Flowering in April 2018

This is just a small selection of flowering specimens brought to our April meeting from members’ gardens – in Early Winter.

Thanks to Ben Eaton, and Mike for images.

Verticordia staminosa

Gossypium sturtianum (Sturt’s Desert Rose)

Epacris impressa (Pink Heath)

Correa alba (pink)

Verticordia grandis

Verticordia grandis (Scarlet Featherflower)

Eremophila flaccida

Eremophila flaccida ssp. attenuata – calyx

Veronica arenaria (was Derwentia)

Xerochrysum viscosum (Sticky Everlasting)

Correa backhouseana ?

Correa reflexa form

Correa pulchella

Correa reflexa ‘Lemon and Lime’

Crowea saligna (Willow leafed Crowea)

Anigozanthos sp.

Eremophila glabra form

Eremophila glabra

Grevillea ‘Peaches and Cream’

Grevillea ‘Ellendale Pool’ ?

Ptilotus obovatus

Eremophila abietina

Correa lawrenciana ‘rubra’ (Tree Correa)

Eremophila cuneifolia – calyx

Siegfriedia darwinioides

Eremophila sp.

Eremophila calorhabdos

Eremophila sp.

Rhododendron lochiae

Acacia beckleri ?

Homoranthus porteri

Eremophila sp

Eremophila ‘Meringur Midnight’

Yarra Yarra hanging basket for RHSV competition at MIFGS

Some plant lists for our Native Plant and Book Sale

Click on the plantseller lists that are up on our home page. More will be added in the weeks to come. Print them out just before you come (if you are looking for something specific) as they will be updated weekly as we receive them.

Visit to Monash University Gardens, March 4th

On a warm Sunday, 9 Yarra Yarra members, students and 4 visitors made up a group keen to explore some of the gardens at Monash University. Ably led by Colin Gould, who spent several years working on these gardens, we noted the impressive number of mature trees, Colin pointing out their propensity to drop large limbs. All the plantings at Monash University since it started have been devoted to Australian plants (partial list to follow).

We stopped by the Engineering Department where some remains of the West Gate bridge and the story of its collapse were displayed. There were some lovely mature Melaleucas and indigenous plantings nearby. We proceeded to some newer developments, all quite healthy and lush despite the ongoing dry spell, irrigation being evident. After a cuppa we proceeded to the Earth Sciences garden, a magnificent display of nearly 500 rock specimens (some weighing up to 14 tons) ‘laid out to represent a pattern of rock outcrops and set among beautiful native plants representing each geographical region in Victoria’. Impressive and inspiring. Colin then took us back via the Rainforest section and two quite different pond areas. All in all an interesting and enjoyable day. Special thanks to Colin.

Some of the trees encountered:

Allocasuarina cunninghamii, A. torulosa, Angophora costata, Araucaria bidwillii (Bunya Bunya), Syzygium anisatum (was Backhousia anisata – Aniseed Myrtle), Brachychiton acerifolius, populneus, x grafted, Elaeocarpus reticulates, Corymbia citriodiora, C. maculata, Eucalyptus saligna, E. sideroxylon, Melaleuca linariifolia, M. styphelioides, Melia azedarach

Other plants encountered:

Alyogyne huegelii, Banksia marginata, B. robur, various Correas, Dianellas, Grevilleas, Lomandras, Thomasia, Eremophila nivea (mass planting), Indigofera australis, Lepidozamia, Leptospernum laevigatum, dwarf L. petersonii, Macrozamia communis, Marianthus bicolor, many Xerochysums

Report by Peter Smith

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Flowering in March 2018

This is just a small selection of flowering specimens brought to our March meeting from members’ gardens – in late Summer.

Thanks to Joanne, Jill and Mike for images.

Acacia jibberdingensis

Verticordia monadelpha (Woolly Featherflower)

Anigozanthos flavidus ‘Pink Joey’

Verticordia sp.

Callistemon ‘Tangerine Dream’

Callistemon citrinus hybrid

Thryptomene denticulata

Hypocalymma robustum (Swan River Myrtle)

Baeckea linifolia

Chrysocephalum apiculatum (Bridgewater Bay)

Ozothamnus diosmifolius (Rice flower)

Marianthus bicolor

Veronica arenaria

Scaevola aemula (pink form)

Hemiandra pungens (Snake Bush)

Eremophila malacoides (Frontage Poverty Bush)

Diplolaena grandiflora (Wild Rose

Diplolaena grandiflora (Wild Rose)

Correa pulchella ‘Catie Bec’

Correa ‘Portland Frost and Lime’

Verticordia chrysostachys

Grevillea ‘Peaches & Cream’

Homoranthus porteri

Spyridium coactilifolium? (Butterfly Spyridium)

Eremophila maculata form

Syzygium anisatum (Ringwood tree)

Two Box Hill gardens – February 2018

On Sunday 4th February, twenty APS Yarra Yarra members visited two gardens in Box Hill with an emphasis on the successful use of small areas, which is where modern communities are heading.

The first visit was to a unit development consisting of several private and common areas built in the sixties by the Blessed Sacrament Religious order. Frank O’Dea, now an elderly member of this community developed the gardens using Australian plants over many years. He joined the Maroondah APS and has established a remarkable garden. He maintains a spreadsheet of all the plants, with details of when they were planted, and so on. Of late, Joe Wilson (also a Maroondah APS member) maintains the gardens for him, and we were fortunate Joe could lead the tour.

Some of the impressive plants were: Grevillea georgeana (2M), Correa backhouseana, Pomaderris lanigera, Eremophila mirabilis, E. nivea, Allocasuarina nana, Melaleuca decussata, Spyridium halmaturinum (Kangaroo Island), Leptospermum petersonii, Hibbertia scandens, Pandorea jasminoides (reaching for the heavens), Chorilaena quercifolia, Calothamnus species, Darwinia meeboldii, D. citriodora (2x2m), Marianthus (was Billardiera) bicolor, various acacia, a towering Euc. maculata (25m+) and more. We were amazed at the vigour and variety of the small area plantings, attesting to the good soils around Box Hill, and the vigilant pruning done by Joe Wilson, our knowledgeable guide. Frank also invited us in to admire his 3m plus Wollemi pine growing in a pot on his balcony.

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Off to the second garden, a diverse, fenced-in, corner block garden designed by Merele Webb and planted out by the owner, Diane Hedin. Merele outlined to us some of the challenges that the site presented. The small original pond was moved and enlarged and a creek bed and a mini ‘gorge’ were created, both leading to the pond. Peter Smith executed the hard landscaping for the garden.

Granite rocks were used and eventually the large eucalypt was removed and replaced by three Eucalyptus saxatilis (Suggan Buggan mallee) and a Eucalyptus pumila. Diane used lots of local plants and grasses (sourced from CRISP nursery), plants from Chris Fletcher and a couple of Phil Vaughan’s special grevilleas. Two dogs took their toll on the garden early in the piece, but since their departure, the garden has flourished with abundant skink and insect life. Merele emphasized that Diane had achieved a multi-layered effect in just a couple of years, using predominantly tube plants. Afternoon tea was enjoyed at the end of our visit.

Thankyou to both Frank, Joe, Diane, Merele and Peter for allowing us to visit the two gardens, giving of their time, and providing the background history and planning involved at both.

Report by Jenny H. and Jill L.

Images from Ben Eaton, Leanne Stute, and Jill Lulham

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Flowering in February 2018

This is just a small selection of flowering specimens brought to our February meeting from members’ gardens – in late Summer.

Thanks to Ben Eaton for most of the images.

Regelia ciliata

Eremophila mackinlayi

Alyogyne hakeifolia

Corymbia ficifolia grafted

Grevillea ‘Caloundra Gem’

Melaleuca lateritia (Robin Red-breast bush)

Persoonia pinifolia (Pine-leaved Geebung)

Anigozanthos hybrid (Kangaroo Paw)

Verticordia pennigera

Verticordia venusta

Eremophila sp.

Melaleuca fulgens ‘Hot Pink’

Grevillea ‘Spirit of Anzac’

Flowering in January 2018

This is just a small selection of flowering specimens from an Eltham garden in High Summer, since our group doesn’t have a meeting in January.

Chrysocephalum semipapposum

Gossypium sturtianum (Sturt’s Desert Rose)

Melaleuca lateritia (Robin Red-breast bush)

Eremophila ‘Kalbarri Carpet’

Eremophila cuneifolia

Scaevola albida ‘Pink Mist’

Scaevola albida ‘Mauve Clusters’

Ozothamnus diosmifolius (Rice Flower)

Hypocalymma xanthopetalum

Crowea ‘Festival’

Eremophila subteretifolia

Hibiscus geranioides

Thryptomene baeckeaceae

Pandorea jasminoides (Bower of Beauty)

Flowering in December 2017

This is just a small selection of specimens brought to our meeting for High Summer.

Images: Ben Eaton

Grevillea ‘Peaches and Cream’

Grevillea wilsonii

Chrysocephalum semipapposum

Scaevola ‘Mauve Clusters’

Grev ‘Moonlight’

Melaleuca coccinea

Grevillea ‘Elegance’

Actinotus helianthi

Grevillea ‘Pink Surprise’

Anigozanthos sp.

Grevillea ‘Poorinda Royal Mantle’

Elaeocarpus reticulatus

Veronica arenaria

Wycliffe garden visit – Kangaroo Ground. November 2017

Roy and Janet have spent 53 years of service with the Wycliffe organization (involving postings all over the world). In their retirement they have volunteered a considerable amount of their time to establishing and maintaining native gardens around the Wycliffe Centre’s buildings on the 28 acre property. This also includes propagating a large number of the plants.

The Centre is now home to EQUIP Training which was established under the auspices of Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia, and exists to train intercultural workers in the areas of language learning, linguistics, translation, literacy and other language related roles. EQUIP is affiliated with SIL International (Summer Institute of Linguistics), an organisation that specialises in working with languages spoken by the world’s lesser known people groups living in over 50 countries.

The buildings in mud brick were designed by Alistair Knox in the late 1960’s and built by voluntary church groups in the early 1970’s. Half of the 28 acres are paddocks. There is a dam available to help irrigate some of the lawns and garden beds. Water is recycled from the sewerage system into the dam.

APS Yarra Yarra had visited Wycliffe about 4 years ago for a working bee and garden visit. Much has changed since then, many more garden beds and landscaping have taken place since. There were 20 members of our group in attendance.

It was a long walk around the various sections of the property with many beautiful views across paddocks. It was hot sunny weather but we saw lots of beautiful plants doing well, well-mulched garden beds free of weeds, some very recently planted. We often took respite in the shade of the magnificent big eucalypts that abound on the property, and were very impressed by what has been created in the various garden beds by Roy and Janet and some volunteers. Janet was telling me that while they were once at Wycliffe gardening 5 days a week, in more recent times that has come down to 3 days per week. They manage their time, taking off the wet or the very hot days but always putting in the required effort to create beauty and habitat for the people who live there or visit, and also for the wildlife.

Roy and Janet have used compost and gypsum to improve the soil in many of the garden beds. There is a good collection of eremophilas, correas, callistemons, hakeas, banksias, westringias, grevilleas, alyogynes, croweas, etc and some wonderful established eucalypts across the property. There is a constant problem with rabbits, and so a need for rabbit guards around most of the new plantings. There is also a healthy vegetable patch.

Roy also told us about their plans to extend the planting down to the dam to extend the bush corridor for birds and animals. I think we might have to consider having one of our garden visits morph into a Wycliffe working bee again, with plants & labour provided by us.

Thank you Roy and Janet – you are an inspiration to all of us.

Report by Miriam Ford and Jill Lulham

Images: Jill Lulham

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