- Feb 23, 2018
January and February can be pretty dull in the bush; nothing much is flowering and the heat and dust make the trees and shrubs look grey and desperate.
Coming round a corner and seeing Lightwood Wattle in its full glory,beautifully perfumed, ignoring the temperature and the lack of rain is a blessed relief.
Lightwood (Acacia implexa) is a now uncommon species found on creeklines and roadsides especially on the Dalyenong/Stuart Mill Rd and around Mt Moliagul.
It provides nectar and pollen for many insects and small mammals when there is little else about.
A ready germinator and unfussy grower, it should be included in large gardens and revegetation plantings.
Two other wattles join Lightwood in a Summer flowering- Spreading Wattle (A genistifolia) and Deane’s Wattle (A. deanei ssp paucijuga).
The former is widespread but Deane’s Wattle occurs only on granitic sands- Kooyoora area and Emu.
- Feb 11, 2018
Anne Hughes takes a select group on a tour of the wonderful Wax Gardens in St Arnaud October 2017.
View the brochure for more information.
- Feb 5, 2018
Current News
Bulokes
(Allocasuarina luehmannii) are listed under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and endangered under the Federal Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
In this district, although there are many stands of Bulokes, most are quite old and very few are regenerating. This is mainly due to grazing pressure from stock on farms as well as rabbits and excessive numbers of kangaroos.
I have noticed that many of these trees are suffering from the recent long drought and there is often sever wind damage, possibly due to their age.
On my property at Carapooee, there were 28 old Bulokes when it was purchased in 1999. The property is under a Trust for Nature covenant, to protect it in perpetuity.
Even though there has been no stock on the property since 1995, there was very little recruitment and seemed to be only from suckering in areas disturbed by erosion. In recent years, however there have been hundreds of seedlings of various ages around all of the female Bulokes as shown below.
The only difference that I can see is that the rabbit population has been dramatically reduced by, the drought and constant ripping and fumigating.
I would like to see small areas on farms fenced to exclude stock and allow some regeneration.
