Australian Plants Society, Keilor Plains

The Grassy Plains Network has lots of wildflower tours planned for spring - early bookings advisable!

Activities from Saturday, 14 September – Sunday, 3 November › Grasslands › – Victorian National Parks AssociationVictorian National Parks Association Saturday, 14 September | 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Grassland tour – Bon Thomas and Railway Parade Grasslands Railway Parade Grassland 1 Railway Parade, Deer Park, Victoria, Australia We're off to Railway Parade Grasslands, a small remnant next to the new Deer Park Train Station (good parking!). It's immed...

Prof John Morgan on seeds and grasslands - worth checking out.

Seeds of Knowledge 2 Assoc Prof John Morgan La Trobe Uni Associate Professor John Morgan from La Trobe University presents the second of the Seeds of Knowledge webinar series with a challenging and insightful prese...

Oooh Phebaliums are indeed Phabulous !
Thanks Marilyn and it’s great to have the names in the main text.

Look who was voted Moonee Valley's favourite tree!

MOONEE VALLEY’S FAVOURITE TREE 💚🌳

“It gives me great pleasure every time I walk by it.”

Our lovely Lemon Scented Gum is now officially Moonee Valley Favourite Tree!

Standing very proudly for nearly 100 years on the corner of Woods St & Maribyrnong Rd, Ascot Vale, this Corymbia citriodora is also known as Tree 356 on the Moonee Valley City Council significant tree register.

Final results (from 388 votes) were:
🗳 145 votes for the lovely Lemon Scented Gum in Ascot Vale
🗳 91 votes for the gigantic Grey Gum in Avondale Heights
🗳 86 votes for the glorious Golden Elm in Essendon
🗳 66 votes for the remnant River Red Gum in Strathmore

A huge thanks to Logan for organising and running the comp, to Angela, Jane & Adele for their expertise in shortlisting the 20+ nominations down to 4, and to everyone who nominated &/or voted too!

We’d love to hear your thoughts and memories about this spectacular specimen in the comments below 👇🏽

Long live our lovely Lemon Scented Gum 💚🌳

Wonderful documentary on the work being done at Iramoo.

Friends of Iramoo | From the Ground Up: Stories of Landcare Grasslands in Melbourne’s west are encroached on by some of the nastiest and most pervasive w**d species including serrated tussock and Chilean Needle Grass,...

Wow!!!

Everyone thought this tiny lizard was extinct — then it turned up on Melbourne's fringe Emi Arnold and Pat Monarca were about to finish work when they spotted a long-lost tiny dragon. Now Zoos Victoria is leading the charge to bring the reptiles back from the brink.

Fungal biocontrol being introduced to tackle boxthorn:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-01/african-boxthorn-csiro-w**d-control-biocontrol-fungus/104148286

How do you kill this native pest? By importing its natural enemy The CSIRO introduces a biocontrol fungus in the hope it reduces the spread of African boxthorn w**d, but it is not available outside NSW due to lack of funding.

If you're after even MORE native plants, Poyntons nursery in Essendon has a sale on until July 28th.

Links to updated information on our "Gardens for Life" conference later this year are in this post. The program of speakers is now published and you can choose any mix of the 5 days or why not book on one of our fabulous wildflower tours? Check out the images of flora and fauna to see on the Gippsland and wilson's Prom tour. Please share widely so your friends and contacts have a chance to book. Early bird prices finish on 30 June. Thanks!

Deeply grateful to LaTrobe student Allison Menzies, who loves insects and plants so much she gave up her birthday to deliver an enlightening talk on her research.
A fascinating glimpse into the workings of nature.
Also thanks to supervisor Susan for cupcakes!

Anne Langmaid of APS Keilor Plains fame does a wonderful presentation on the genus Eremephila. The nursery at Melton Botanic Garden sells lots of interesting species as well.

The container plant combinations that Kuranga created for the stall shared with APS Vic at MIFGS attracted huge interest from a wide range of gardeners.
You can attract wildlife with potted plants too.
Here's a few suggestions:

Pots for Wildlife - Gardening Australia Jane creates potted arrangements of native plants perfect for encouraging wildlife into gardens of any size.

It's hard to pick a favourite, but which eucalyptus would you vote for?

Eucalypt of the Year 2024 - Eucalypt Australia The 2022 Eucalypt of the Year is the Eucalyptus regnans, the Mountain Ash; it is the tallest flowering tree in the world.

Our very own longstanding members John and Corinne! It was great to see so many special plants had recovered from the great flood of 2022!

A sale on at Kuranga?
Mind the stampede....

What books on native plants or gardening would you like to see?
What is missing from bookshops now?
Regional flora? specific plant books? park-specific guide books? general growing info?

The Friends of Brisbane Ranges are a fine group and welcome visitors to their activities such as this first walk for the year.

The first activity for 2024 will take place on Sunday 11th Feb.
We will walk the new circuit track at Steiglitz. Back where it all began with the first group activity in 1982.
10:00 Start at Anakie General Store for morning coffee and social catchup (Please RSVP to [email protected] for booking purposes)
11:30am approx: Circuit walk commences, plan to finish by 3PM

So many water-loving plants doing exceptionally well this wet summer.
This is Brass Buttons (Cotula coronopifolia) flourishing by a freshwater stream as it hits the beach between Bear Gully and Walkerville, Gippsland.

Lovely article by our February speaker Rachael Fowler on the citizen scientists supporting plant research:

'Time is their secret weapon': the hidden grey army quietly advancing species discovery in Australia Without these older Australians, my research wouldn’t be where it is today. So let’s meet a few of them.

I had been meaning to put a note on Nicole’s picture of that highly floriferous and colourful Eremophila but now I come to do it … gone. However since no one else ventured to name it , I will suggest Eremophilas phyllopoda x spathulata. A natural hybrid, magnificent dense silver shrub to a metre or more. Highly recommended.

Photos taken on our APS Keilor Plains trip to Lake Mountain - wet but wonderful!

Reposting from W**ds in the Early Stages of Invasion (WESI) page:

While you are out and about over the festive season. Keep an eye open for invasive Giant Willow Herb (Epilobium hirsutum) that has started flowering. Seeds are readily spread by the wind and on water. If you see it, pop a record into iNaturalist, ALA, VBA... what ever your favourite system is.
A few facts about high risk Giant Willow Herb:
Tall perennial herb to 2.5 m high
Flowers bright pink to dark purple, December to March
Narrow seed pods to 9 cm long, split to release small seeds with fine hairs that catch the wind
Has an underground rhizome (stem)
Above ground stems have flaky bark near the base
First collected in Victoria in 1996 and now recorded at a number of sites often at the edges of wetlands, drainage lines and other damp places.
Photos from a creek line at Buninyong near Ballarat in 2016 and 2017.
Reference VicFlora: VicFlora: Epilobium hirsutum (rbg.vic.gov.au)
Fact sheet: Victorian Alert W**d Fact Sheet: Hairy willow-herb (vgls.vic.gov.au)

If you're keen to provide year-round nectar/food for insects, this guide is quite good (despite being a bit NSW-biased in its plant suggestions):

media.australian.museum

New location for what will be a fabulous conference next year.

Our very own me doing the presentation. Why not check it out on Tuesday. Cheers. Chris.

‘Gardening with grassland plants’ Grassy Talk and GPN meeting Tuesday 8 August

Our next Grassy Talk will be by Chris Clarke, who will discuss gardening with grassland species. Chris is Vice President of the Australian Native Plants Society, has a keen interest in the plants of the Victorian Volcanic Plain and was involved in producing “Plants of Melbourne’s Western Plains – A Gardeners Guide”. Expect glorious photos and great insights!

Chris's talk (6:30–7:30pm) will be followed by our regular monthly GPN meeting. Book for both the talk and the meeting on the VNPA website here: https://vnpa.org.au/event/gardening-with-grassland-plants-grassy-talk-and-gpn-meeting/.

A tough useful little plant - apparently Skinks and Bluetongues eat the seeds. Has anyone grown it from seed?

A few berries from saloop or berry salt bush (Einadia hastata) - can you see the seeds inside some of them? They are those black dots! The succulent "balloon" structure and colour of the fruit makes them desirable to birds, lizards and small mammals - who then disperse the seed.

What a magnificent trip to Mt Buller with APS Keilor Plains. One rainy day just added some atmosphere!

Melton BG nursery is reopening! A great day out! Wonderful plants to buy , lovely people and the gardens are always spectacular.

Our Feb 2023 Plant list is athttps://fmbg.org.au/nursery/FMBG_Nursery_Plantsforsale_2023_02.pdf including 31 species of low growing dryland Eucalypts. We’re stocked up and looking forward to seeing you.

Delicate and graceful 😍 the Jingymia Mallee (or Skirt Mallee) Eucalyptus synandra is a beautiful, open, multi-stemmed tree, with a pendulous crown and a weeping habit. Growing to a height between 3.5 to 10 metres, this mallee has a lignotuber present and so will re-shoot from the base following fire; this is a useful feature for habit management in cultivation, whereby unwanted stems can be base-cut just above the lignotuber.

The specific epithet 'synandra', comes from the Greek, 'syn', meaning with or together and 'andros', meaning man, male parts, referring to the joined stamens. These united stamens give the skirt-like appearance to the creamy, ageing to pink, flowers.

Threatened in its endemic range, this magnificent mallee grows in sandy, lateritic soil and can flower between August and March. It is flowering beautifully now in Kings Park and can be seen at the far end of the Education Car Park and the Eucalyptus Garden.

📷 A Smith