March 2006 Newsletter
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P r e s i d e n t : Dave L i d d l e 8 9 4 5 6 8 0 9 V i c e P r e s i d e n t : R u s s e l l D e m p s t e r 8 9 8 3 2 1 3 1 S e c r e t a r y : F e l i c i t y M i d d l e t o n 8 9 8 8 1 8 4 0 T r e a s u r e r : M a r j K i n g 8 9 8 5 6 8 8 5 P u b l i c i t y : P a t R a s m u s s e n 8 9 8 3 2 7 8 8 P u b l i c a t i o n s : G r a c e M a t a r a z z o 8 9 4 1 7 3 7 9 L i b r a r i a n : S a l l y J a c k a 8 9 8 8 5 6 5 4 P u b l i c O f f i c e r : G e o f f G a s k e l l 8 9 4 5 5 8 2 5 G e n e r a l C o m m i t t e e M e m b e r s P h i l H i c k e y 8 9 3 2 8 6 7 5 S e a n B e l l a i r s 8 9 4 5 0 8 7 3 P O B O X 1 3 5 P A L M E R S T O N N T 0 8 3 1 http://tenpsnt.tripod.com [email protected] ~ M A R C H 2006 NEWSLETTER ~ M E E T I N G S A N D F I E L D T R I P S We meet on the third Thursday of the month at 7:30 pm. General meetings conclude by 8.15pm and are followed by a guest speaker beginning at 8:30 pm. There is time for a cuppa between the meeting and the guest speaker. The venue for the meeting is Marrara Christian School Library, on the corner of Amy Johnson and McMillan Drives. All welcome. Bring plants to swap, sell or have identified. ~ N E X T M E E T I N G T H U R S D A Y 1 6 t h M A R C H ~ J e r e m y R u s s e l l - S m i t h “ A r n h e m L a n d p l a t e a u v e g e t a t i o n ” The Arnhem Land plateau provides habitat for a distinctive assemblage of species, many of which are relict or restricted in range. Jeremy will talk about the conservation and management of this ecologically diverse region. ~ O T H E R U P C O M I N G E V E N T S ~ “ N e r v i l i a S a m p l i n g ” 8 . 3 0 a m o n S u n d a y 1 9 t h M a r c h C h a r l e s D a r w i n N a t i o n a l P a r k Please contact Dave on 8945 6809 to confirm attendance. If participants are known, then they can be advised of last minute changes to the sampling schedule. “ W i l l i e ’ s O p e n G a r d e n ” W e e k e n d o f t h e 8 t h & 9 t h A p r i l 7A McArthur Court Leanyer Remember we need plants for sale and volunteers on the day to make this a successful event. There is also a working bee the week-end before. See inside article. I n c l u d e d i n t h i s m o n t h ’ s N e w s l e t t e r i s G r e e n i n g A u s t r a l i a a m e n d m e n t s f o r N a t i v e P l a n t s o f N o r t h e r n A u s t r a l i a . What are your 3 favourit e Top End Native Plants? We would like to know what has worked best for you in your “Top End” gard ening experiences. E-mail: lacunant@ bigpond.com.au or write them down and give them to a committ ee member. Meeting the third Thursday of the month at 7:30 pm at Marrara Christian School Library ~ W i l l i e ’ s O p e n G a r d e n 8 t h & 9 t h A p r i l ~ Willie and May Burgess will open their ∑ The potting material should be a good garden on the weekend of the 8th and 9th of quality mix permitting free drainage. April at 7A McArthur Court, Leanyer, from 10am to 4pm. If you’ve been Willie and Labelling May’s place, you’ll know it’s a great show of Where possible, labels should be arranged well in what can be established on a suburban block advance of plant sales. Plants should be labelled using TENPS computer generated labels, if possible using predominantly native plants. The with the following information. weekend will be a very important promotion of native plants, and a fundraiser for TENPS. ∑ Botanic name. ∑ Common name, particularly in the Top There are a number of ways that YOU could End of the NT. assist. We need people on a roster to collect ∑ Description, including ultimate size. the $4.50 entrance fee at the front gate, some ∑ Growing conditions. of which comes back to TENPS as the ∑ Pruning tolerance. nominated charity. Other people will be ∑ Water requirements. rostered to assist with plant sales and to ∑ Special features, eg. bird or butterfly provide information to visitors. attracting, indoor or veranda, deciduous, perfumed, colourful flowers and leaves, shade or screening benefits. Some members have been propagating Territory native plants to be ready for sale, Plants can be brought to Willie’s just before either individually or at the propagation days th the 8 of April, so they can be ready for sale held in the past few months at Sally’s. Thanks from 10 a.m. Growers need to have a list of Sally for organising these events, and thanks the number of plants with prices so that we to those who have participated. can keep a track of the sales. A reminder that when purchasing, TENPS members receive a If you have plants for the weekend, please 10% discount off the price of the plants. arrange with Marj to get computer-generated labels for each specimen. A reminder of our We will also an information/display stand. guidelines…… Thankyou to the NT Carers Association for lending the display boards and providing a Appearance of Plants and Pots Plants should look healthy and vigorous (unless in a trailer for a barbeque and refreshments which deciduous phase). Pots should be clean and St John Ambulance Cadets will operate over undamaged. the weekend. Plants should be free of any obvious On the Saturday prior to the weekend, April disease or pest damage. 1st (no joke), there will be a working bee at ∑ Dead or partly eaten leaves should have 7A McArthur Court. If you could help out to been removed from plants. weed and tidy things up for an hour or so that ∑ Weeds should have been removed from would be good. We will start at 9 am. pots. ∑ Untidy growth on plants should be pruned. Please come to the next General Meeting on ∑ Any root material outside of pot should be March 16th to put your name down on a roster pruned. th th ∑ Plants should be staked as necessary. for the 8 and 9 of April, or contact Russell ∑ The size of the plant needs to be failing this. Your generous help and time will appropriate to pot size. be greatly appreciated. ∑ The plant should be ready to plant out or pot on. Russell Dempster Meeting the third Thursday of the month at 7:30 pm at Marrara Christian School Library ~ S p e a r g r a s s , F u e l A n d F i r e ~ A Landscape in Eucalyptus miniata woodland. All measurements were taken in woodlands/open savanna, and not pastures. Factors important to speargrass and herb speargrass sites, and some perennial grass distribution. systems have a high fuel load and low fire • Climate frequency. • Rainfall • Soil and drainage Increase in speargrass results in higher fuel • Fire – it maintains savanna – grasses load but pure speargrass has lower fuel load are lost without fire. than some mixed systems (speargrass and • Large animal grazing other native grasses). • Speargrass cycle – fuel loads getting larger with breakdown of traditional Fire activity goes up with increase in fire regime and removal of buffalo.