Austalian Plants Societ Armidale & Distict Group PO Box 735 Armidale NSW 2350 hp://www.anps-armidale.org.au Volume 33, No. 4 ISSN Spring Edion 2012 It’s Wale 6me on the Tablelands Crowea exalata ssp. magnifolia Acacia buxifolia Acacia longifolia IMPORTANT Some of our members are missing out on important noces. If you do not have an email address perhaps you have a Acacia obtusifolia friend, relave or neighBour with one who can pass on those messages. Please send me a contact email address so we can add you to our list. Contact Us: Armidale & District Group! PO Box 735 Armidale NSW 2350 President/Newsletter: !! Maria Hitchcock !Ph: 6775 1139 !! E: [email protected] Secretary: !!!Barry Tolchard !!Ph: 6772 7512 !! E: [email protected] Treasurer: !!! John Nevin !!Ph: 6775 2128 !! E: [email protected] Thank you to all contriButors. All ar6cles, snippets and photos are welcome. There is NO DEADLINE for this newsle?er. Ar6cles will Be included Based on a FIRST COME Basis. Please send your ar6cles, snippets, le?ers to Maria at [email protected] or send a hard copy to PO Box 735 Armidale NSW 2350. PHOTOS should Be sent individually as jpg files either via email or copied onto a disk. APS NSW - Armidale & District Group Spring 2012 Newsle>er page 1 GROUP INFORMATION The Armidale and District Group of APS---NSW started on 6th August, 1977 as the New England Group of the Society for Growing Australian Plants. It has been running conDnuously since that Dme with a couple of name changes. We are a very friendly and helpful group who enjoy monthly forums and meeDngs, garden visits and field trips to help members enjoy the search for knowledge about our nave flora and our local environment. We range from raw beginners to others who have been gardening and researching for many years - all willing to share their knowledge. Formal Mee6ngs are held at 5.30pm on the second Tuesday of each month. Members are welcome to aend. Nave Plant and Garden Forums are held in the TAFE LiBrary Seminar Room on the 3rd Tuesday of each month (except June, July, December and January) from 7.30 – 9.30 where members talk about plants in flower from specimens displayed on the flower table and share informaon about gardening topics. The Forum is followed by a delicious supper and an interesDng speaker. Old and new members, visitors and families, are very welcome at these Forums and on our ouDngs (see page 8 for details). Annual General Mee6ng is held in February. Sols6ce Func6on is held in June. This is usually a lunch and garden ramble at the home of one of our members. Wa?le Day Ac6vity is held on a day closest to 1 September. Christmas Party is held early in December at the home of one of our members. We also lead regular trips into the bush and the occasional weekend escape to the coast or elsewhere. We parDcipate in St Peter’s Garden Tour in November each year, opening one of our gardens to the public and holding our Giant Annual Plant Sale. We hold a Market Stall each month in the Mall. Come along and say hello. Our members have also been acDve in developing and maintaining the Na6ve Garden Beds at the ArBoretum. We welcome volunteers who would like to help. See p.8 for our calendar and details of events. ALL YOU NEED TO JOIN OUR GROUP IS AN INTEREST IN OUR NATIVE PLANTS Your President writes: As a follow up, Bill Aitchison, Leader of the Acacia SG gave a talk on wales at our August meeDng. There are It’s been a long and hard winter with a record number of over 1000 species across Australia with a huge variaon frosts persisDng into September. The garden has only in phyllode size, shape and flowering period. just started to move but the dry weather is holding it back. This is the Dme that it’s easy to lose plants and On September 1, The HOn. Peter GarreQ launched my that has been the case in my garden with a few new book ‘A Celebraon of Wale’ at the ANBG. The casualDes noDced over the past week. The SolsDce launch was an enormous success with over 80 people in luncheon was great, thanks to Barry who held the fort in aendance and the bookshop sold out all their supply Cynthia’s absence. Barry and Cynthia have done a large plus two extra boxes brought up by David Rosenberg, amount of planDng and I look forward to seeing their the publisher. People were buying mulDple copies and windbreak along the front fence when it grows up a bit. some were to be donated to Primary schools which was nice. At the same Dme the local group held a Wale Day A number of us came together in July to plant out the lunch with everyone wearing their sprigs of wale. rest of the Lomandras. We decided to divide our labour so that some dug, some planted and some watered. This I am sending this newsleQer out early as I am about to system worked very well. Hopefully the Lomandras will go to Canada for my daughter’s wedding and to catch up fill out the ground layer and inhibit weed growth making with old friends. A small group of members will be going maintenance easier. They will also provide a neat liQle to Coffs Harbour for our return visit and the Coffs eco-system for lizards, frogs and other small creatures. Harbour Group have put together a wonderful program. (See the arDcle included in this newsleQer). The September Forum will be on Weeds and their The Acacia Study Group Tour of the Tablelands was a Management. The speaker is James Browning, Weeds resounding success and I have wriQen it up for this Officer from the New England Weeds Authority who has newsleQer. Altogether we found 51 species but there promised to bring along some small idenDficaon are more that we didn’t see. This area is parDcularly rich guides. It sounds really interesDng and I’m sorry to miss in Acacias but not many of the species are being grown it. in local gardens which is a pity. I feel we need to promote the smaller species in parDcular. perhaps this is Don’t forget Sunday, 14th October, when we host something the group could look at as a future Tamworth group. We need lots of hands on deck and project. good news: Angus Stewart has confirmed as our speaker in November. Maria APS NSW - Armidale & District Group Spring 2012 Newsle>er page 2 Acacia Tour of the Tablelands It was starDng to get late but John wanted to show us a Text and images by Maria Hitchcock whole lot more on the Gulf Rd. We stopped along the way and sighted A. dawsonii, A. dealbata, A. montana, The group of Acacia Study Group members met on A. viscidula, A. neriifolia, A. pubifolia, A. burbidgeae, Friday, 17th August to begin their Acacia tour, which had A. filicifolia and A. buxifolia. Up a rocky hillside we came been expertly prepared by John Nevin. John had gone to across Olearia ramosissima and Zieria cy?soides in enormous trouble to prepare a folder for everyone with several colour forms. It had been a long but highly illustrated descripDons of all the wales on the successful day Acacia spong and we were happy to Tablelands, daily programs with all the stops marked, a have an early night aer dinner. checklist and species lists for the various Naonal Parks we would visit. Ager dinner I gave a presentaon on the Emblem and Wale Day and had a mini launch of my new book ‘A Celebraon of Wale’. Some of the group at Mulligan’s Hut The next morning dawned very cold but sunny and dry. This Dme we set off along the highway towards Gibraltar Range Naonal Park. At various stops along the way we came across A. filicifolia, A. irrorata, A. neoanglica, A. falcata, A. falciformis, A stricta, A. floribunda, A. rubida, A. melanoxylon, A. suaveolens, A. venulosa, Acacia pruinosa beadleana, A. terminalis and A. mitchellii. We also saw Banksia marginata, Callicoma serra?folia, Boronia On Saturday morning we headed for Bolivia Hill where anethifolius, Hovea pedunculata and Telopea aspera. John took us along the old abandoned railway line to Ager lunch we drove down Mulligan’s Hut track and view the Acacias. Along the way we saw Acacia rubida stopped to check out A. barringtonensis, A. obtusifolia, and A. fimbriata. At Bolivia Hill we spoQed the rare A. A. ulicifolia, A. buxifolia, A. irrorata, A. floribunda, A. pycnostachya, A. neriifolia and A. fimbriata. We then melanoxylon, A. mitchellii and a couple of mystery drove to Torrington to the Blatherarm secDon where we wales which turned out to be A. ixodes and A. orites. stopped several Dmes and spoQed A. longifolia, A. betchei, A neoanglica, A. buxifolia, A. torringtonensis, A. On Monday the group headed down Bundarra Rd, where filicifolia and A. ulicifolia. This area is dominated by large they saw A. leptoclada, A. triptera, A. leucoclada, stands of Banksia neoanglica and we were lucky to find a A. buxifolia, A. paradoxa, A. dawsonii, A. neoanglica, couple of yellow forms. A. falciformis, A. viscidula, A. pruinosa, A. flexifolia, A. neriifolia, A. filicifolia and A. rubida. A side trip was From there we drove back to Mystery Face Rd and found then made to Dangars Falls to look at A.