Australian Plants Society Yarra Yarra Group Inc (Incorporation No. A0039676Y) Newsletter April 2019 General Meeting: April 4th at 8pm Claire Farrell & John Rayner : Melbourne Woody Meadows Project Claire Farrell is a Senior Lecturer in Green Infrastructure, based at the Burnley Campus of The University of Melbourne. Her main research interest involves using plants to make cities more liveable. Claire has a PhD in plant ecology and for the last 9 years her research has focused on developing green roofs for Australian conditions. As green roofs are difficult places for plant to survive, much of her research has focused on the drought tolerance and water use strategies of native Australian plants, including granite outcrop vegetation. This world leading research has been published internationally and key recommendations have also influenced policy and practice. Other research includes plant selection for green façades, rain gardens and low maintenance shrub plantings. John Rayner is an Associate Professor and Director of Urban Horticulture at the University of Melbourne. His research and teaching is focussed around the design and use of plants in the landscape, including green roofs and walls, climbing, shrub and ground cover plants and therapeutic landscapes. Based at the Burnley Campus, John is a passionate educator, has published widely and regularly acts as a landscape and horticultural consultant. He is a keen gardener and in his spare time gains great joy from nurturing and torturing plants on his 1 ha garden in the Dandenong Ranges. VOLUNTEERS PLEASE FOR GARDEN VISIT Saturday April 13th PLANT SALE Sunday 14th April 2 pm We need volunteers for the Plant & Book Sale on Rosanna Parklands with APS Friday afternoon (12th April) from 3pm to 6.30pm to help set up trestles and help growers carry in Maroondah. their plants. And also for Saturday from 7.30am to Led by Margaret James. 10am, 10-12noon, 12-2pm, and 2-4pm. See final page, p10 for more details See P 2 for more detail. Website: apsyarrayarra.org.au Facebook: facebook.com/APSYarraYarra Email: [email protected] | 1 More Garden Visits, APS YY matters & Diary Dates More Speakers: 27-31 March, Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show (MIFGS). APS Vic has a stand & Ben 2 May. Simone Louwhoff. Lichens. Hutchinson a garden (check number!) 8 June. Zac Walker. Alpine Flora and Samba 13 April - APS Yarra Yarra Native Plant & Book Sale. Deer. At Eltham Senior Citizens Centre, 903 Main Road, 8 July. John Harris. Wildlife Experiences P/L Eltham from 10 am to 4 pm. 1 Aug. AGM & APS YY Grand Flower Table 27 April – APS Geelong Australian Native Plant Sale 5 Sept. TBA at ‘Wirrawilla’, 40 Lovely Banks Road, Lovely Banks. 3 Oct. TBA (Mel 431 D6). 7 Nov. Grand Flower Table 4 May - APS Mornington Peninsula Plant Sale, from 5 Dec. Members Slide Night & Xmas Party 10 am to 3.30 pm, at Seawinds in Arthurs Seat State Park, Purves Rd, Arthurs Seat 3936. For further details call 0428 284 974. Sunday 14th April 2 pm Garden Visit to Rosanna Parklands with APS Maroondah. Led by 4 May – Cranbourne Friends Annual Lunch in Tarnuk Margaret James. Room, Australian Garden. Guest Speaker is Dean This area, previously a golf course of 101 Stewart. acres, was doomed to be fully subdivided in the late 1960›s but strong objection by residents 11 May APS Melton & Bacchus Marsh Plant Sale at resulted in half being left as parkland. Merchant St Andrew’s Uniting Church, Gisborne Road, Bacchus Builders was chosen to develop the other half Marsh. From 9 am to 1 pm. with a unique cluster housing development. The architects aimed at linking housing with the 15 June – APS Geelong host Committee of natural environment so the courts ended with Management meeting. easy access to the parklands. It was the first housing estate to have underground wires, no 14 & 15 September - APS Yarra Yarra Australian concrete footpaths, lawns to the kerb. House Plants Expo, Eltham Community & Reception Centre, design and landscape were crucial to achieve an 801 Main Road, Eltham. 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. overall unified appearance. ANPSA 2019 Conference – Blooming Biodiversity – Ellis Stones was commissioned to design 30 September to 4 October, hosted by Wildflower each garden and Bev Hanson supervised the Society of Western Australian in Albany, WA. construction of some. The plants were to be all Comprehensive background and conference outline Australian. Ellis was also retained by the then fills the whole edition of Australian Plants, Spring Heidelberg Council to landscape the park and was successful in overturning the MMBW intention of 2018, vol 29, No 236. For more Details www. barrel draining Salt Creek which runs through the bloomingbiodiversity.com.au. Bookings NOW open park. for conference and Pre & Post Tours. Several Tours are now fully booked. Be quick. We meet at the home of Margaret James, APS member and long time resident. After a brief introduction, we’ll take a walk into the park to view the memorial garden designed by Bev Hanson and the new landscaping under the railway bridge, which recently replaced the boom gates on Lower Plenty Rd. We’ll return to Margaret’s house for afternoon tea. 2 | APS Yarra Yarra News -April 2019 Meeting Report, March 7 - Mint Bushes and Allied Genera APS Yarra Yarra will host the 13th FJC Rogers Seminar Eucalypts, with late afternoon shade. Lasianthos in October, 2020. Our topic is Mint Bushes and Allied means fine hairs, the flowers are coated inside and Genera or in scientific parlance LAMIACEAE subfamily out with them, a distinctive feature of this particular Prostantheroideae ( see inset, p 4 for detail). The and very beautiful species. Lamiaceae family is huge with many highly aromatic Many of the most commonly cultivated species hail species and so we have chosen a particular subfamily from NSW and include Pros ovalifolia, rotundifolia within which the Mint Bushes, Prostanthera has & incisa. These occur in several colour forms which the greatest constituency with over 90 species and include purple, pink and sometimes white. They counting. The FJC Rogers Seminars are held every also come in varied leaf sizes. Victoria has some two years in honour of Fred Rogers, a passionate 35 species which include Pros melissifolia, cuneata advocate for Australian Plants who was instrumental and the rare, endemic and stunning Prostanthera in increasing interest and numbers within APS galbraithiae (named in honour of the late Jean Victorian groups. The Seminars are intended to be Galbraith) from East Gippsland. One of two educational with the aim of improving our scientific remaining populations of this species were recently understanding of the plants. burnt. We hope to have plants for sale from our East NSW has the greatest number of Prostanthera Gippsland source. species with over 65 species occurring there. The Cradle of Incense by George Althofer was published The species within Prostanthera can be divided into by APS NSW in 1978 and remains the bible of the two sections or types based on differences in flower fraternity with detailed descriptions of Mint Bushes morphology, particularly the corolla & calyx. (An from all over Australia. The taxonomy updates since aside: it is the two-lipped calyx that distinquishes then are ongoing with many more species becoming Prostanthera species from Westringia which have 5 more clearly defined with research. This book lips). In Prostanthera section Prostanthera the corolla however remains an important guide and makes for tube is short, narrow at the base and widening into entertaining reading. a bell shape. The upper lip is erect & broad with two lobes and is shorter than the lower lip which is three- The Genus, Prostanthera was named by Jacques- lobed with the middle larger e.g. Pros lasianthos, Julien Houtou de Labillardiere, a French Botanist cryptandroides, cuneata. In Prostanthera section on the Bruny D’Entrecasteux voyages around Klanderia the corolla tube is thinner, elongated, with Tasmania in 1972-73. From the Greek prostheke – the upper lip concave and the lower lip similar in an appendage & anther refering to an appendage length e.g. Pros aspalathoides, calycina & walteri. on the anthers of many (but not all) Prostanthera These two sections/types are predominantly flowers. Prostanthera lasianthos was the first named pollinated by bees and birds respectively with some and the type specimen. It is the largest of the mint intermingling of both. More recently a third type bushes (from 2 to 10 M) with the widest distribution, – pollinated by beetle & fly has been recognised from southern Qld to Tasmania, coastal to sub-alpine Wilson et al (2017). levels. While it likes moist shade it will grow in full sun but is best as an understorey to Wattles and Image: Prostanthera lasianthos, showing the fine hairs that cover the flowers & an insect visitor. Email: [email protected] | 3 Meetng Report: Mint Bushes etc by Miriam Ford While many mint bushes like shaded moist conditions many have broader tolerances as mentioned for Pros lasianthos. There are a number of mint bushes that thrive in dry, hot conditions such as Pros aspalathoides, the Scarlet Mint Bush (also orange, yellow and white forms) from the semi-arid regions of NSW, VIC and SA; Pros magnifica, the stunning mauve-purple corolla with gorgeous burgundy shield-like calyx form the hot dry northern wheatbelt of WA and the striking striped Pros striatiflora from the semi-arid woodlands of NSW, SW, WA, Qld and NT and the handsome, long flowering Pros eckersleyana, also northern sandplains, WA. We are propagating all of these species for sale at the seminar. Several will also be available in grafted form from Phil Vaughan. A distinctive feature of many of the mint bushes is their minty aroma which arises from the volatile oils released from the many glands present on leaf and calyx surfaces when one brushes past a plant.