls arborea In h4s winter, Thomas has rafsed 4 seedlings front 5 seeds.