South West Capes Newsletter
 

ANPSA CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
 

SUBSCRIBE TO MICHAEL TICHBON'S
PLANT OF THE MONTH

Capel Land Conservation District Committee's Michael Tichbon publishes a native plant of the month which you can subscribe to, and April's is Eucalyptus orbifolia or the Round-Leaved Mallee.  This is what he writes:

I planted this specimen in late winter of 2018 on my property and the two plants have done very well with no artificial watering and despite the dry summer. It is flowering now and will do so for an extended period of time. This eucalypt has unusual bark, described as “minni ritchi” and also has circular leaves, hence its name “orbifolia”. This eucalypt is an excellent ornamental for large gardens, can be used for a windbreak and attracts native birds.

You may also want to visit the Michael Tichbon Open Space at Lot 61 Hasties Rd, Gelorup as one of your daily exercise times. It is one of the Capel LCDC's ongoing projects and is open for the public to enjoy. Once a bare horse paddock, it has been transformed into a showcase of water-wise West Australian plants and is bursting with native birds and animals. There is always something in flower and it's a great place to explore and get ideas on what to plant in your own garden.

You can also see the plant of the month on the Capel LCDC Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/landconservationdistrictcommittee/posts/

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN PLANTS IN CULTIVATION

(WANPIC Project)
 

In the virtual supermarket of Western Australian native plants possible for cultivation, there are around 350 genera and their species grouped into about 90 botanical families, and seed is commercially available for roughly 75% of these. The endeavour to bring more Western Australian species into cultivation will increase these figures.

In gardens with a wide variety of Western Australian species, there are around 90 genera and their species grouped into about 30 botanical families, and seed is available for nearly all of these.

In reality, Australian gardeners know only a handful of genera names and their family names. Most gardeners are familiar with genera like Grevillea, Acacia, Eucalyptus, Boronia, Banksia, Lechenaultia, etc., some knowing only the common names like Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos), Peppermint Tree (Agonis), Geraldton Wax (Chamelaucium), Woolly Bush (Adenanthos), Bottle Brush (Callistemon), …

In the following table, I have made a list of genera commonly grown in gardens, starting with the monocot families and then the eudicots or dicots. Under each family heading, I have a pared-down list of the most common genera in cultivation. I have omitted ferns and plants that grow in water. I have emphasised some of the more commonly known genera. In Western Australia, we have so many genera and their species which could be more widely known and grown in gardens.

Using this list as a guide, I am hoping that some of the readers here could make a rough list of the Western Australian plants they have in their garden: we are attempting to discover which Western Australian species are being cultivated in Western Australian gardens. If you could help, you can contact me by email – rmc@swisp.net.au – and I can send you a file in Word or Excel and some notes to help you make a list.
 

This is what I call the 'Basic Garden'. In trying to use this template for the York Branch of the Wildflower Society of Western Australia, I ran into difficulties as they had species in genera that were not on my basic list. 
The solution is simply to add them to the list.
I would really appreciate some returns of a list of your garden plants. It does not need to be 100% comprehensive, but together, we can build a picture of what we are cultivating in Western Australia.
In the February WSWA newsletter, there was a call from me to resuscitate the garden or cultivation subcommittee.
I copy the text here:
 

 

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 

I have been to several Zoom meetings lately, and this system seems to be working well. There have been concerns about security, but that is mainly because people organising a meeting haven't followed security protocols.

If you would be interested in attending a South West Capes Zoom meeting (time to be decided), for security reasons, we need you to show your interest by emailing a request to be invited.

Once we have received your request, we will organise a meeting, hopefully in May.

I attended a meeting in NSW recently organised by the Sutherland group (branch) of the NSW Australian Plant Society. It was a conventional meeting with a speaker, and a plant table (members had emailed in garden photos for discussion). There were over 50 attendees, with several groups/branches joining in.

If you think you would like to do this, please email me a request.  Even after the virus restrictions are loosened, this may be a good occasional option for a meeting for our branch which covers such a large geographical area.

Richard Clark
rmc@swisp.net.au

NEW EDITION OF THE BANKSIA BOOK

AND WOULDN'T THIS BE GREAT??

Photography by John Hill 

Photos by Vikki