Australian Society Ballarat District

Newsletter – October 2018

MONTHLY MEETINGS ON THE 2ND WEDNESDAY Themeda triandra at Kangaroo Grass ROBERT CLARK HOTICULTURAL CENTRE GILLIES STREET ENTRANCE – GATE 3 or 4 AUSTRALIAN PLANTS

SOCIETY FURTHER DETAILS SEE INFORMATION BOX BALLARAT DISTRICT

COMING EVENTS WEDNESDAY 10th OCTOBER – MONTHLY MEETING at 7.30pm. (Note: Evening Meeting)

WEDNESDAY 14th NOVEMBER- MONTHLY MEETING at 7.30pm. (Note: Evening meeting) (Note: Business Meeting at 6pm)

WEDNESDAY 12th DECEMBER - MONTHLY MEETING at 7.30pm. The December Meeting will be a Festive Season social gathering. We will celebrate the Group, and Native Plants. BYO food for BBQ. Bring supper for yourselves and to share if cuneatus shown by Ian Lynch at the you like. Kitchen is available for use. September meeting. Photo: Fon Ryan

Australian Plants Society Ballarat District SPRING 2018 NATIVE SHOW Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th October Robert Clark Horticultural Centre Ballarat Botanical Gardens Saturday 10-00am to 5-00pm, Sunday 10-00am to 4-30pm

Friday 26th Set Up – 11am onwards, tables in place, ready for setting up. Please help with this if able to. Books – we are low on second hand books to be sold at Show. If you have books you can donate, please bring to next meeting, to the set-up Friday, or to the Show. Flowers and Specimens – Please bring all! Also, please note, if possible when labelling, write on a piece of cardboard the name & secure with a rubber band. This is the most successful labelling, the others wash off & we don’t know where they came from. Roster – if able to help in kitchen & at the door, please volunteer and put name on rosters. AUSTRALIAN PLANTS THAT GROW WELL IN BALLARAT Ruth Marton is organising a brochure with a list of what grows well in our gardens. Could be ready for Show. Please contribute plant names and add to this enterprise. Thank you.

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BUS TRIP TO LARA – WEDNESDAY 19th SEPTEMBER, 2018. Report by Rosemary Barr. Seventeen keen participants left Ballarat on Wednesday 19th September to go to Elaine and the residence of Gladys and John Hastie who provided a wonderful morning tea including delicious scones cooked by John. We were able to have a quick look around their wonderful garden, seeing a vast variety of native plants and their pots of cuttings and propagation plants. We then travelled to Lara where we visited Yarrabee Native Garden, not far from Barwon Prison. The five-acre property was purchased in 1982 by Steve our host. From flat flood-prone land, he took two years to raise the land level by bringing in hundreds of tonnes of landfill. From there a dam was built which is filled with natural runoff water. The garden included sugar gums, Queensland bottle trees, , correas, eremophilas, geraniums, salvias, kangaroo paws and crepe myrtles and many other plants. A net-covered orchard included about 30 trees including plums, apples, quinces, figs, pears and guava trees. In 2012 they built 10 vegetable garden beds out of recycled corrugated iron and wood. A variety of vegetables are being grown. They also have a nursery and a propagating area. We all enjoyed meandering around the vast garden at our own leisure. A much-appreciated lunch supplied by Gladys and John ended our enjoyable visit.

We then travelled to the Serendip Sanctuary, a 250 hectare area which is home to a rich and diverse array of birds and mammals. We all had an hour walk around this wonderful place. Four interconnecting nature trails were enjoyed. Walking amongst the wallabies and kangaroos, through the bird enclosure, including being up close to a variety of birds, including the Tawny Frogmouth. Specially designed bird hides enabled us to view some of the 150 species that inhabit the lake there. We would recommend this place for any family outing.

Reluctantly we left the sanctuary after a fun afternoon, bound for Ballarat. Another stop for afternoon tea at John and Gladys’ house where coffee, tea and an array of cakes and good company were greatly appreciated. We arrived back in Ballarat about 5pm after a safe and happy excursion. Thank you to Warren who drove so well for us all day. We all sincerely appreciate his efforts. Thank you also to Gladys for organising our excursion.

Scenes from the Excursion

All photographs: Rosemary Barr

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SPECIMENS EXHIBITED at SEPTEMBER MEETING from Gloria Salt Jenny West – corymbosa, Epacris impressa (red & white), Acacia leprosa ‘Scarlet Blaze’, A. wildenowniana, Pomaderris obcordatum ‘Mallee Princess’

Ian Lynch – Acacia leprosa ‘Scarlet Blaze’, Isopogon cuneatus, Bracteantha ‘Mohave Fire’, B. ‘Mohave Yellow’, Philotheca ‘Winter Rouge’, Correa reflexa (large flowering form), Tetratheca thymifolia, Chamelaucium ‘Big Painted Lady’, ‘Winter Flame’, G. alpina x rosmarinifolia, Micromyrtus sp., Micromyrtus ciliata ‘Wartook Wonder’

Ruth Marton – Acacia cardiophylla, A. vestita, , G. ‘Lemon Spray’, Hakea macreana,

Mike Healy – Hypocalymna linifolium, , G. sp., praemorsa, Astartea ‘Winter Rose’, Acmena smithii (variegated Lilly Pilly), Tetratheoa ciliata

Jean Weybury – Rulingia magnfica, Hypocalymna linifolium shown by Mike Healy. These Eremophila maculata var. brevifolia, E. tiny yellow flowers are only a few millimetres across. ‘Eyre Princess’, E. hydrophana, Boronia Photo: Fon Ryan anemonifolia

Jenny Morris – Olearia pannosa, Acacia lasiocarpa, Swainsona galegifolia, Correa ‘Catie Bec’, Philotheca myoporoides (Castlemaine form), Eremophila oppositifolia (purple), Boronia ‘lipstick’

Judith Lewis – Acacia boormaii, Eutaxia cuneata (red-orange pea flowers), Philotheca verrucos (Castlemaine form), Grevillea ‘Canberra Gem’ (needs hard cut back after flowering to produce blooms), Leionema lamprophyllum (formerly Phebalium), Pterostylis curta (Blunt Green Hood)

FRIDAY 2nd NOVEMBER – Field Naturalists Club of Ballarat present: THE ANNUAL STELLA BEDGGOOD MEMORIAL LECTURE Guest Speaker: Marian Weaving: The Tawny Frogmouth. Venue is the Fed. Uni. Training Centre at the Cnr. Gillies St. & Gregory St. at 7-30pm.

A pretty little In flower at shrub. the Winter Show, this is This is the Eucalyptus flower of kruseana, the Grevillea Bookleaf rosmarinifolia Mallee. x alpina ‘Bonnie The rounded Prince leaves are Charlie’ only 2cm growing in a across. It is pot. used in floristry. Photo: Fon Ryan Photo: Fon Ryan

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Philotheca ‘Winter Rouge’ (formerly in the genus Eriostemon) shown by Ian Lynch at the September meeting of Australian Plants Society Ballarat District. The wax flowers have been used extensively as fillers in floristry. Photo: Fon Ryan

Thanks to all those who contributed reports or items for this issue

Deadline for November Newsletter: 3rd November 2018

AFTERNOON TEA or SUPPER

Members please bring a plate of something to share

AUSTRALIAN PLANTS SOCIETY BALLARAT DISTRICT INC. Incorporation No. A0013127M President: Phyllis Wright P: 5345 2514, M: 0418 303 405 Secretary: Gloria Salt PO Box 123W Ballarat West 3350 Treasurer: Liz Bowden PO Box 123W Ballarat West 3350 Newsletter Editor: Warren Hill [email protected] M: 0400 644 913

MONTHLY MEETINGS The SECOND WEDNESDAY in October, November, December, February, March, at 7-30pm The SECOND WEDNESDAY in April, May, June, July, August, September at 2-00pm MEETING VENUE ROBERT CLARK HORTICULTURAL CENTRE, Ballarat Botanical Gardens Access: GILLIES STREET ENTRANCE – GATE 3 (or from Wendouree Parade, Afternoon Meetings only)

CORRESPONDENCE aps_ [email protected] PO Box 123W, Ballarat West, Vic 3350 WEB: Australian Plants Society Victoria (APS Vic): www.apsvic.org.au

NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTIONS [email protected]

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