FURTHER AFIELD:
FLORA OF THE FITZGERALD NP AND STIRLING RANGES NP
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I was lucky to get a few days in the Great Southern in mid - November and these are some of the many delights I discovered.
Vikki Viela
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Calothamnus pinifolius (top left)
Calytrix leschenaultii (top right)
Chamelaucium megalopetalum (bottom left)
Goodenia scapigera (bottom right)
Fitzgerald River NP November 2020
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Grevillea nudiflora (top left)
Hakea victoria (top right)
Halgania andromedifolia (bottom left)
Verticordia habrantha (bottom right)
Fitzgerald River NP November 2020
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Gastrolobium rubrum (top left)
Glischrocaryon aureum (top right)
Goodenia brendannarum (bottom left)
Gompholobium polymorphum (bottom right)
Stirling Ranges NP November 2020
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Goodenia coerulea (top left)
Sphenotoma squarrosa (top right)
Xanthosia rotundifolia (bottom left)
Verticordia sp. (bottom right)
Stirling Ranges NP November 2020
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BLUE AND SHOULD BE BLUE...?
and other blues flowering now
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Photos by Vikki Viela taken around Yallingup Siding, first week of December
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Goodenia eatoniana (upper left)
Goodenia eatoniana alba (upper right)
Comesperma calymega. (bottom left)
Scaevola globulifera (bottom right)
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Seed Collecting Frustrations
Seed collectors find seed all the year round, but the busiest times are when summer approaches and during summer, and then in the autumn, especially March to May.
The summer species are peas and acacias, but also many species that drop their seeds if you don't do timely collecting.
This year, I have had trouble collecting Billardiera fusiformis and Dodonaea ceratocarpa. For the seed collector, this is not an unusual occurrence (and in good years, we collect a lot, as we know there are bad years - "we make hay while the sun shines"), but these two species are generally reliable.
Through going through the process of making a new website for the nursery I'm involved with - the Geographe Community Landcare Nursery - we discovered from one of the businesses giving us a quote that our first website, which I created, was still online, but in the dark recesses of the web. It is called the Wayback Machine.
On this website, I wrote a page on seed collecting. It is still there, but looking a bit dated, and some of the links probably don't work.
We are always needing new seed collectors, and as I am becoming older, I am worried about who will continue my work. Please contact me if you would be interested in obtaining training. I am happy to mentor anyone who is prepared to put in the work to learn careful plant identification.
Richard Clark
rmc@swisp.net.au
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Some Summer Flowering
Richard Clark
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Comesperma integerrimum at Wonnerup. Also found at Point Picquet in Meelup. A hardy salt-tolerant twining climber. This species has never been collected in Busselton - we have many species that have never found their way to the WA Herbarium. More photos.
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Nitraria billardieri (Nitre Bush).
Gracetown 3rd December 2020
This species grows in coastal Australia and also inland. It has an edible fruit much relished by birds.
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Lechnaultia expansa
Ambergate 4th December 2020
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THE WANPIC PROJECT
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN NATIVE PLANTS IN CULTIVATION
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The WANPIC PROJECT was launched this year in the May edition of the Wildflower Society of Western Australia newsletter (you have to be a WSWA member to receive this), and in our South West Capes May e-newsletter.
It is an attempt to gather as much information as we can about the Western Australian plant species being cultivated in Western Australian gardens, in revegetation/restoration/rehabilitation plantings, and in amenity plantings including Main Roads, landscaping, parks, and botanical gardens.
We are asking gardeners to list the Western Australian species growing in their gardens. If you would like to participate, please send a short email to me with the subject WANPIC, and I will email back to you some information on how to go about listing your garden plants.
The project is going quite well, with the lists being added to a database. We are about to send out a WANPIC newsletter to let participants know the current results.
We are delighted that we have received some lists from local South West Capes' gardeners, but we'd love to receive more!
This is a long-term project which will take some years, but we are slowly buidling a picture of the WA species and plants being cultivated in Western Australian gardens.
Richard Clark
rmc@swisp.net.au
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Time for planting
We expect it is always time for planting as far as nurseries are concerned, but it is quite difficult to establish native Australian plants in our climate here in the SW in late Spring-Summer. If planting, you need to make sure the plants are watered over the Summer, and perhaps shaded.
The easiest method is to plant in the late Autumn - Winter with the rains, and let the rains establish the plants. Even then, you need, these days, to water over the first Summer.
With the soil ready to go, it's time to plant! We have listed local nurseries in the past, but here is a short list.
More nurseries and plant sales can be found in the metropolitan area.
This is a new page I have created for the Wildflower Society (Richard). It needs further editing I expect, but there are a surprising number of nurseries specialising in our native Australian flora.
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Courtesy of the Australian Native Plants Society, an article on our very own Christmas Tree
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Bits and Pieces
Membership
Info on the Wildflower Society website here. You can join online, or phone the office Tuesdays and Thursdays 10.00am to 2.30pm (08) 9383 7979
Richard has a fairly up-to-date membership list, but he would appreciate new members letting him know that they have joined. rmc@swisp.net.au
Our newsletter archive
ALL OUR PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS CAN BE ACCESSED FROM THE WSWA WEBSITE.
Other groups
Updates from other groups in our region concerned with the environment:
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South West Capes Committee - 2020/21
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If anyone has interesting articles or photos that you would like included in the newsletter, please forward them to John Hill at dihill@iinet.net.au
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