Enjoying My Garden

New bank where deposits are guaranteed to grow

2012-01-11T15:04:00.001+11:00

''There are all of these threats all the time'' … Brett Summerell, from the Australian Botanic Garden, believes PlantBank is a vitally important new project. Photo: Kate Geraghty

New bank where deposits are guaranteed to grow

CONSTRUCTION has begun on the largest seedbank in the southern hemisphere.
PlantBank, located at the Australian Botanic Garden, can hold up to 200 million living seeds in what has been referred to as an insurance policy against the extinction of plant species.
''There are all of these threats happening all the time - climate change, new diseases … land clearing … and that's why you want to have this back-up measure,'' the director of science at the Australian Botanic Garden, Brett Summerell, said.
''We want to have collections that represent the whole genetic spectrum, so if something does happen, you can … reintroduce the whole genetic range of the species.''
The United Nations Environment Program identifies Australia as one of 12 mega diverse countries, with more than 85 per cent of Australia's plants unique to the Australian landscape.
The $19.8 million facility will have seeds or live tissue from all 25,000 plant species in Australia.
''This bank really matters because if a species becomes extinct, no amount of money and no government on Earth can bail it out," the Minister for the Environment, Robyn Parker, said at the commencement ceremony yesterday.
''When we lose species, we lose threads in the web of life and untold potential for human health and well being.''
Seeds from species such as wattles and gums will be kept at a temperature of either 4 degrees or minus 20 degrees. A second space kept at a temperature of minus 196 degrees will be used for rainforest species that are harder to store.
The co-ordinators of PlantBank have been searching for financial support for more than 10 years. The NSW government has pledged $15.5 million in funding for the facility, a move Dr Summerell suggests could be in response to the growing concern regarding climate change among the general public.
''I think there's an acceptance that the environmental risks we're facing are much more significant, so I assume that's part of the reason why,'' he said.
PlantBank will accept seed donations from Papua New Guinea and other parts of south-east Asia and the Pacific, with the intention of preserving species that may be impacted by climate change.
''With sea levels rising, they're the areas where the impacts of those changes are biggest,'' Dr Summerell said.

Airdrop Pulls Water From Air to Irrigate Plants

2011-11-13T10:10:00.001+11:00

With Airdrop, you'll be able to extract water from the air until the Imperial Forces destroy your moisture farm

Ed Linacre’s Airdrop is a simple device that literally sucks water out of thin air. Airdrop — not to be confused with Apple’s excruciating new file-transfer service of the same name — could allow moisture farms like those run by Luke Skywalker’s Uncle Owen.
Airdrop consists of a mast-like tube with a wind-powered turbine that sucks air down into a coiled metal pipe. The air descends under the earth and cools until it hits 100% humidity and the water starts to drip out. Linacre installed one in his mother’s back yard in Australia and it pulled out a liter of water in a day.
The units also have storage tanks, from where they pump out the water into underground irrigation systems.
The units are small, can be self installed and are easy to repair while still in the ground. Linacre sees farmers installing fleets of them in fields, where they could sit and water the plants with no human help. The pumps are even solar-powered, a great idea in deserts.
The Airdrop has just won a James Dyson award. Hopefully this will accelerate its progress into the driest parts of the world. And if you are a moisture farmer, and you end up using these, I have a protocol droid you might be interested in. You might think you have no need for a protocol droid, but this droid’s first job was programing binary load lifters very similar to your Airdrop irrigators in most respects.

Rare plants and the thrill of the chase

2011-10-16T21:46:00.000+11:00

John Elder

Limestone spider-orchid.

IT'S A pity plants can't read, because the rare and homely Austral pipewort might take comfort in the Book of Ecclesiastes: ''To everything there is a season … A time to be born, and a time to die.''
This fragile and tiny plant comes to life only five times a century, flowers for a few weeks and dies again. For up to 20 years the seeds lie dormant in swamps, awaiting inundation by warm water.
This occurred last year in the summer floods in the Wimmera, where a specimen was discovered near Horsham, in February, by botanist John Eichler. This was the first sighting since 1991, when the drought was taking hold.

Austral pipewort.

Mr Eichler alerted David Pitts, a biodiversity officer with the Department of Sustainability and Environment who had spent five years without luck looking for the plant.
Mr Pitts, whose job entails searching out and identifying rare threatened plant species, had the pipewort on his most wanted list for five years.
''It became a bit of a personal quest … it's only been seen by a handful of people in the wild.''

Shiny-nematolepis.

Mr Pitts and a party of field naturalists soon after found a second population in a small wetland in the southern Grampians.
''The plants that were photographed are already dead,'' he said.
''They produced thousands of seeds. We may see another flowering this summer … or in a couple of decades.''

Wimmera bottlebrush. Photo: sundaypix@theage.com.au

Government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller discovered the Austral pipewort in 1853. A second specimen was not collected until 1975.
The pipewort is one of several rare species to make a comeback due to the extreme weather conditions of the past two years. The Wimmera bottlebrush, only previously seen in a small creek in the Wimmera, has been found flourishing in a spooky redgum swamp in the southern Grampians.
David Pitts describes an epic trek through clouds of mosquitoes and ''gigantic leeches'' to find a stand of about 5000 Wimmera bottlebrushes.

Bleating tree frog.

The Wimmera bottlebrush (callistemon wimmerensis) was recently described and listed in Victoria as endangered.
''It was only given its name in 2008, when it was first published as a species,'' he says.
Last month, a spider orchid previously unknown in Victoria was found in the Discovery Bay Coastal Park, near Portland.
Mr Pitts says the limestone spider-orchid was known only in South Australia and Western Australia, and that a small colony of 500 plants has now established itself in Victoria.
''It's tricky to find because it only flowers for a week … and only grows in limestone soil,'' he says.
Closer to Melbourne, the swamp bush-pea was down to a few thousand plants in the Wombat State Forest and the Kinglake National Park.
Following the fires of 2009, the population has spawned.
''Possibly in the millions,'' says Dr Arn Tolsma, of the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research.
Dr Tolsma says numbers will probably subside because of competition from other plants species with more efficient root systems.
He says the swamp bush-pea was probably a highly visible plant prior to European settlement, when the swamps that once dominated the area that became the city of Melbourne were drained and populated.

Huge Australian bushfires ignited rare plant growth - environment - 19 September 2011 - New Scientist

2011-09-23T19:33:00.000+10:00

Huge Australian bushfires ignited rare plant growth - environment - 19 September 2011 - New Scientist

Banksias evolved faster with fire selection

2011-07-28T17:15:00.000+10:00

“Putting these findings together, we concluded that Banksias must have evolved in the presence of fire right from the time it departed from its rainforest ancestors.” —Professor Lamont. Image: DEC

Research conducted by a Curtin University plant biology team shows that fire is a larger factor in the evolution of Banksias than was previously thought.
Large-scale bush fires are believed to have been present in Australia for the past 15–20 million years and plants much older than this have not developed adaptations to counteract it.
Emeritus Professor and team leader Byron Lamont says the research shows Banksias—known to be older than 20 million years—have adaptations which stem from evolving in the presence of fire.
“We examined features of Banksias that have long been considered examples of adaptations to fire...their ability to re-sprout after fire, the retention of seeds in woody cones that are released after fire, and the fact that many species hang onto their dead flowers,” he says.
“Putting these findings together, we concluded that Banksias must have evolved in the presence of fire right from the time it departed from its rainforest ancestors.”
Prof Lamont’s research also showed that some species of Banksias retain their dead leaves which help to provide the necessary fuel—during a bushfire—to melt the sealing resin allowing seeds to be released.
Australian plants have evolved many adaptations that enable them to survive and regrow after a bushfire.
Adaptations like fire-mediated serotiny—the fire induced release of seeds into a nutrient rich, post-fire environment—increase the chance of a plant’s survival and successful reproduction.
Prior to this research it was thought that plants over 50 million years old had only developed adaptations for drought and poor soil conditions.
Prof Lamont says the study will change the understanding of the factors at play in Australia’s evolutionary history.
“These discoveries mean that biologists must now take seriously the possibility that fire has had a profound effect on the direction of evolution in Australia for more than 60 million years,” he says.
“It is just as important as drought and strong seasonality, high air temperatures and poor soils as limiting factors in the evolution of plants and animals.”
Prof Lamont hopes that this research will help with conservation efforts for endangered plant species.
He says awareness and understanding of the optimal fire requirements of individual species is critical to be successful in future conservation efforts.

Plant branching hormone discovered - UQ News Online - The University of Queensland

2011-07-09T19:15:00.000+10:00

Plant branching hormone discovered - UQ News Online - The University of Queensland

In an important breakthrough, plant biologists at The University of Queensland (UQ) have identified a hormone that plays a key role in determining the size and shape of plants.

The discovery of the hormone strigolactone could have enormous impact on the forestry and horticultural industries, and is expected to lead to the ability to custom design the shape of plants.

“Taller plants can be produced by boosting strigolactone, and bushier plants can be grown by suppressing the hormone,” UQ Associate Professor Dr Christine Beveridge said.

“In the case of fruit-producing trees where the yield comes from the branches, repression of the chemical — that is, to create more branches — can give a better harvest.”

A number of factors work together to determine plant shape and size, but the discovery of strigolactone's role in inhibiting branch development was important, Dr Beveridge said, and paved the way for understanding the regulatory framework behind plant development.

“It is interesting that strigolactone uses a long-distance signaling process to determine plant shoot branching,” Dr Beveridge said.

“Strigolactone's capacity to have an impact on shoot branching will be conducive to obtaining a desired shape in plants and is sure to prove beneficial in crop production.”

Dr Beveridge, who is a Future Fellow of the Australian Research Council, said in the forestry industry the hormone could be manipulated to inhibit branch production and contribute to better stem growth and wood production.

Researchers from the University of Western Australia (UWA) have detected a structurally similar chemical called karrikins in smoke that affects the sprouting of dormant seeds after fire.

Through research done under a UQ-UWA Bilateral Research Collaboration Award, a gene called MAX2 was found to control the functioning of both strigolactone and karrikins.

Dr Beveridge said despite the similarity in the structure of the two hormones and their similar response systems, karrikins did not affect shoot branching.

Current promising leads with these hormones on their chemistry and on other aspects of plant development could result in improvements in the propagation of endangered and economically important plant species and in weed eradication and reforestation.

UQ's main commercialisation company, UniQuest, is currently working towards commercialisation opportunities for this technology.

Floral spectacle move for Cranbourne Royal Botanic Gardens

2011-05-14T16:31:00.000+10:00

THE botanical heart of Cranbourne is set to hit the world stage at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show in England.

Staff from Cranbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens jetted off to London this week to create an Australian-themed garden.

Every May, for five days, the grounds of the Royal Hospital in the London suburb are transformed into a floral spectacle for the garden show, with those on Main Ave considered the highest class, vying for a coveted Chelsea Medal.

It is the first time an Australian organisation has built a garden on Main Ave and is believed to be the only garden in the show’s 80-year history to be dedicated entirely to Australian plants.

RBG curator of horticulture Warren Warboys said the 220sq m display was inspired by the brilliant red hues of the Australian garden at Cranbourne.

He hoped the display would take home an award from the May 24-28 show, but said the net impacts of having more than 157,000 people at the show would help put Cranbourne on the map.

“Stage two of the Australian garden is expected to open in May next year,” Mr Warboys said.

“We’re making use of the opportunity to promote the garden in the British spring, giving an opportunity for people to start thinking about it and saving if they anticipate a visit to Australia and a visit to Cranbourne in particular.”

Plants selected for the garden include emu bush, salt bush, grevillea, red bottlebrush and lilly pilly.

Ruth Stout And Permanent Hay Mulch

2011-04-22T15:45:00.000+10:00

Ruth Stout And Permanent Hay Mulch

Vegie update March 2011

2011-03-13T18:28:00.001+11:00

Welcoming gateway

Vegie garden now.

Pumpkin in a pot!

Hanging pumpkin.

Pumpkin growing as a trepize

Australian Garden Coming To Chelsea Flower Show

2011-03-04T16:20:00.000+11:00

Australian Garden Coming To Chelsea Flower Show

The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne has selected three of its highly experienced horticulturists to lead the planting team for its Show Garden entry to the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London from 24 - 28 May.
The three team members, Phil Bowyer-Smyth, Sandra Hodge and Warren Worboys, leave Melbourne for London on 10 May and will spend two weeks in the UK, staying in Chelsea and walking to and from the Show Garden site each day.
The team will be kept very busy at the Show Garden, with over 2,000 plants to get in the ground during the seven-day planting period from 13 - 20 May before the show opens to the public on 24 May.
Royal Botanic Gardens’ Director and Chief Executive, Dr Philip Moors, congratulated Phil, Sandra and Warren on their selection and welcomed them to the project team.
"Our Show Garden will reflect the beauty of Australia and its unique plants, so it’s really important that we have experts such as Phil, Sandra and Warren on the ground to do the planting," explained Dr Moors.

"We are very excited about our entry to Chelsea - it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to showcase the best of Australian garden design to the rest of the world," said Dr Moors.
"It’s also a wonderful way for us to promote our award-winning Australian Garden at Cranbourne to an international audience, with the second and final stage of the Australian Garden set to open in early 2012," added Dr Moors.
’The Australian Garden presented by the Royal Botanic Gardens’ will be one of only eight Show Gardens on prestigious Main Avenue at this year’s show.
At 220m2, the Main Avenue sites are some of the largest on offer and attract a great deal of attention from thousands of visitors and millions of BBC viewers.
Phil Bowyer-Smyth, Coordinator Gardens North at RBG Melbourne says he embarked on a career in horticulture after discovering a passion for gardening, never imagining that he would one day be a part of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
"I’m very excited and slightly overwhelmed to be heading to Chelsea," said Phil. "It’s such a prestigious event and I look forward to contributing to the project’s success."

Australia to outlaw thousands of plants, including national flower

2011-03-01T20:49:00.000+11:00

In what it claims is an effort to stamp out plants and flowers that can be used as drugs, Australian authorities have proposed insane legislation that will outlaw hundreds, if not thousands, of common plant species, including the golden wattle, its national flower. If the law passes, nurseries, commercial growers, farmers, cactus collectors, and even backyard gardeners will become criminals overnight -- even though many of the plants being targeted are not even used as drugs.

Currently, only five plants are banned from cultivation in Australia because of their alleged inherent drug components. But the new legislation will ban from cultivation any plant that contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a naturally-occurring hallucinogen, which according to the Australian Attorney General includes many common and native plants, from various cacti and fodder grasses, to simple backyard ornamental plants.

The entire list of plants slated for elimination can be viewed here:
http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/rwpatt...

While DMT does have hallucinogenic properties, the component is found in literally thousands of plant species that are native to the Australian landscape. Farmers use many of the grasses and legumes on the list to feed their animals, for instance. Countless gardeners, landscapers, and plant collectors cultivate many of the plants on the list as well. And numerous seed banks that collect and save plant species will have to dump their seed stocks, should the legislation be passed.

The proposal is an irresponsible, ill-derived threat to Australian freedom, and it needs to be stopped. The Australian Minister for Justice, the Hon Brendan O'Connor MP, is accepting public comments on the issue up until March 11, 2011. Those concerned are urged to send email opposition to:
Criminal.Law@ag.gov.au.

To learn more about the issue, please visit:
http://www.gardenfreedom.com/

(NaturalNews)

Rare Aussie plant flowers for the first time at Wakehurst

2011-02-11T16:09:00.000+11:00

A CRITICALLY endangered plant from Western Australia is flowering for what is believed to be the first time in the UK at Wakehurst Place.

The conservation success follows conservation work by Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank and its partners in Australia.

The rare Banksia brownii, the feather-leaved banksia, is threatened by disease, fires, and the possible effects of climate change in its native Western Australia.

Kew’s Director, Professor Stephen Hopper, knows the species well from his native country.

He said: “The imminent flowering of the feather-leaved Banksia for the first time in the UK is a potent symbol of international collaboration in saving imperiled plants.

“The species is named for two of Britain’s greatest botanists – Sir Joseph Banks and Robert Brown, naturalist on the Flinders’ expedition.”

To safeguard the species, Banksia brownii seeds were collected by experts from the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation and some stored at sub-zero temperatures in the vaults of the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst, Kew’s country estate near Haywards Heath.

Research has been carried out on others by seed ecologists at the seed bank to test the effects of temperature on their germination and growth.

A number of young plants were grown from seed in the nursery at Wakehurst with most returned to Australia and a few remained at Wakehurst.

Now, for the first time since they were germinated in 2007, one is coming into flower.

Visitors will now have a chance to see it on display in the Orange Room of the Millennium Seed Bank. The orangey yellow flowers are expected to last for several weeks.

Ted Chapman, team leader of Wakehurst’s Plant Propagation and Conservation Unit, said: “Banksia brownii is extremely rare in cultivation – this may be the first time one has flowered in this country. It is certainly the first time we have had one flowering here at Wakehurst.

“The flowers are quite unusual and we are intrigued to see how they develop. These are challenging plants to grow, and it is very satisfying when something rare responds to specialist care. It is continuing the success story of the Banksia brownii conservation and research work.”

Visitors can also see a different type of Banksia – Banksia integrifolia – at Wakehurst in Coates Wood and the Southern Hemisphere Garden.

One of the Banksia integrifolia is part of a Champion Tree Trail around the estate, being the tallest of its species in Britain and Ireland

Picture by W.Stuppy shows Ted Chapman with the rare Banksia brownii.

Rhododredron lochae? vireya

2011-01-26T22:11:00.000+11:00

Baron von Mueller's description of R.lochiae9

as it appeared in The Victorian

Naturalist Vol. III, No. 11 (March 1887) page 157.

Rhododendron lochae. Arborescent, somewhat scandent; leaves persistent,

mostly whorled, some scattered, conspicuously stalked, flat, nearly ovate, rather blunt, glabrous, well veined, minutely scaly-dotted beneath; flowers

rather large in terminal umbelliform fascicles on very conspicuous stalklets;

bracts cuneate or spatular-ovate, glabrescent; calyx rudimentary, oblique

patellar or sometimes variously short-lobed; corolla bright-red, glabrous but

scaly-dotted outside, slightly hairy inside, the lower portion broadly cylindrical,

the upper portion bluntly five-lobed and conspicuously veined; stamens ten,

slightly emerging from the corolla-tube; filaments short-hairy towards the

base; anthers very small, ellipsoid-cylindrical; style nearly as long as the

filaments, short-hairy to about the middle; indusium truncate; stigma slightly

lobed, five celled; seeds conspicuously appendiculated.

This a great display plant that is best grown in containers here in Melbourne. I have been growing them for some years now and find the most successful way is for them to be grown containers no less than 25cm diameter. Plants need to be 'potted on' to this size in an open media, I have been using a mix containing mainly coco-peat chunks as used in orchid mixes added to regular potting mix.

Feeding with low phosphorous slow – release and liquid feeding is beneficial. With liquid feeding I use both Pottasium Nitrate and Calcium Nitrateas a boost.

An herbarium specimen of R.lochiae

collected by Christie Palmerston on Mt. Bartle Frere in 1888, and one

collected by Stephen Johnson on Mt. Bartle Frere in November 1891, are in

the National Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. Kajewski

collected R.lochiae on Mt. Bartle Frere in 1929

R.lochiae in its native habitat.

W. A. Sayer wrote that "the top of the Bellenden-Ker range is razor-backed

and on travelling along the rocky spur, R.lochiae was found as a terrestrial

plant hanging over the side."

Ben Menelaus wrote that he found about 20 plants on Mt. Bartle Frere rooted

in deep cracks in or between rocky boulders with roots always cool and

protected from the sun, wind and collectors.

R.lochiae appeared to be quite widespread and common on mountains in

North Queensland where suitable habitat occurs in rocky areas above 1050m.

It was never seen growing as an epiphyte. Mostly it grew on accumulated litter

on or between rocks. Sometimes the plants grew in deep cracks in the rocks

and would straggle up to the light making quite long plants. Many others grew

in exposed places on rocks, and were very wooded and stunted. The "best"

plants grew in the forest but were invariably associated with rocks. Fewer

plants grew out amongst the scrub away from the rocks.

In all the areas where R.lochiae has been found growing in the wild, it has

been found growing above or almost above the tree line, in full sun, with a

level of ultraviolet light and also a high humidity.

In cultivation in Melbourne, the main flowering period is during February and

March

Although these plants grow well in the ground in rich, well drained soils

containing plenty of leaf mould, the plants grow better in containers such as

hollowed out sections of tree-fern trunks containing rotted tree-fern fibre, peat

moss and leaf mould.

The plants are not difficult to grow providing four basic requirements are

understood. They require a good supply of moisture, good light, protection

from extremes of temperature, and most important of all, good drainage. Dr.

John Rouse has demonstrated that although they prefer acid conditions, they

in fact have a high requirement for calcium, and this can be added to compost

as calcium phosphate which does not raise the pH too much. It has been

stated that they do not like extremes of temperature. The plants need

protection from frost as they are frost tender, and they need semishade during

the hot summer months. However, they do like warmth and high humidity. The

foliage of plants subjected to temperatures below 5°C loses its gloss and

becomes blotched with dull red patches.

Decorative pots should be large enough to 'hide' black plastic container plant is growing in.

Australia Day Awards: Planting thousands of trees brings honour

2011-01-23T19:14:00.000+11:00

GOOD WORK: Kingsley Turner's
work at the St Peters billabong
has earned him the NP&SP
Council Citizen of the Year

OVER the past 50 years, Kingsley Turner has watched the St Peters billabong transform from a muddy dump to a haven for people, plants and wildlife.

His work on restoring the billabong which spans about 15 years has earned him the Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council Citizen of the Year award, announced on Australia Day.

``I’m only part of the picture,’’ the Stepney resident says humbly.

``The project’s more important than anything or anyone else.’‘

The $1 million clean-up project, started in 2002 by the council, the Torrens Catchment Water Management Board and Friends of the Billabong, followed years
of campaigning by Mr Turner and others.

With the help of hundreds of volunteers, Mr Turner co-ordinated the planting of thousands of native trees and plants to turn the former stretch of the River
Torrens into a peaceful oasis.

The 62-year-old’s eyes light up when he talks about the new species of birds, mammals and reptiles, like the eastern water skink, that have returned to the
area.

``The billabong had some pretty massive earth works (in 2002) and it just looked like a moonscape with water.

``But now, where houses once all faced the street, the new ones are being built to face the billabong because it’s just so beautiful.’‘

Mr Turner, who works as a TAFE lecturer, says all the volunteer work has paid off.

``If you’re at home getting a bit crapped off, you can just come down here and it’s so peaceful it makes you feel calm right away.’‘

NPSP Mayor Robert Bria praised Mr Turner for his work on the billabong.

``There are few people with a better understanding of local biodiversity than Kingsley Turner and he has offered this extensive knowledge widely, with great

enthusiasm and generosity,’’ he said.

LOCAL NEWS

Gardeners face plant shortages

2011-01-23T13:23:00.001+11:00

NORTHERN Rivers gardeners may soon find a shortage of popular plants, such as lilly pillies, with some wholesale growers already withdrawing them from their stock lines in fear of the spread of Myrtle rust disease.
David Manby, who owns the Lismore Garden Centre, knows all about the risk of diseases.
Long before anyone in Australia had heard of Myrtle rust, he and his staff inspected each plant in the nursery every morning for other types of pest.
“It is one of the reasons that we only source our plants from local wholesale nurseries, so that we don’t import diseases,” he said.
“Unfortunately, as many in the industry knows, it’s been spread by the large chain stores who have no nursery people and get their plants from around the country.”
Industry and Investment NSW yesterday confirmed it was investigating “a number” of new outbreaks of Myrtle rust in the Northern Rivers, after confirming three outbreaks earlier this week at wholesale nurseries in Alstonville and Byron Bay, and a street location in Lismore.
“This is not going to just affect the tea tree industry and nurseries. It is going to effect koala trees and the native environment,” Mr Manby said. “It’s the cane toad all over again.”
He urged plant buyers to only buy from reputable nurseries.
CSIRO plant pathologist Louise Morin, who is researching Myrtle rust, said the vast majority of the 100 native plant species tested so far were susceptible to the disease in a laboratory but how they would react outside is unknown.
“But in some species it was fairly limited so there is a lot of variation of what we are seeing,” she said. “The key thing we are finding is that this rust only affects young foliage.”
Still, Dr Morin said she had never seen a single plant killed by the rust in the laboratory and urged people to remain calm.

Lismore Garden Centre owner David Manby

checks spotted gums for signs of Myrtle rust.

“It may be like pruning a plant where the plant grows better afterwards,” she said. “This may not be as dire as some people are saying, and they may learn to live with it.”

Floods hit plant nurseries in Queensland, Australia

2011-01-16T15:20:00.000+11:00

Heavy rain and flooding have caused serious damage to nurseries in Queensland, Australia’s heartland when it comes to tropical plant growing. Our correspondent Anthony Tesselaar reports from Down Under.Giving a quick update of the current situation Tesselaar states that Australia has gone from a drought country to a flooded country. Tesselaar himself lives in Silvan 50 Kms east of Melbourne and 1,500 to 3,000 km away from the devastated areas in Queensland and northern New South Wales. The area under flood is equivalent to Germany and France together.
“One town almost had what looked like an inland Tsunami going through it. At the end the town looked like as if a tornado had ripped it apart. Wednesday night January 12th, floods hit Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, with the river rising 4.5m. So downtown, water everywhere, and around 12,000 houses flooded in the city suburb areas there too, and 2,500 business submerged, and another of the same amount partially flooded. In Ipswich, a major country town of 155,000 further north, they had a river flood peak at 19m! Those people who live on higher grounds are OK, those that built in the valley find themselves in a difficult situation.”
Most of the area flooded throughout Queensland and North South Wales is farm land. However, over 27 major country towns are flooded, or evacuated. “All this is causing many councils to now start rethinking about allowing buildings on flood or low levels plants. But of course people like to build by the rivers for the scenic views and I think the 100 year floods are not going to be in their lifetime.”
In the meantime it is expected that the weather will dry out a little and 3 to 7 days are needed for the water to dissipate to normal very high flood levels in all the river systems. ”And to think Queensland has not had it normal monsoon time yet!”
On the plant nursery side, Queensland is where most of the tropical plants are grown in Australia, and of course many of the nurseries are often located on low lying land.
“At nurseries that were in the way of these water “tides” coming through, there were no plants left at all of course. They were all swept away in the water deluge. Other nurseries are caught up in the flood as they cannot send plants out nor receive plugs. The question is how quick the industry can get back on line once the waters recede?”
From his homeland Victoria, Tesselaar reports “a good, wet summer which is really nice for all the plants after 13 years of drought. “Some of the Victorian northern country areas have had some floods through them as we are getting some of the tropical clouds from up north. (last night it was still 24 deg at midnight) Some areas of northern Victoria have had their monthly averages in one day. They are still talking though that Victoria looks like getting some sporadic heavy rainfalls coming from these major shift weather patterns, and so we will also continue to see more flooding here as well in various low lying areas. Anyway, we start off with an interesting year. What was not very nice, some of the people that lost their houses in the bushfires last year, ended up have their new houses inundated from these floods.”
Perth in Western Australia , over 1,500 miles to the west Tesselaar’s home, is now going through a major drought. “The weather pattern has changed. Perth was hit by huge bushfires while the floods were raging in Queensland. Yes, we are living in interesting times.”

My garden in December

2010-12-08T13:52:00.000+11:00

It is always a joy to experience life in the garden and we always are rewarded for our efforts.

Front garden with (in flower0 Callistemon Reeves Pink, Grevillea junerperina Molongol, Melaleuca fulgens Paynei and Callistemon Pink Surprise

Melaleuca Robin Red Breast

And in the vegie garden.

Tomatoes beginning to fruit.

Silver beet, beans and in the background beetroot

And we are trying strawberries in hanging baskets.

Lazarus orchid rises from the soil once more

2010-12-08T13:31:00.000+11:00

IN THE official database of extinct Australian species, the robust greenhood orchid exists only in the past tense.
The plant ''was'' a distinctive orchid with small underground tubers. It ''was'' endemic to Victoria and its flowers ''were'' translucent white with green stripes.
But nearly 70 years since it was last sighted, scientists have discovered the robust greenhood orchid is still all of these things and much more.

A remarkable discovery in the hills beyond Bendigo is poised to remove the orchid from the official extinction list.
Eight small plants have been found at Nardoo Hills near Wedderburn on a tract of land bought six years ago by conservation firm Bush Heritage Australia.
After a tip-off in spring 2009 that an unidentified plant had been spotted flowering on the reserve, orchid experts Geoff Nevill and Julie Whitfield set out to find and identify the flower.
On October 27, their patience was rewarded and their suspicions confirmed: the robust greenhood orchid was back from the dead.
''You've got to have very good eyesight to spot some of these orchids we work with,'' said Ms Whitfield.
''We had to get down on hands and knees to look at all the little features that might determine what it was and then we had to send samples off for positive identification.''
Comparisons to dry specimens stored at the National Herbarium confirmed the find, and Victoria's Department of Sustainability and Environment is now lodging an application for the species' extinct status - declared nationally in 1999 - to be downgraded to ''critically endangered''.
Nardoo Hills reserve ranger Jeroen van Veen said the find was a reward for many years spent removing cattle, rabbits and feral weeds from the reserve.
''It sounds a bit ridiculous to say that it's never too late for extinct species, but it's true - we've just proven it,'' he said.
''This is what we work for … after years and years slogging away and restoring natural bushland, these are the kind of things that keep you going. These are the big motivators.''
Mr van Veen said strong rains should allow the eight plants to expand their numbers and better establish the species.
Ms Whitfield said there could be untold benefits from its revival. ''We know very little about it … this orchid could have numerous relationships going on with other species that we might not know about, so rediscovering it is very exciting,'' she said.
An amendment to the orchid's endangered status is expected to be approved next year.

Peter Ker

Garden Glories

2010-10-06T20:42:00.001+11:00

I had this note from Jill who is like us all enjoying our gardens.

Neil, this is such a beautiful time of the year in the garden. Do you have a quince tree? I think it the most exquisite of all the blossoms. Photo attached. Also sending an update on the apple crates. As you can see the broad beans are flowering, lettuce ready to eat and snow peas also in flower. I have planted coriander, basil , thyme, dill and strawberries in the crates as well. Such a great way for disabled people to be able to grow things, don't you think?

Rain unearths rare SA plants

2010-10-05T14:15:00.000+11:00

Widespread rain across South Australia has helped unearth a new species of native mint and set the state's rarest flowers blooming.
Staff from the Adelaide Botanic Gardens have rediscovered seeds from some of South Australia's rarest native plants, Minister for Environment and Conservation Paul Caica says.
"Widespread rains and flooding have seen a range of desert flowers and plants blossom and thrive in what have been dry and barren inland landscapes, such as the Cooper Basin," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Seed hunters have found some rare outback plants such as the endangered Arckaringa daisy, which is known from a single population in the Arckaringa Hills in the state's north.
They also found the orange-flowered twin leaf, swainson-pea, peplidium, breakaway daisy and goodenia and a new species of native mint growing in SA's southeast.
The seeds they collect are stored at the SA Seed Conservation Centre to safeguard against extinction and future threats.
Since it opened in 2002, more than 175 million seeds from more than 1400 SA native plant species have been collected and stored by the centre, including 50 per cent of SA's threatened plant species.Staff from the Adelaide Botanic Gardens

Apple Crate Gardens

2010-08-27T20:44:00.007+10:00

My friend Jill has built raised garden beds using 'old' apple crates. Work in preparing the contents has proved successful as the photos of vegies ready to eat in a short growing time during Winter!

Apple Crate 1

Apple Crate 2

Apple Crate 3

My 3 apple crate gardens are looking good and already I have edible lettuces, spring onions and coriander.

How to Plant Bamboo and its Application in Creek Restoration

2010-07-14T15:33:00.002+10:00

How to Plant Bamboo and its Application in Creek Restoration

Plant of the Month - Grevillea preissii

2010-06-15T21:55:00.001+10:00

Plant of the Month - Grevillea preissii

Australian Garden Stage 2

2010-03-12T11:09:00.010+11:00

* Following the journey of water

* River Walk

* Home Selections Garden

* Howson Hill

* The Arbour Garden

* Melaleuca Spits

* Continental Edge – Display Gardens

* The Gondwana Garden

* Eucalypt Walk

* Ian Potter Lakeside Precinct

* Gibson Hill

* Weird and Wonderful Garden

The second stage of the Australian Garden will complete one of the most significant landscape projects in Australia, providing a fitting culmination to an internationally unique landscape experience.

Contemporary design, specialist horticulture, art and programs will feature amongst a series of varied and dramatic landscape settings.

The nine hectares comprising Stage 2 of the Australian Garden will extend the success of Stage 1 and enhance community engagement and visitor experiences, with the addition of new plantings, public amenities, landscapes, artworks, interpretive information and educational resources.

The Australian Garden Stage 2 is due to open in late 2011.

Major features of Australian Garden Stage 2

Following the journey of water

The Australian Garden design follows the journey of water from the red centre of Australia, along dry river beds and down mighty rivers to the coastal fringes of the continent.

The western side of the garden including the Eucalypt Walk, Gondwana Garden, Arid Garden and Dry River Bed takes its cue from the natural world. The eastern and northern extent of the Garden is contrived from more human ideas and images.

Water is the mediating element between these naturally and humanly derived gardens.

Water is the main storyteller in the Australian garden; it leads visitors through the Australian Garden, expressing the main design themes and the heart of our historic and future relationship with the Australian landscape.

In the Australian Garden Stage 1, the journey of water begins in the red desert heart of Australia – in the Red Sand Garden. Here in the dry, water is absent. Its journey continues: the Dry River Bed and the Ephemeral Lake Sculpture highlight the transient nature of water leaving the desert in drought arriving with unpredictable floods until it arrives in the Rockpool Waterway. In the Australian Garden Stage 2 the Rockpool Waterway becomes a River Bend at the River Walk.

Designed by Taylor Cullity Lethlean in conjunction with Paul Thompson, the Australian Garden expresses the tension between our reverence and sense of awe for the natural landscape, and our innate impulse to change it, to make it into a humanly contrived form, beautiful, yet our own work.

The aim of the Royal Botanic Gardens in creating the Australian Garden is to share with visitors the beauty and diversity of Australian plants. The Australian Garden is a place where you can explore the evolving connections between people, plants and landscapes. The Australian Garden is also a place where you can discover inspiration and information about how to use Australian plants in your home garden. The Australian Garden provides a contemporary and inspirational landscape in which to explore the Australian Flora.

River Walk

The first new landscape feature that visitors will encounter in the Australian Garden Stage 2 will be the River Walk.

Located at the conclusion of the existing Rockpool Waterway, the River Walk will be a broad promenade with views across a meandering ‘river bend’ water body. This area, comprising a large, curving, treed walkway of granitic gravel and a waterside section of timber decking, connects the Rockpool Waterway with the vibrant Display Gardens and Howson Hill. The River Walk will afford a generous public waterside space for gatherings, seating, functions, and entertainment and education programs.

The River Walk is one of several locations in the Australian Garden Stage 2 that will be used for public education and school group programs. The landscape design will incorporate waterside access that will facilitate instruction in aquatic flora and fauna, and ‘ponding’ activities for school students. A hardwood-floored amphitheatre with seating for over 150 pupils will provide an outdoor gathering space fringed by Australian plants and shade-providing trees. The amphitheatre will also provide a more intimate venue for a range of public activities such as smaller recitals, light theatre, and outdoor lectures.

Plants

* Tristaniopsis laurina, Water Gum

* Callistemon ‘Mathew Flinders’

* Eleocharis acuta, Common Spike-rush

Features

* Stepped amphitheatre

* Ponding deck

* Fantastic hub for young families

* Lots of seating under trees.

River Walk

Home Selections Garden

Visitors proceeding northwards from the picturesque River Walk will encounter the Home Selections Garden. Dynamic displays will be on show here, utilising selections of some of the most visually spectacular Australian plants, including grafted, experimental and newly released varieties selected for their particular suitability to Melbourne-specific

growing and soil conditions.

The eastern section of this garden has research plots that will be used by Royal Botanic Gardens’ horticulturalists, and students. The research in this area will highlight the role of botanic gardens in horticultural research and how this impacts on which plants we grow in our home gardens.

From here, visitors will skirt Howson Hill to reach the northern section of the Arbour Garden. From there they will enjoy water views to the Weird and Wonderful Garden and the Melaleuca Spits, on their way to the discoveries awaiting them in the Continental Edge Gardens.

Plants

* Eastern section cultivars

* Western section – research plots

Features

* High display value

* Research section will contain plants and trials that illustrate how the horticultural work of botanic gardens has impacted on the plants that we grow at home.

Home Selections Garden

Howson Hill

Howson Hill, a major topographic feature of the Australian Garden Stage 2, emerges from a tranquil waterway north of the River Walk and is capped with existing rare and endangered Mallee Eucalypts that already reach a height of four to five metres.

A walk along the ridge line will provide access to these unique trees. The loosely defined path will culminate in a viewing platform affording sensational views across the Australian Garden and along the Melaleuca Spits. A pathway providing continuous waterside access will link the two sections of the Display Gardens in the ‘valleys’ adjacent to Howson Hill.

Plants

* In eastern ‘woodlot’ section multi-stemmed Eucalypts

Features

* A tranquil lookout across the Australian Garden

* A great picture postcard location.

Howson Hill

The Arbour Garden

Australian climbing plants and standards will fill this display garden with a tremendous number of plants for use in the home garden. This is the must see location for keen gardeners, visitors looking for innovative ways to use tricky vertical spaces in their garden and children and the young at heart looking to play hide-and-seek.

Views along the central pathway through the arbours will be a great favourite with brides or anyone looking for spectacular and unique portrait.

Melaleuca Spits

This evocative feature, reminiscent of Australia’s coastal regions, will form the transition between the River Walk, Howson Hill, the Display Gardens, and the Continental Edge Gardens. Layers of aquatic reeds, sand spits, and bands of Melaleucas will provide a striking vista from the River Walk precinct. Distant framed views of the Continental Edge Gardens beyond will draw the visitor northward.

Plants

* Melaleuca linariifolia, Snow in Summer

Features

* A stunning and iconic landscape recreated as a work of environmental art.

Melaleuca Spits

Continental Edge – Display Gardens

Located to the north-east of the Gondwana Garden, on the opposite bank of the Ian Potter Lake and next to the Melaleuca Spits, these Display Gardens will offer informative demonstrations of the use of Australian plants in home garden.

Each garden will provide practical ‘take home’ ideas for visitors. The precinct will include the How to Garden, the Backyard Garden, the Inside/Outside Garden, the Greening Cities Garden and the Seaside Garden.

A curving water body flanked by plantings on its western and southern banks will surround the Continental Edge Gardens, which will also represent the conclusion of the ‘story of water’ in Australia. This story, a major theme of the Australian Garden, commences in arid central Australia and leads to the urban landscapes on the continent’s coastal margins.

At the far northern end of this precinct there will be a small kiosk and visitor facilities.

Plants

* Pleached Ficus microcarpa var. hillii , Hills Weeping Fig

Features

* The Continental Edge Gardens will provide a fantastic visitor hub in the Australian Garden. This is the place to relax and unwind, picnic with your family or get your hands dirty exploring gardening in the ‘How to Garden’.

Continenta Edge Display Gardens

Continental Edge - Display Gardens

The Gondwana Garden

This unique garden will include a diverse collection of plant species from Australian temperate rainforests. A series of imposing hexagonal basalt columns inspired by similar naturally occurring structures will provide a reference to the volcanic activity of earlier periods in the history of this continent. Together, these elements will deliver an environment that supports discovery of the Gondwanan period of our natural history.

Plants

The Gondwana Garden will be situated to the immediate north of the Eucalypt Walk, to the south of the Ian Potter Lakeside Precinct, and west of the Allocasuarina Grove. Visitors arriving at the Gondwana Garden will discover a lush, abundantly planted garden representing Australian Gondwanan rainforests’ connections to the evolutionary history of the Earth and its biodiversity.

The planting plan will contain Gondwanan species such as Antarctic Beech (Nothofagus moorei), Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwilli), Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis), and Ivory Curl Tree (Buckinghamia celsissima). Dry-tolerant rainforest genera such as Melia, Flindersia, Cupaniopsis, Araucaria, Ficus, and Lophostemon will also be included in the plant list. The range of both Gondwanan and rainforest species has been carefully compiled by expert RBG botanists to provide visitors with experiences reminiscent of forests in those long-distant times.

Feature – The Basalt Columns

The Gondwana Garden’s design includes a striking series of natural hexagonal basalt columns that will reflect similar natural igneous rock formations in the Australian landscape, and provide a reference to the role of volcanic activity in the earth-forming of the ancient super-continent of Gondwana. Similar structures can be seen at the Organ Pipes National Park in Victoria.

The columns will complement the plantings of the surrounding dense Gondwanan forest environment. Together, this structure and the nearby plantings will create in the Gondwana Garden a vitally important component of the Australian Garden Stage 2 landscape, planting design and vision, while extending the chronological and thematic scope of future public education programs at RBG Cranbourne.

Exploring the Gondwana Garden

The Gondwana Garden will be a great place to explore the history of the Australian Flora and discover some answers to the questions:

* What makes Australian flora unique?

* How have ancient plants survived in rainforest pockets in Australia?

* What is the future of our precious rainforests?

The Gondwana Garden

Eucalypt Walk

The Eucalypt Walk lies to the immediate south of the Gondwana Garden and celebrates the diversity in form, foliage, bark, smells and sounds that make up the unique Eucalyptus genus.

The Gondwana Garden and Eucalypt Walk extend along the western flank of the Australian Garden. Walking from south to north introduces subtle changes that gradually surround visitors with a more immersive experience, with canopy and understorey becoming more lush and enveloping.

Eucalypt Walk

Ian Potter Lakeside Precinct

To the north of the Gondwana Garden, a substantial water body and an associated community events space will be collectively named the Ian Potter Lakeside Precinct in recognition of the major grant made by The Ian Potter Foundation to the project.

Features – community fun!

Community events such as festivals, functions, live music and theatre, a farmers’ market, and cinema screenings: this large public events space catering for up to 1,500 people will look out over the water body, and act as a focal point for both education and entertainment.

Ian Potter Lakeside Precinct

Gibson Hill

Another prominent landscape feature, Gibson Hill, terminates views of the Red Sand Garden seen from the Visitor Centre. It will be cloaked with blue-foliaged Acacias to provide a visually stunning display. A winding path will provide access to the top of Howson Hill, where seating and viewing platforms will provide a place to rest with dramatic, elevated views to the Red Sand Garden and Rockpool Waterway.

Weird and Wonderful Garden

In the heart of the Australian Garden, this mysterious garden will focus attention on some of the stranger forms of Australian flora, including dramatic plants such as Doryanthes, cycads, Xanthorrhoea, Brachychiton, Flindersia and Livistona.

These plants will be juxtaposed with vaults of Castlemaine stone and water features to create a fantastic and surreal landscape. Adjacent seats and orientation facilities will ensure this becomes a special family and tourist destination.

Australian Garden Stage 2

2010-03-12T11:09:00.009+11:00

* Following the journey of water

* River Walk

* Home Selections Garden

* Howson Hill

* The Arbour Garden

* Melaleuca Spits

* Continental Edge – Display Gardens

* The Gondwana Garden

* Eucalypt Walk

* Ian Potter Lakeside Precinct

* Gibson Hill

* Weird and Wonderful Garden

The second stage of the Australian Garden will complete one of the most significant landscape projects in Australia, providing a fitting culmination to an internationally unique landscape experience.

Contemporary design, specialist horticulture, art and programs will feature amongst a series of varied and dramatic landscape settings.

The Australian Garden Stage 2 is due to open in late 2011.

Following the journey of water

The Australian Garden design follows the journey of water from the red centre of Australia, along dry river beds and down mighty rivers to the coastal fringes of the continent.

Water is the mediating element between these naturally and humanly derived gardens.

River Walk

The first new landscape feature that visitors will encounter in the Australian Garden Stage 2 will be the River Walk.

Plants

* Tristaniopsis laurina, Water Gum

* Callistemon ‘Mathew Flinders’

* Eleocharis acuta, Common Spike-rush

Features

* Stepped amphitheatre

* Ponding deck

* Fantastic hub for young families

* Lots of seating under trees.

River Walk

growing and soil conditions.

Plants

* Eastern section cultivars

* Western section – research plots

Features

* High display value

* Research section will contain plants and trials that illustrate how the horticultural work of botanic gardens has impacted on the plants that we grow at home.

Home Selections Garden

Howson Hill

Plants

* In eastern ‘woodlot’ section multi-stemmed Eucalypts

Features

* A tranquil lookout across the Australian Garden

* A great picture postcard location.

Howson Hill

The Arbour Garden

Views along the central pathway through the arbours will be a great favourite with brides or anyone looking for spectacular and unique portrait.

Melaleuca Spits

Plants

* Melaleuca linariifolia, Snow in Summer

Features

* A stunning and iconic landscape recreated as a work of environmental art.

Melaleuca Spits

Continental Edge – Display Gardens

At the far northern end of this precinct there will be a small kiosk and visitor facilities.

Plants

* Pleached Ficus microcarpa var. hillii , Hills Weeping Fig

Features

Continental Edge - Display Gardens

The Gondwana Garden

Plants

Feature – The Basalt Columns

Exploring the Gondwana Garden

The Gondwana Garden will be a great place to explore the history of the Australian Flora and discover some answers to the questions:

* What makes Australian flora unique?

* How have ancient plants survived in rainforest pockets in Australia?

* What is the future of our precious rainforests?

The Gondwana Garden

Eucalypt Walk

The Eucalypt Walk lies to the immediate south of the Gondwana Garden and celebrates the diversity in form, foliage, bark, smells and sounds that make up the unique Eucalyptus genus.

Eucalypt Walk

Ian Potter Lakeside Precinct

Features – community fun!

Ian Potter Lakeside Precinct

Gibson Hill

Weird and Wonderful Garden

$30M Super Greenhouse to Help Sustain Global Agriculture

2010-01-31T17:01:00.000+11:00

One of the world’s most sophisticated plant research facilities, set to make huge advances in international agricultural sustainability and deliver significant benefits to Australia’s agriculture and horticulture industries, was opened in Adelaide, South Australia today (Thursday 28 January 2010).

Based at the University of Adelaide’s Waite Campus, the $30 million facility known as The Plant Accelerator is the largest and most advanced public facility of its type in the world and is being jointly opened today by South Australian Premier Mike Rann and the Hon. Anthony Byrne MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister of Australia.

The “super greenhouse” will feature a series of 50 high-tech glasshouses and laboratories housing more than1km of conveyor systems that will deliver plants automatically to state-of-the-art imaging, robotic and computing equipment.

This will allow continual measurement of the physical attributes (the phenotype) of up to 160,000 plants a year. The accelerator mode of this facility will come from its ability to more rapidly identify those varieties that will be successful, and therefore reduce the time between the breeding of new varieties and their delivery to agricultural producers.

The Plant Accelerator is the national headquarters of the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility and has been jointly funded by the Commonwealth, the SA Government and the University of Adelaide under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) and the Education Investment Fund. Support from the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) was also critical in this project.

Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Adelaide Professor James McWha said the funding was welcome support for a facility that would lead critical research into the yield and quality of crops that can tolerate drought, salinity and disease.

“This facility is an Australian first and is world class in every respect. It will improve international efforts to cultivate sustainable crops, as well as providing a competitive edge for Australia's $28 billion annual agriculture export industry,” he said.

“The University of Adelaide’s Waite Campus is the pre-eminent plant science research site in Australia, with a critical mass of 1200 researchers from at least eight organisations on one campus. This facility will further raise the national and international prominence of the Waite Campus as a centre for excellence in plant science, genomics and breeding research.”

Director of the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility Professor Mark Tester said the facility would provide ground-breaking opportunities for Australian scientists.

"Ultimately, this facility will enable researchers to respond faster to market needs and give Australia a head start in a field of research that will deliver practical benefits to Australian primary producers,” he said.

“We are confident that research conducted using this facility will lead to major discoveries that hold the key to solving some of the world's greatest problems in food production and hence food security, particularly in the face of climate change.

"The facility is available to all Australian plant scientists and will greatly assist our researchers in 'phenotyping' plants –- that is, identifying the role of each plant gene in the function of the whole plant. It has already attracted much interest among local and international companies looking to forge research partnerships and we’re very excited about the collaborative opportunities that are emerging.”

Flooding rains bring rare waterfalls to Australia's Uluru

2010-01-17T14:32:00.001+11:00

Heavy rains which flooded parts of Australia's vast desert centre have brought rare waterfalls spilling from the iconic monolith Uluru, or Ayers Rocks, officials said Saturday.

The deluge, which swept across much of the continent's east after a tropical cyclone last month, prompted a wave of green in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, home to the giant red rock.

"It's something that a lot of people actually wouldn't experience, seeing the park at this time of year when it is green and the plants are really shooting and the flowers are coming out," said park manager Christine Burke.

"It's a very exciting time at the park now to see what happens after we have a good rain and it looks beautiful," she told state radio.

Situated near the centre of the semi-arid Sturt Desert, Uluru typically receives little more than 12 inches of rain a year, and January is its hottest, driest month, with temperatures topping to 45 degrees Celsius (113 F).

Conditions are overcast, on average, just five days of the year.

Uluru is a sacred part of Aboriginal tribes' creation mythology and one of the nation's most recognisable landmarks.

Australia is currently mulling a ban on climbing the rock on cultural and safety grounds. Signs at the site ask people not to climb it out of respect for the Aboriginal community, but one-third of the 350,000 annual visitors still do so.

My friend Jill's beautiful garden in spring

2009-10-31T20:23:00.006+11:00

Deight in your garden

2009-10-11T21:43:00.000+11:00

This is a very informative episode of Gardening Australia

Plants that will take 'dry' conditions

2009-09-27T13:54:00.003+10:00

Adenanthos cuneatus Coral Drift, a beautiful Australian shrub that can reach 100cm tall with silvery blue, wedge-shaped leaves edged in a reddish pink. Even with no flowers, the plant is colorful.

A spreading plant with wedge shaped leaves that are grey at maturity but strongly tinged

with pink and purple when new. Small, hardly noticeable, bird attractant flowers over the warmer months.

C.ciliatum is usually a small, erect or spreading shrub to about 1 metre high. It has linear, narrow leaves up to 40 mm long and highly aromatic when crushed. The small, white or pink flowers occur in spring and summer and age to a deeper pink colour. They are circular in shape and about 15 mm in diameter.

Although native to a dry summer climate, Stirling wax has been cultivated successfully in more humid, temperate and sub-tropical areas but cannot be said to be easy to maintain for long periods in those areas. The species is undoubtedly more adaptable to areas of dry summers. It requires a very well drained position, preferably in sandy soil in sun or semi shade. Once established, plants will tolerate periods of extended dryness.

'Darling Pea' a popular 'pea' plant

2009-09-26T12:49:00.002+10:00

It says something about the popularity and universality of sweet peas that so many plants have the word "pea" as part of their common name. Count among them a wonderful Australian shrub known as "Darling Pea.

Swainsona galegifolia is a long-lived shrubby perennial from inland New South Wales and Queensland. Branches sprout from the crown at ground level, reaching a height of 3 feet. They're covered from tip to ground with finely textured, light green pinnate leaves that can reach 4 inches in length. Beginning in late spring, 6-inch-long spikes of 1-inch, pea-shaped flowers appear, gradually smothering the plant in a blanket of white. Flowering continues long into the fall and is followed by balloon-like fruit pods.

Swainsona is a versatile, sun-loving shrub. Use it in a border planting, in an "Australasian" section with similarly hardy shrubs or, given its copious flowering, as a focal point in your garden. Contrast the alba variety with purples and pinks, such as polygala dalmaisiana, parahebe perfiolata or members of the protea family (protea, leucadendron, leucospermum).

Darling Pea has another thing going for it: It's very popular with local bees. They're not the least bit dissuaded from their pollen gathering when I'm out there pruning my specimen.

Did you know?

Among the common plants whose pea-shaped flowers have inspired a common name acknowledging such a resemblance are the long-blooming evergreen shrub polygala dalmaisiana (sweet pea shrub); the vining shrub Kennedia nigricans with its striking black and gold flowers (black coral pea); the winter blooming shade vine Hardenbergia violacea (purple coral pea); the evergreen shrub Clianthus puniceus, sometimes known as lobster claw but also as Glory Pea for its red or white pea-like blooms; the Aussie twining shrub Chorizema cordatum with its colorful 1/2-inch gold and pink flowers; and the charming evergreen ground cover Parochetus africana, whose pretty, blue flowers and clover-like foliage have yielded the common name shamrock pea.

Cultivation

Plant in full sun to light shade in well-drained soil. Young plants have an upright habit but can spread with age. If used to create a hedge, plants will support one another and retain a vertical habit. This shrub can be semi-evergreen in milder climates. As this plant flowers on old growth, prune back 3-10 inches on branches to remove old flowers and/or to shape plant. Hardy to at least 30 degrees.

Note: This plant is poisonous to livestock.

Nuclear Australia: Can nuclear power plants be expected to load follow?

2009-09-15T10:04:00.000+10:00

Nuclear Australia: Can nuclear power plants be expected to load follow?

'The Dry Gardening Handbook: Plants and Practices for a Changing Climate' by Olivier Filippi -- latimes.com

2009-09-06T13:45:00.001+10:00

'The Dry Gardening Handbook: Plants and Practices for a Changing Climate' by Olivier Filippi -- latimes.com

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How Does Composting Work?

2009-09-05T14:16:00.000+10:00

How Does Composting Work?

by Whitney Segura

It is the breakdown of tissues and compounds into simpler substances, which act as soil nutrients.
Put a pile of leaves, a cardboard box and a watermelon in your back yard, exposed to the elements, and they will eventually decompose.

How long each takes to break down depends on a number of factors:
• What are the materials made of
• How much surface area is exposed
• The availability of moisture and air

Organic Materials

Backyard composting is a process designed to speed up the breakdown or decomposing of organic materials. Let us take a closer look at how we manipulate the process and speed things up.
Here I use the term microbes, which include microscopic organisms and worms amongst a whole slew of "things." Microbes live in the soil; they are the key to composting. Normally, they eat small tidbits of organic matter such as leaves and twigs that nature provides. The more these microbes have to eat the more efficient they can work. A lot of the things you call waste - for example, banana peels, rotten apples, brown wilted lettuce, fallen leaves and weeds from your garden - are food for these microbes. Meat products should not be used.

Nitrogen Inside Foods

If a compost pile smells it is because of meat products. They will eventually break down, but meat slows down the composting process. Microbes need carbon and nitrogen. Some things high in carbon include paper, sawdust, wood chips, straw, and leaves. Some things high in nitrogen include food, grass clippings, and manures. Be sure to include a mixture of wastes high in nitrogen in your compost pile. The smaller the chunks are the faster they will break down. So cut up that apple. Break up those twigs, your compost pile will reward you for your effort.

Surface Microorganisms

The more surface area the microorganisms have to work on, the faster the materials will decompose. It is like a block of ice in the sun: slow to melt when it is large, but melting very quickly when broken into smaller pieces. Chopping your garden wastes with a shovel or a machete, or running them through a shredding machine or lawnmower will increase their surface area, thus speeding up your composting
Sufficient air in the pile encourages microbial growth and speeds decomposition. We have all had the experience of smelling a mass of wet grass clippings

Ability For Air To Get Inside

Be sure your compost container had holes to allow air to get into the compost pile. These microbes need air to survive. If possible, stir or turn your compost pile every week or so to let in more air. If you do not get enough air into your compost pile, other organisms take over and give off a nasty. They also work a lot slower. I think you would prefer in your compost pile! Also, wet your compost pile. Your compost pile should be about as moist as a sponge that has just been wrung out. If there is not much rainfall, add water to your compost pile.

Air Temperature Inside Compost Bin

Compost piles should range in temperatures of about 90 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit or 32 to 60 degrees Celsius. Higher temperatures produce will kill major disease organisms and fly larvae, help kill weed seeds, and provide a good environment for the most effective decomposer organisms If the temperature is too low in your compost pile, many of your microbes will die, and those other microorganisms will take over. You know the slow smelly ones.

How Heating Affects Creating Soil Compost

The plant matter will require heat and moisture for quick breakdown. The summer sun will provide the heat, but it will be the gardener's responsibility to soak the compost area from time to time for the moisture.

Size Of Compost Pile

If your compost pile is too small, it will be cold. The best way to keep it warm is to build a pile at least three feet x three feet x three feet (one meter x one meter x one meter).
Extremes of sun, wind, or rain can adversely affect this balance in your pile.

Understanding For Effective Composting

Understanding these key factors when composting allows for efficient, quick break down of kitchen and yard wastes, turning them into "Black Gold"!

Conclusion: If you supply all these things - food, air, and moisture in a good-sized pile - You will get your compost in about six weeks. The larger the pile the longer it will take. A poorly attended compost pile can take years to decompose.

Alyogne huglei

2009-09-05T14:13:00.003+10:00

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South Australia's Gateway to the Outback, Flinders Ranges. | Embrace Australia

2009-08-01T15:42:00.001+10:00

South Australia's Gateway to the Outback, Flinders Ranges. | Embrace Australia

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Prospecting Weekly #48 - Focus Beats Brilliance...Every Time

2009-07-10T20:30:00.001+10:00

Prospecting Weekly #48 - Focus Beats Brilliance...Every Time

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The business to make your business work more profitably

2009-07-04T20:24:00.001+10:00

The business to make your business work more profitably

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NASA wants Australian wattle plants in space for clean air

2009-07-02T12:50:00.000+10:00

ASTRONAUTS exploring the far reaches of our solar system could in the future be breathing clean air from Australian plants such as wattles.

The plants are a step closer to aiding deep space probes after the seeds of four types of Australian flora survived six months aboard the International Space Station.

Canadian-born NASA astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who was on that mission aboard the shuttle Discovery last May, said the seeds completed more than 2800 orbits of the Earth with no signs of "space fatigue or damage".

"From NASA's perspective, we are interested in seeds that might be hardy enough to survive long duration exposure to the space environment and then germinate in greenhouses in space or on other planets," he said.

"Ultimately, this will be essential to support self-sustaining outposts or colonies with food and oxygen."

The wollemi pine, golden wattle, flannel flower and waratah seeds, germinated at the NSW Seedbank at Mount Annan Botanic Garden near Campbelltown, were exposed to microgravity - almost weightlessness - and low-level ionising radiation.

Dr Tim Entwistle, Executive Director of the Botanic Gardens Trust, which asked NASA to take the seeds into space, said wattle in particular held promise because of the long journeys needed for deep space exploration.

War being raged on aquatic weeds

2009-06-24T21:15:00.003+10:00

Adelaide & Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management

Board Animal and Plant Control compliance officer Phil Elso

is concerned about the environmental damage four aquatic

weeds can cause to local waterways.

THE Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board has declared war on four aquatic weeds. Water hyacinth, alligator weed, cabomba and salvina are declared pest plants, which by law, the public has a legal obligation to report.

The movement or sale of these plants can incur fines up to $50,000. These weeds can cause significant environmental harm by spreading to local watercourses and are a cause of concern for the board.

Alligator weed is one of the worst weeds in Australia because of its invasiveness and economic and environmental impacts. It is especially problematic as it invades land and water, and is extremely difficult to control.

The Board's Animal & Plant Control compliance officer Phil Elson encourages owners of ponds, aquariums and outdoor water features to be aware of the implications of emptying water into local waterways.

He also recommends vigilance when buying pond or aquarium plants that have the potential to be environmental risks.

"Emptying aquariums or pond water into local waterways can have enormous implications for native plants and animals," Mr Elson said.

"As seen with these four weeds, they can choke native plants which provide food sources and habitat for local species.

"We recently confiscated and destroyed a number of water hyacinth plants from commercial premises and private homes in Adelaide's northern suburbs. In previous years, it has also been found in the Adelaide Hills."

Lechenaultia tubiflora

2009-05-09T12:33:00.002+10:00

Red flowers use chemical warfare to protect themselves

2009-03-21T10:45:00.000+11:00

A new study has determined that an Australian native plant is using chemical warfare to prevent its bright red flowers from being eaten, by using some quantity of cyanide.

According to a report by ABC News, the finding challenges conventional thought that flowers evolved as a way for plants to attract birds and animals that help them cross-pollinate.

The study was done by Professor Byron Lamont and his colleagues from the Centre for Ecosystem Diversity and Dynamics at Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia.

Lamont said that the team studied 51 species of Hakea, and found they could be easily divided into two groupings.

Insect-pollinated species have predominantly tiny, white flowers surrounded by spiky, dense foliage, which they suggest stops animals such as emus and cockatoos from eating the flower.

Bird-pollinated species instead have soft open leaves and bright, easily accessible, usually red, flowers with room for birds to land on stems.

This makes the plant vulnerable to being eaten by emus and cockatoos.

Lamont and colleagues travelled to the heathlands north and south of Perth to collect samples of Hakea.

They macerated the flowers on-site and then used an enzyme and a strip of paper that was sensitive to cyanide to test for its presence.

He said that they found that plants with red flowers contain 10 milligrams of cyanide per gram, enough to make an animal sick.

According to co-author Dr Mick Hanley, of the University of Plymouth, animals that eat the red Hakea flowers may learn to associate the colour with the bitter taste produced by the cyanide.

“The colour red acts as a warning to large vertebrate herbivores like emus, parrots and kangaroos that the flower contains distasteful or even poisonous cyanogenic compounds,” he said.

“It seems that Western Australian plants have not only developed a remarkable defence against would-be flower predators, but that they also clearly advertise the fact,” he added.

Design with Energy in Mind

2008-11-18T15:12:00.002+11:00

Design with Energy in Mind

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Plants provide bottled beverages with a greener tinge

2008-11-12T14:17:00.000+11:00

Victorian-based Cool Change Natural Spring Water has launched Australia’s first beverage (spring water) packaged in a bottle made from plants, as they seek to “go green” in an industry often criticised for a lack of sustainability.

Rather than packaging a drink in PET, a polymer (plastic) derived from crude oil, Cool Change Natural Spring Water bottles are made using Ingeo PLA, derived from annually renewable sources - plants.

This new material is derived from plant sugars and requires less energy for production (67% less fossil fuels) which have the flow on effect of producing 90% less carbon emissions in producing the resin required for the bottle. The new polymer also opens up opportunities for increased end of life options such as commercial composting (the bottle can compost in commercial composting conditions of high heat 55C+ and high humidity 90%+).

In addition to the packaging, Cool Change has taking into consideration all aspects of the business in an effort to ensure their carbon footprint is minimised by reducing energy usage then offsetting any green house emissions that have been created - making it the first water in Australia to have a carbon neutral production process (certified by Carbon Reduction Institute).

Cool Change Natural Spring Water is a privately owned business held by the Paterson family and based in Victoria’s Yarra Valley. An agricultural family, they’re made up of two brothers - Richard, James - and Mum, Helen. Having been involved within the water industry since 1991, what started for Richard as the revamping of his family spring water business has shifted towards a journey on education of consumption and waste management. With many obstacles along the way.

Beyond that of bottled water, the scope for Cool Change as a wider business include; advocates for improved commercial composting infrastructure in Australia, close loop solutions for the food event and restaurant industry and wider food packaging opportunities (e.g. diversification into milk, fruits, contract packing). And they are beginning to make their mark in the burgeoning Australian bottled water industry, being now available Australia-wide throughout eateries, cafes, health, organic and independent food stores.

Cool Technology blog: Landscaped Gardens Of Australia - The Uniqueness And The Beauty!

2008-09-21T14:47:00.001+10:00

Cool Technology blog: Landscaped Gardens Of Australia - The Uniqueness And The Beauty!

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Lechenaultia species

2007-02-20T13:47:00.001+11:00

The genus Lechenaultia is named after a French botanist who accompanied the Baudin expedition to Australia 1800-1804.

Lechenaultia is part of the large flora family of Goodeniaceae. Other better known genera include, Goodenia, Scaevola, Dampiera, etc. As a family of fan-flowers there are hundreds of species occurring throughout Australia, their flowers come in all colors and the plants are usually very common after fire or when there has been soil disturbance. Most are small shrubs, although there are also many non-woody species (herbs); the Esperance region species grow in a variety of habitats, from coastal dunes, to sandy heath and dry mallee.

Most Goodeniaceae species have a distinctively fan shaped flower, although some need close examination to appreciate this feature, the foliage varies greatly from tiny leaves to large fleshy ones, some armed with sharp spines, but normally it is the shape of the flowers and their bright colors that draw the attention.

Of the four Esperance region Lechenaultia species, Lechenaultia formosa would be one of the most spectacular of all fan-flowers. Its common name is "Red Lechenaultia," but around Esperance it comes in many colors.

Lechenaultia formosa grows in a sandy soil around seasonally wet depressions and flowers best when the soil is moist.

The flowers come in an amazing array of colors. These illustrated are only a few examples.

The "Heath Lechenaultia," Lechenaultia tubiflora does not initially look like a fan-flower, but has all the necessary features to place it well and truly within the genus. This species likes the deep sandy soils, obviously preferring better drained sites, but like Lechenaultia formosa above, has an interesting although less varied range of color variations. Commonly the flowers are either red or a cream/green color as shown below.

But not satisfied with these colors, it produces bicolor ones that combine the two. Either the red or the cream can be at the top, with the other color making up the remainder of the flower. These color forms are at a guesstimate, a third fully red, a third fully Cream/green and the remaining third a bicolor between the two.

Lechenaultia brevifolia does not occur in the Esperance coastal region, but can be found further inland, usually in a sandy soil over a heavier clay base. Here the temperature is warmer than in coastal regions and surface rainfall drying quickly, but the heavier soil under the sand would probably retain moisture for some time. It is usually a very open small shrub, with the flowers resembling Lechenaultia biloba. It was described in 1987, so only a recently recognised species.

This last Lechenaultia also only occurs inland, and usually after fire where it might persist for a few seasons. It is a low shrub and a prolific flowerer, favouring a sandy/clay soil in seasonally (winter) damp depressions, or seepage zones. Its name is Lechenaultia papillata and like the blue flowering species above was first described in 1987.

These plants are often considered difficult to grow in the garden, but given similar conditions to where they normally occur, they are quite hardy. However soil type and moisture availability are critical requirements.

Bush Christmas

2007-02-20T13:45:00.001+11:00

What does the WA bush have to offer this festive season?

Firstly, the WA Christmas Tree has the most spectacular flowers of any plant, they being an iridescent orange. It grows to around 6-10 metres and similar in width, with branches spreading outward almost horizontally and except for the tips, are usually bare of any foliage, giving it a clean open structure. Most years, only the larger trees will flower around the Christmas/New Year period, but all flower profusely after a bushfire, when the brilliant orange flowers are contrasted against the blackened trunks.

This Christmas Tree is no ordinary tree. It is a mistletoe! But instead of growing on the branches of host plants, this tree sends out very long roots (to 100 metres), seeking the roots of potential hosts. When it encounters one, it produces a hard white calcium-like ring with a sharp inner edge, once the root is encircled, it cuts into the outer layer to where the sap can be reached and plundered. This feature makes the Christmas Tree very unpopular near fruit orchards, or where small-unprotected plastic water pipes, electric cables or telephone lines have been buried, as these discs will also cut through them, requiring their replacement.

Found in sandy soils from Israelite Bay (200 km east of Esperance) to the Murchison River (500 km north of Perth), it is very common and can even be seen providing shade in grazing paddocks with nothing other than grass and sedges (on which to parasitise). This habitat (devoid of other trees and shrubs) indicates it is not fully parasitic, but can survive for prolonged periods without the need to access the roots of other large plant species.

Its name is Nuytsia floribunda, from the mistletoe family Loranthaceae, but is better known as the WA Christmas Tree. It is named after Pieter Nuijts from the Dutch East India Company, who visited Australia in 1627 in the ship "Gulde Zeepard."

So who else in the bush is enjoying Christmas?

How about all the little animals that believe in the true spirit of Christmas. Santa and the receiving of gifts!

You would think with such a beautiful Christmas Tree, there would be no need for further decoration, but some still try. Here is Froggie the Tree-frog practicing hard to be the tree-fairy.

And Mr T. the Tiger Snake arranging more decorations. At least when he does it, there are fewer arguments.

Shorty the Long-horned Grasshopper is a wildlife 'hippy' who after a session on the grass, wishes everybody love.

As for Santa; Storena the Zodariidae Spider is always a good sport and takes on the role. Mind you she has the advantages of being red and having a big soft tummy, she can also spin the required white wig and beard. Plus nobody has ever fallen off her knee!

Mrs Western Spinebill did her bit, by making a strong toy sack for Santa.

But who is going to pull the sleigh? Fortunately the Crickets bounded in at the last minute. 'Crikey the Cricket' is playing Rudolf the Green-nose Reindeer and is just rearing to go.

However, there are always last minute problems as 'Wicket the Cricket,' stubbornly refused to be called Rudolf the Brown-nose Reindeer.

And what is all this preparation in aid of? The big doe-eyed little ones of course!

So when you go into the bush this Christmas, remember there are lots of little critters that call it home. Therefore be good and watch your step!

Smokebush

2007-02-20T13:34:00.000+11:00

Conospermum or Smokebush belong to the spectacular Proteaceae family.

There are more than sixty smokebush species occurring in most Australian States, but are most numerous and diverse in the SW region of WA (the wheatbelt). Generally they are low to medium sized shrubs, often with striking floral displays that are used in the cut flower industry. There are several species in the Esperance region, but two outshine the others when it comes to display. These are Conospermum distichum and Conospermum teretifolium.

The Conospermum distichum smokebush is a bushy shrub growing to less than a metre and usually (in the Esperance region) occurring in small colonies on deep sandy soil. It mass flowers during spring producing a striking bluish grey (smoky) floral display.

Conospermum teretifolium the Spider Smokebush grows to over a metre, also on deep sandy soils, but as scattered plants or only a few individuals. The flowers form in dense creamy white heads during late spring to early summer.

Like most people interested in botany, I have often been caught out on identification. On occasion I have seen (to me) a new species and on keying out the botanical features, it eventually indicates that it belongs to this or that family. But being familiar with some species and genera within that family, I think it can't be as it looks nothing like them. So believing I have made an error, I retrace my steps, only to arrive back again at the highly suspicious family. So reluctantly I investigate, only to find the key was correct and I had encountered yet another variation of the taxonomic features.

These two Conospermum species are also very dissimilar, but now have a look at the flowers, first the C. distichum smokebush. Note the small petals and densely woolly flowers.

Now the Conospermum teretifolium the Spider Smokebush, see how large the flowers are in comparison, with no hairs and the long thin petals.

So how come these completely different plants have been placed in the same genus? The secret is in the structure of the flowers, and this applies not only to these two species, but also to the hundreds of other species in the large Proteaceae family. These Proteaceae plants are found in several countries, although Australia and South Africa have the greatest diversity of species. These include the Australian Banksia, Hakea, Grevillea, Isopogon, Persoonia, Conospermum, etc, also the Protea, Leucospermum, Leucadendron, etc, from South Africa.

The similarity of these plants world wide, is they all have four perianth-segments (4 petal-like structures), with four stamens that are either attached directly to the petal-like structures, or to the perianth (flower) tube itself. There are other features like a superior ovary (where the floral tube runs uninterrupted to below the seed bearing structure, ie the ovary), but basically you have 4 petals + 4 attached stamens.

Now the main differences between the genera relate to the seed and/or, the seed bearing structure, which with Conospermum is a hairy obconical seed/nut. Conospermum in Latin means a cone [shaped] seed.

Therefore both these very different looking plants, have with close examination, 4 petals + 4 attached stamens + obconical seed/nuts!

Why not checkout the above features on the Proteaceae plants in your garden or bush? Then look at the different seeds and seed carrying arrangements. So now you should be able to recognise any Proteaceae plant from anywhere in the world, even if you have never seen them before.

Brachychiton acerifolius

2007-02-09T22:40:00.000+11:00

Banksia baueri

2007-02-06T19:36:00.000+11:00

Banksia baueri

Botany Photo of the Day

2007-02-05T21:55:00.000+11:00

Botany Photo of the Day

G'day

2007-01-20T20:32:00.001+11:00

G'day

Acacias' true colors are an early sign of spring

2007-01-14T16:55:00.000+11:00

Walnut Creek's Ruth Bancroft is a national authority on drought-resistant gardening. Twice a month she and her staff share their knowledge with Times readers.

MANY PLANTS begin their annual cycle with a burst of flowering, and this is what makes spring such an exhilarating time of year to be out in the garden.

However, different groups of plants have different ideas about when to commence, and thus we have waves of "spring" extending from early starters, like paperwhite narcissus that often begins flowering even before New Year's, all the way through the late bloomers, such as many rhododendrons, which don't get going until May.

Among the early birds are many kinds of acacia, which often provide splashes of intense yellow early in the year.

This large group includes a number of widely grown trees that are familiar parts of the California landscape, but many gardeners don't realize just how many kinds there are to choose from. Some of these are shrubs rather than trees, although in some cases a species may be either a tree or a shrub, depending on conditions or on pruning.

One delightful species of modest size is Acacia cultriformis, sometimes known as the knife acacia because its small bluish leaves look like little paring knives. In the "Sunset Western Garden Book," its size is listed as 10 to 15 feet, but even after many years, our plants at the Ruth Bancroft Garden are only about 8 feet tall.

Like many acacias, it comes from Australia and keeps its leaves all year round, and its silvery blue-gray color is an attractive feature. In late January, clusters of bright yellow flowers are produced at the ends of the branches. These are small puffballs, but occur in such numbers that the whole bush becomes a dazzling blaze of yellow.

Somewhat similar, but taller-growing, is Acacia pravissima. This species has a similar leaf shape and is also from Australia, but its leaves are more a gray-green color. Our specimen is definitely a small tree rather than a shrub, but its mass of brilliant yellow flowers commencing in late January is very reminiscent of A. cultriformis.

These two species are only a small sample of the many attractive acacias available, with leaf colors varying from emerald-green to olive-green to bluish or silvery. Flower color in acacias is almost always yellow, though this may range from pale yellow -- or even straw-colored -- to a golden or orange-yellow hue.

If you have a question for the Ruth Bancroft Garden, e-mail info@ruthbancroftgarden.org. For tour and event information, visit www.ruthbancroftgarden.org.

Drought a result of natural causes, says researcher

2006-12-28T10:57:00.000+11:00

New research from the CSIRO suggests the current drought is due to natural variation in climate, not the greenhouse effect.

Barrie Hunt, an honorary research fellow at the CSIRO's atmospheric research centre in Melbourne, has studied 10,000 years of climate variability in Australia.

His research shows about 30 periods of drought which occur at random times and he says the length of each drought does not follow a predictable pattern.

Mr Hunt says this drought is not caused by the greenhouse effect.

"I think it's probably a bit to early yet to say we're having a greenhouse effect on rainfall, rainfall's a very difficult climatic term to get to grips with," he said.

"There's definitely a greenhouse effect on temperature, I'm not sure we're having one on rainfall yet.

"This drought will break and it's important for people to say well I understand that when the drought breaks it's not the greenhouse effect is a load of rubbish, of course it's rained again, everyone says this thing's due to the greenhouse effect and therefore they expect it to go on forever in a way, the naive people do."

Dr Patrick Moore lecture

2006-12-16T21:46:00.000+11:00

EDITED TRANSCRIPT OF A LECTURE AND QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION BY DR PATRICK MOORE IN MELBOURNE.

I was raised among the rainforests of British Columbia, ended up at the University of British Columbia studying life sciences - biology, forestry, genetics - then I discovered ecology: the science of how all living things are interrelated, and we are related to them.

I became a born-again ecologist and in the late 1960s was transformed into a radical environmental activist. From Vancouver, we planned a protest voyage against US hydrogen bomb tests in Alaska. We proved that a ragtag-looking group in 1971 could sail a leaky old fishing boat across the north Pacific to protest against the tests and change the course of history. The H-bomb tested in 1971 was the last one the US ever let off. There were other atomic tests after that, but President Nixon, at the height of the Vietnam War and Cold War, cancelled the remaining H-bomb tests due to overwhelming opposition in the US and Canada. In retrospect, it was a major turning point in the global arms race. This was the birth of Greenpeace.

Recognising a small group of people could achieve something if they tried, on way back from Alaska, we were made brothers of the Kwakiutl Indian tribe on Vancouver ..... this began the Greenpeace tradition of the Warriors of the Rainbow, after a Cree legend: "One day when the skies are black and the earth falls dead and the waters are poisoned, the people around the world will join together to form the Warriors of the Rainbow to save the earth from environmental destruction." We named the ship the Rainbow Warrior and I spent the next 15 years full time on the top committee of Greenpeace as we campaign around the world.

Next was French atomic testing around the Pacific. In 1985 the Rainbow Warrior was bombed by the French, but the campaign continued against atomic testing.

In 1975, we confronted the whalers, putting ourselves in front of the harpoons. This got us on TV around the world, and brought the 'save the whale' movement into peoples' living rooms for the first time.

I sat on a baby seal on the east coast of Canada to protect it from the hunters' clubs. I was hauled off to jail. The picture appeared in 3000 newspapers the next morning around the world. This also brought changes to the way Canada managed its seals.

By the mid-1980s, Greenpeace had grown from a church basement to a $US100 million a year coming in and offices in 21 countries. Presidents and prime ministers were now talking about the environment every day. The environment had to be taken into account when making decisions. I thought we had largely accomplished all our tasks, had made the public aware of the environment. For me, it was time to make a change.

I had been against three or four things for every day of my life for 15 years; I decided I would like to be in favour of something for a change, to make a transition from the politics of confrontation - telling people what they should stop doing - to the politics of trying to find consensus of what we should be doing instead.

Over 6 billion people wake up on this plant with real needs for food, energy and materials. As well as continuing to provide for those needs, at the same time reducing our negative environmental impact.

A lot of activists will tell you those things are mutually exclusive, that automatically the more people there are and the more stuff they use, the more damage will be done to the environment. This is one of the great myths of environmentalism today.

It's simply not true. Through changes in our behaviour and changes in our technology, we can continue to gain what we need to support civilisation while at the same time reducing negative impacts.

My former colleagues reject that, and have moved into ever more extreme politics and positions. This was the rise of environmentalist extremism in the mid 1980s. The only way to remain confrontational and anti-establishment was to adopt even more extreme policies, eventually abandoning science and logic altogether.

World communism failed, the (Berlin) Wall came down, and a lot of political activists moved into the environmental movement bringing their neo-Marxism with them, using green language in a way to cloak agendas that have more to do with anti-capitalism and anti-globalisation than anything to do with science.

They are anti-human; humans are characterised as something malignant on the face of the earth; they (the environmental extremists) are anti-science and anti-technology, as shown by their opposition to genetic modification and anti-nuclear policies. They tend to be anti-trade and anti-globalisation - the people who use laptops, cell phones as the main tools - are anti-globalisation. One demonstrator had a sign: "Join the world wide struggle against globalisation".

They tend to be anti-business. Profits are unethical and all large corporations are depicted as inherently greedy and corrupt, yet no alternative institutional framework is offered to deliver the services required by 6 billion people every day.

They are ultimately anti-civilisation. There is this naive vision of some utopian "Garden of Eden" that never existed, completely forgetting that 100 years ago the average age of human beings was 35 and there were not enough doctors and dentists to go around.

Since I left Greenpeace in 1986, I have taken a different position, that of the sensible environmentalist basing positions on science and logic.

I get all sorts of requests, for example, advice on building green. The most obvious - use a lot of renewable resources, the most abundant of which is wood.

Growing up in BC with a forest industry family, among its abundant forests, it made sense for me to study trees. I soon learned they were the answer to a lot of questions about our future; for example, What should I build my house out of? How can we make this world better for biodiversity and wild life, how can we pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and cut fossil fuel consumption? How can we make the world more green and beautiful? The answer to all those questions from the most practical - what we should build our dwellings with - to the most aesthetic - how we can make the earth prettier - is trees.

Forests have also the majority of living species on earth. Up to 75 per cent of known species require forests at one stage of another, or even during their whole lives.

There is one simple reason for that; the living body of the trees themselves creates a new environment that is not there in their absence. The canopy above is home to millions of birds, insects and animals. The interior of the forest is protected from wind and sun. This, in combination with the fruits of the trees used as food, and even the wood when the trees dies, creates new habitat for species that would not have existed for trees.

This gives the obvious conclusion - cut the trees down, and the species will die. No - not a single example has even been offered as evidence that a species will die from forestry.

Why, because to the best of our scientific knowledge, no species has become extinct due to forestry. Yet reputable journals like National Geographic or Scientific American all give credibility to this view.

Humans do kill species. There are three main ways humans cause extinction of other species: first, to kill them with a club, spear or gun; the second, is through the clearance of native habitat, usually forest, for agriculture; the third, and main cause of species extinction, is the introduction of exotic species and predators such as rats and cats ..... We have a long list of species that have become extinct due to eradication, agriculture and introduction of exotic species - yet, the general public has been told over and over again by anti-forestry activists that it is the logging industry that is the main cause of species extinction in this world. It is a complete myth, there is no truth, but the public believes it, and this one of the great hurdles that forestry has to overcome in terms of public education. Forestry is not a significant cause of danger to species extinction or the earth's biodiversity.

If forests were not capable of recovering from total destruction, there would be no forests on this earth in the first place. Forests have been recovering from total destruction without any assistance for the almost 350 million years that forests have existed on the earth. About 10,000 years ago Russia and Canada were covered by a mile of ice ... nothing lived there. When the ice retreated to expose the soil to the sun again, the forests recovered quickly, by themselves.

It follows from that that every species that lives in the forest must be able to recover from the destruction of the forest ... indeed, forest renewal is the sum total of the return of the individual species to the site and re-establishing themselves. In ecology, this is called dispersal. We call it migration ... establish a new home in a different location and survive there. Some species disperse quickly, others take more time, but there is no species on the earth that is not capable of dispersal, otherwise they could never exist. They would be extinct before they came into being.

Fire is the major cause of forest destruction around the world - or disturbance as we prefer to call it, to give it a neutral term. Fire is natural, unlike logging, which is unnatural. Nature never comes with logging trucks and takes the trees away. All sorts of rhetoric is used to give the impression that logging is somehow fundamentally different from other forms of forest disturbance or destruction. It's true that logging is not identical to fire in its environmental impact, but then fire is quite different from a volcano, and volcanoes are way different than ice ages. These are actually differences of degree, not kind. It doesn't matter what agent causes disturbance to the forest, as soon as the disturbance is stopped - the fire goes out, the volcano stops erupting, the ice goes away, or the logger finishes his job and goes down the road - the forest immediately begins a process of recovery and will always recover -- eventually. Sometimes it takes longer, but it will always come back.

A wild fire can destroy everything - seeds and roots - to ash. Everywhere in the world there are tiny species of plants .... that blow a hundred miles in the breeze looking for a place to germinate in the open sun now that the shade of the forest has been removed by the fire and use the ash as a nutrients to begin the process of healing the soil. It won't be long before the (tree) seeds come back ... and when they do they will find soil that has been renewed and they will spring up and a new forest will return.

Humans can help with the recovery of a forest ....

a mosaic of various age classes and different ecosystem types in a landscape gives more biodiversity than a monoculture ... that is one of the beauties of sustainable forestry: done properly, all age classes of forest across the landscape, including old growth, is capable of supporting the full range of biodiversity that would be native to that site, whereas if you have a constant situation over the whole landscape, you don't have the same biodiversity.

A forest logged by my father (70 years ago) has recovered, without any reforestation effort - today, it is fully reforested all by itself, and there are bears, cougar, owls, eagles living in this landscape again.

A logged coupe - you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Beauty is only skin deep. We are easily tricked by our eyes that if something looks bad, there is something wrong with the situation, but if something looks pretty, it must be good ... it's just pieces of wood lying on good dirt, it's not toxic discharge ...

(West Australian) foresters have discovered the best way to regenerate karri eucalypt species to grow back thick and fast after logging is to come in and do a heavy burn and bring in the excavators and dig it all up. It's called site preparation ... but because it looks bad, it's an effective poster for the anti-forestry movement ...

Clear cuts can look nice, openings in the forest ... it's a temporary meadow - it will not stay this way, it will grow back to a forest. The sun can now directly shine onto the floor and promote the growth of plants and animals that would not grow in the shade of the tree ... these differences are aesthetic, they have nothing to do with ecology or biodiversity. In fact, a meadow is low in biodiversity, it's too dry ... the trees grow along the creek bed, and up higher, where it's cooler and moister.

Clear cuts, on the other hand, have a huge diversity of seeds and roots waiting ... in 10 years, not only are the herbs and grasses growing back but so are the woody plants ... the shrubs and trees ... it's moist enough for the trees to grow.

Deforestation, it certainly looks deforested once you have cut the trees down ... unfortunately, cutting the trees down is not sufficient in itself to cause deforestation. What matters is what happens once the trees are cut down - is the area deforested or reforested?

The trees are gone, and we don't like the look of this wooded debris around the landscape ... We like neat things, for some reason, we think messiness equals bad, when in fact in ecology, messy is usually good, because these large pieces of debris in fact create important habitat and when they rot, nutrients for the new forest to grow, and it won't be long until new trees will grow up high enough and cover up all that messy wood and grow a beautiful carpet of new green forest across the valley - and then it will look pretty again. But that's not the picture that they put in National Geographic that anti-forestry people use ...

All these farm field were native forest not that many years ago ... If you stop ploughing those fields for five years in a row, new tree seedling will emerge from seeds blowing in from the surrounding trees, and within 80 years you would never know there had been a farm there ... It will be naturally reforested again.

Deforestation is done to grow our food and house ourselves ... it's seldom caused by forestry. Deforestation is usually caused by farmers growing our food and building our houses, towns and cities.

About 40 per cent of US deforestation is caused by agriculture, 30-40 per cent of Australia's original native forest has also been converted to agriculture .... its not just South-East Asia that is losing its forests. We are the greatest deforesters ... less of original forest in South-East Asia has been lost to agriculture compared to this country.

I'm not against farming - we do have to eat - but it's interesting to note that's got nothing to do with forestry. Forestry is the solution, not the problem.

The problem is population. I'm not against people either, but the more people there are, the more food we have to feed ourselves and the more land we need to grow that food.

Trends that have reduced forest loss: Agricultural production through advances in technology, chemistry and genetics. We have learned to grow five times as much food on the same area of land as we did 50 years ago ... that means we only need one fifth the land to grow the same amount of food. That is why there has not been any increase in land under the plough in the industrialised countries in the past 50-100 years.

Urban densification: building up and in rather than out, more liveable infrastructure for people, more efficient energy use, ease of getting to shops and work, more recreation areas ... those are ways we can reduce the loss of forest and forest land.

Judging by the prettiness - that is us, not science. We need to get beyond the immediate impression of beauty and ugliness and understand more about science, ecology and biodiversity. A wheat field is a deforested area with a monoculture crop.

Asphalt on roads is the complete destruction of biodiversity ... but nobody is chaining themselves to the trucks, but to the trees in the forests ... With managed clear cut native forest that have grown back ... you've got 90 per cent, 95 per cent, maybe 100 per cent biodiversity. That is the difference between deforestation and reforestation. The difference between native forest and managed forest, depending on how well the forest is intensively managed and how much exotic species like radiata pine are planted, you will have quite a large difference in biodiversity compared to the original native forest, but nowhere near the orders of magnitude difference you create by annual crops. Even pine forests produce a lot of food and seed in their cones and provide habitat for species.

It is a fact that forestry is .... nothing is perfect, but it is more perfect than all the other industries where we gain the materials we need every day.

The US has the same area of forestry it had 100 years ago, but most Americans think we now have less forest now ... yet population has tripled in the past 100 years.

1. Intensive agricultural production. We can grow 5 times as much food per acre. Less land is used than 100 years ago.

Secondly and most important, because we use a lot of wood there is still so much forest. People use wood - they are sending a message to the market place to provide more wood. Plant more trees to provide more wood. It's no different from any crop, as long as there is demand for the crop, people will grow forests to supply it - a 'win win' for the economy and the environment.

But if you make the trees worthless on a piece of land, the people who own that land - government or private - have no interest in keeping the trees there. Why not cut them down and grow something that people want?

The countries that have the highest use of wood - Australia, US, Canada, NZ, West Europe - now India and China - have had their forests increase, mainly because of demand for wood.

Wood is the most renewable and the most abundant of all the materials used in our civilisation - for construction and other purposes - but the environmental movement says, "Don't chop the trees, use less wood". Never mind the jobs it creates, it drives people to use more non-renewable materials like concrete, steel.

In the world today, 50 per cent of wood is used for fire - primary use of energy in the developing world; 20 per cent is used for solid wood products like furniture, building houses. Wood is the most environmentally friendly material for building houses. Why? Because wood is made by renewable solar energy, it's the material embodiment of solar power. Concrete is produced by energy from fossil fuels that are producing greenhouse gases. The correct environmental policy: grow more trees and use more wood, not cutting fewer trees and using less wood. Increasing the area of forest, whether as native forest or plantation. The more wood we grow - wood is 50 per cent carbon - when we use that wood sustainably as substitute for non-renewable material, you reduce fossil fuel use ...

I am not arguing for chopping down all trees. I fully support an ecologically representative system of parks and reserves throughout the world. Lots of Asia and Africa and some parts of South America do not have these representative ecosystems. Countries like Australia, Canada and the US are lucky because they have developed later when people had more awareness of these issues. In Germany, less than 1 per cent of all landscape is in native forest, yet they preach far and wide how we should set 50 per cent of our forests aside. The World Wildlife Fund says 10 per cent of world's forests should be protected ... We're not there yet, many countries have no protection at all. I support 15 per cent, probably 20 per cent (protection of forests) . I understand 75 per cent of Australia's forests are off limits to timber harvesting and management. That is probably one of the reasons why so much imported timber is coming into this country. It's ridiculous for Australia, with its small population and abundant forest resources, not to be self-sufficient in timber ....

If forests can grow back by themselves without any help from anybody, with knowledge of silvaculture and biodiversity conservation, etc, we can ensure that the forest of this world continue to provide an abundant and hopefully increasing supply of renewable wood and also provide habitat for the thousands of species.

May the Forests Be With You!

On plantations

On a field trip in NSW, what had been regrowth native forest, the foresters were planting into neat rows and putting in new blackbutt. They didn't want future environmentalists to confuse forests with native forest. They were converting a beautiful regrowth native forest into plantation in rows so that they would not have trouble cutting it down when they needed to. As you know, activists will say, "You can cut a regrowth as long as it's not too big to cut" .... now, the only way to cut it in future is to eliminate native forest and turn it into plantation. That is perverse.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not against plantation forestry. It's no different from agriculture but better - you have longer rotations compared with an annual crop, so the biodiversity of a plantation is higher and the soil protection is better. There are a lot of better qualities compared with short rotation crops, but I don't believe there is any sense for the public to think those plantations are somehow the same as native forest, for that is not the case.

On global warming and greenhouse gases

You're not going to stop using coal here in Australia, but the balance could be changed .... Canada signed the Kyoto Protocol but has increased its greenhouse gases by 35 per cent.

Reforestation is positive for climate change. Leaving forests alone is not better than using them. They should be used sustainably as a substitute for non-renewables.

As a species, we are changing the basic chemistry of the global atmosphere by burning all this fossil fuel in such a short time that we have changed the equilibrium and we are changing the nature of the atmosphere... whether or not we can prove that is causing the present global warming or will cause future global warming is not the issue. We should be cautious about causing such radical change.

There is nothing wrong with taking out an insurance policy ... just because I don't have such a true believer view of climate change - just because I don't subscribe to that alarmist approach - doesn't mean I don't think there should be an insurance policy against the possibility of negative impacts of changing the global atmosphere.

What is the best insurance policy? Reducing fossil fuels consumption.

It's also good to reduce fossil fuels for other reasons: conservation, for future generations. Besides, they (fossil fuels) are very valuable as chemical feedstocks for durable goods and plastics and chemicals.

There's only one good use for uranium, and that's making electricity. So why not make the electricity from uranium and save the coal for chemicals and plastics instead of burning it and putting out CO2?

The other reason is air pollution. Fossil fuels create air pollution in the form of particulates ... this air pollution is responsible for a great percentage of respiratory disease.

It makes more sense to move towards a much more balanced mix of energy sources. Instead of the nearly 90 per cent fossil fuel we have in our civilisation today, maybe fossil fuel could be pushed back to 50 per cent.

Nuclear looks pretty good next to coal. India, China, Russia, US and Canada have all committed to more nuclear power stations. Sweden is already 50 per cent nuclear, France is 80 per cent nuclear, Slovakia is 60 per cent nuclear ....

It's incredible how you can go to a different country like Australia and the mind set is so completely different than it is in France, Sweden or Finland. The reason Finland is building the world's largest nuclear power plant now is in order to comply with Kyoto because they have signed it - and they also don't want to be held hostage to Russian gas in the future.

Can Germany get out of their nuclear phase-out policy over the next 20 years?

They can't. They now import nuclear power from France. Austria is in a similar situation. They have no nuclear power. They run short of electricity. They were importing nuclear power from Slovakia. The anti-nuclear movement succeeded in getting a law passed making it illegal to import nuclear energy from Slovakia, so now Slovakia is sending the energy to Germany and Austria is buying the energy from Germany .... there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Is nature fragile and thus needs to be preserved?

Nature is not as fragile as our civilisation is ... it's a fact that if you remove a disturbing influence from nature it will recover, very quickly ... marine ecosystems, forest ecosystems recover very quickly, but not in terms of next weekend kind of thinking ....humans are into such short-term horizons and time scales - 100 years is nothing in terms of time. We have an incorrect perspective.

The environmentalists say, "Things will never be the same again?" Well, guess what, nothing will ever be the same again. The native forest will never be the same again either even if you don't touch it, it's going to keep changing. It may burn ... it is nature's way to recover, otherwise it would not be there. None of these forests would be here today if they were not capable of recovering. All of them - how many times has each area had to recover from a fire or an ice age or an insect annihilation, or whatever? That's the nature of nature - its ability to recover.

As Horace said: "Throw nature out with a pitch fork, and she will hurry back."

These are early days in terms of environmental thinking and understanding sustainability and ecosystems and biodiversity - I try to remind myself of that - this is not something that will happen overnight. It is unfortunate that the environmental movement I helped to found was hijacked by political activists ... who are using it to further agendas that are not about science and ecology, but are more about class warfare and politics. It's very clear that environmentalism today is basically a leftist pursuit. What has that to do with ecology? There are obviously market-based approaches to environmental issues and sustainability that are perfectly valid. What are they - right wing approaches? Unfortunately the environmental movement has allowed itself to become a tool of partisan politics. That is a terrible detriment in terms of public understanding of these issues. Myself, as an environmental activist for over 30 years, I support sustainable forestry and increasing our forest area and increasing our use of wood.

I support use of nuclear energy along with renewables as a way to reduce fossil fuel consumption. I support genetically modified crops as away to reduce environmental impacts, such as pesticide use, and as a way to improve human nutrition, such as eliminating malnutrition in the developing world, which genetical modification is capable of doing ... I support aquaculture as a way to take pressure of overfished wild stocks and to provide healthy protein for a growing population ... so I find myself "out of sync" with a lot of pop environmentalism today, but I know my positions are correct from an environmental analysis.

Unless you want to ignore the fact there are 6 billion people on the planet, that makes it easy.

On climate change

I understand the difference between correlation and causation, which is a key problem today. Even science journals accept articles where all that is shown is a correlation ... Between 1980 and 2000 there was a correlation between CO2 levels in the atmosphere and temperature, climate ... both were increasing, but for the 40 years before that there was no correlation, and right now there does not appear to be a correlation over the last 5-6 years, so people just selectively pick out where there is a correlation among things they want to demonstrate. So there it is, it's proof. But it's not proof because correlation is not proof of anything ... it's the old story: shark attacks and ice cream consumption are highly correlated, because when it is warm in the summer people are eating the most ice cream and they are going swimming ... that's the only time there'll be a shark attack because they're in the water. It doesn't mean that shark attacks cause ice cream consumption to go up.

There is an almost infinite amount of more correlations than there are proven causations in this world, so science has been really badly abused over the climate change discussion.

Stanmore Hill: From the Frying Pan into the Red Mud

2006-11-26T21:59:00.000+11:00

Stanmore Hill: From the Frying Pan into the Red Mud

From the Frying Pan into the Red Mud

John Maxwell

The Third Maroon War

We are all Maroons now, whether we know it or not, wherever we are on the face of the Earth, whoever we are, black, white or in-between, male or female, human,as long as we are alive, animal or vegetable,on land or in the sea or the air, our very existence is under attack.

If we want to survive we have to take action. We need to resist the destruction of our own and our planet’s integrity, resist degradation and deformity and protect ourselves from extinction.

We are under siege by a system gone mad, an economic system gone berserk, unaccountable to anyone and responsible to nothing because this system has no rules. It can do anything it wants to anyone, any living organism.

It is destroying oceans, mountains and entire ecosystems, and with giant dams, even slowing the revolution of the Earth. It destroys everything in its way, creating deserts out of fertile land, submerging low-lying lands , poisoning the air we breathe, altering weather systems in unpredictable ways and producing more destructive hurricanes and typhoons,even slowing down the mighty Gulf Stream itself , destroying the ice-cover at the North Pole, breaking up the ice continent of Antarctica into icebergs bigger than Jamaica and threatening life itself everywhere on Earth.

It is a system described by George Soros, one of the world’s richest men, as ‘Gangster Capitalism.”

On the world stage it calls itself ‘Globalisation”. On the local stage, everywhere, its adherents call it “Development”.

In this system, everything and everyone is for sale. Human dignity itself becomes a marketable commodity, affordable to those with enough money to buy themselves a little time

A Father kills his son

In Vietnam forty years ago, the Americans thought they were buying time and safeguarding Progress. The Domino Theory was ascendant, and South East Asia was to be made safe for democracy. This ideal led to the killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of people, some American, some Vietnamese. Here is the story of three Americans:

The son speaks: “The areas around us were heavily defoliated, so defoliated that they looked like burned-out areas, many of them. You know, almost every day that you were in riverboat patrol, you were… being subjected to the Agent Orange factor.”

The father speaks:: “ It is the case that the particular area in Vietnam in which my son's boat operated a great deal of the time was an area that was sprayed upon my recommendation, and in that sense it's particularly ironic that in a sense, if the causal relationship can be established, I have become an instrument of my son's own tragedy.

The son is Elmo Zumwalt III, son of Elmo Zumwalt II, Admiral and Chief of Naval Operations of the USA. Elmo the younger died at 42, destroyed by cancers induced by Agent Orange. His father died 11 years later, aged 79.

While serving as Commander of US naval forces in Vietnam from 1968 to 1970 the elder Zumwalt had ordered the spraying of the defoliant Agent Orange in the Mekong Delta, seeking to deny cover to snipers on the river banks.

The older Zumwalt killed his son; His son’s genes, deformed by Agent Orange, severely damaged his grandson’s nervous system resulting in serious learning disabilities. He is unable to speak for himself.

Hundreds of thousands of south east Asians were also killed and maimed by Agent Orange and many of their children have been born and are now being born dead, disabled or hideously deformed.

Agent Orange is a mixture of two phenoxyl herbicides – 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T). These were developed for agro-industry – factory farming – to control broad-leaved weeds. In broad-leaved plants they induce rapid, uncontrolled growth, eventually killing them. They were used all over the world by the middle of the 1950s. At least one Extension Officer in Jamaica, my friend “Buddha” Webster, was killed by exposure to this toxin.

It was later learned that a dioxin, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD), is produced as a byproduct of the manufacture of 2,4,5-T, and was thus present in any of the herbicides that used it. This chemical is among those now present in the waters of Kingston Harbour, and as I pointed out five years ago, were redistributed in the dredging of the harbour. TCDD is a carcinogen, frequently associated with soft-tissue sarcoma, Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). 2,4,5-T has since been banned for use in the US and many other countries. Its initial effects include liver damage, loss of energy and diminished sex drive.

During the 1970s, at the height of the destabilisation of the Manley government, I saw at Newport East, a big transformer built for JPS dropped onto the quayside, breaking open and spilling into the harbour gallons of dioxins, which remain there to this day.

The Resource Curse

Almost all the countries now described as ’developing’ or ‘underdeveloped’ share one major characteristic: for hundreds of years their people, their lands – their resources have provided the raw materials for the development of the so-called ‘developed world’.

As one American comic has said: “What is our oil doing underneath Iraq and Venezuela?”

Almost every war ever fought and most of todays wars and civil wars derive from the idea that the strong are entitled to the resources of the weak because the weak don’t know how to use their resources appropriately. In this perspective, Jamaican farmland is not serving its proper purpose by producing food. Jamaican bauxite is necessary for “Progress” – to make more planes, more frying pans, more garbage and to stiffen the GDP

In Rio de Janeiro, fourteen years ago, political leaders and bureaucrats from all over the world (including P.J. Patterson) met to agree on a new compact to define development or ‘progress’ if you will. They signed the Treaty of Rio, otherwise known as Agenda 21 and it committed the nations of the world to work together to assure the survival of the planet and all the living things which inhabit it by adopting and practicing Sustainable Development.

The first paragraph of the preamble of the treaty is worth remembering:

“Humanity stands at a defining moment in history. We are confronted with a perpetuation of disparities between and within nations, a worsening of poverty, hunger, ill health and illiteracy, and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystems on which we depend for our well-being.”

Environmentalists put it more crudely: We are living beyond our means, overdrawing our credit from the earth, destroying finite resources for greed.

The oil industry is only now waking up to the prospect that its behaviour may condemn all of us to a future of darkness, disease and destitution; only now beginning to recognise that there is am imminent threat of catastrophic changes because of global warming. Even Mr Bush and Mr Howard of Australia seem to be seeing the light. The Chinese seem to have some way to go before they emerge from their tunnel of development.

In the Rio statement on Sustainable Development, the world’s leaders acknowledged “ the integral and interdependent nature of the Earth, our home” and proclaimed as the first principle of development that:

“ Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development.

They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.”

The Predator’s Progress

Progress is today defined by measuring how much of one’s patrimony can be safely delivered into the hands of developers. We offer them incentives to come to despoil our patrimony, abuse and deform our social relations and generally disinherit us. In gracious exchange they will make billions of tax free dollars and demonstrate how different they are to the rest of the miserable and oppressed of the earth. In return we can live in the Bronx.

All over the world indigenous populations are counselled to be investor friendly, to assist the despoliation of their holy mountains in Chile; the poisoning of their streams and the deforestation of their landscapes in New Guinea; the displacement, murder and rape of thousands to make way for oil pipelines in Burma(Myanmar). The Progress-bringers are destroying the glaciers of Iceland, the Jarrah forests of Western Australia and the communal tranquility of the Cedros pensinsula in Trinidad.

The 2005 Yale/Columbia Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) showed Trinidad and Tobago as having the worst percentage of negative land impacts of 146 countries, yet Trinidad's government is ignoring the protests of its people who don’t want any more pollution and degradation of their small and beautiful island.

Public protests in Chile, Brazil and Vietnam have kept proposed Aluminum smelters out of those countries The Trinidadian citizens group Cedros Peninsula United say that when they managed to obtain a copy of Alcoa's (secret) Environmental Clearance – jointly signed by Alcoa and the government's Energy Corporation they found it full of omissions, inaccuracies and outright false statements.

The Barrick Corporation of Canada, like Alcoa, a transnational despoiler of the environment is proposing to mine 500 tonnes of gold from mountain peaks in Chile. The Barrick corporation intends (Listen to This!) to relocate three glaciers (rivers of ice) to get at the gold.

As you might imagine, the people of Chile are not accepting this proposed rape of their environment.

Environmental Time-Bombs

The proposed assault on the Cockpit Country is not simply an assault on the sensibilities of a few environmentalists. It is an affront to the whole of humanity. When the great devastation comes we won’t be saved by bauxite or alumina, but by the species finding shelter in the land of Look Behind and similar refuges around the world.

A hundred years ago Jules Verne described the Gulf Stream as " the sea's greatest river,[and] we must pray that this steadiness continues because ... if its speed and direction were to change, the climates of Europe would undergo disturbances whose consequences are incalculable."

The Sea’s Greatest River is slowing down, and the consequences have been calculated

A few weeks ago the British government published a report by Sir Nicholas Stern on the economic consequences of climate change. The report says The possibility of avoiding a global catastrophe is "already almost out of reach",

Stern says changes in weather patterns could drive down the output of the world's economies by up to £6 trillion a year by 2050, an amount equivalent to almost the entire output of the EU. This catastrophic prospect is the direct result of “Progress” as defined by people who have more money than conscience.

If the Gulf Stream slows to a stop or even if it simply continues to slow down, the effects on climate, farming and the populations of the world will be in one word, Disaster.

Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize Economist of 2001, former Chief Economist of the World Bank says:

“The Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change … makes clear that the question is not whether we can afford to act, but whether we can afford not to act. [The report] provides a comprehensive agenda—one which is economically and politically feasible — behind which the entire world can unite in addressing this most important threat to our future well being.”

Neither Stern nor Stiglitz nor Soros is some wool-gathering tree-hugger. They are among the people recognised as the brightest in the world. I prefer to believe them rather than some PR flack from any aluminium company or the Port Authority or any other agency of the Jamaican government.

The Spanish hotels on the North coast are disasters in their own right and will soon become catastrophic losses because of sea level rise and hurricanes. And we will pay for them as we will pay for the Doomsday Highway which is already obsolete.

As I pointed out in my column, “People at Risk” in February 2002, some of the geniuses of the Jamaican “development” process tolerate no opposition to “Progress”. They will destroy our coral reefs and degrade the harbour to take bigger container ships – themselves extinct within twenty years. At that time I reported that the bottom of Kingston Harbour contained several extremely dangerous substances and warned that PAJ dredging would redistribute them unpredictably and in a manner which would almost certainly be hazardous to health particularly to the people of Portmore I reported that among toxins present were: Arsenic, Cadmium, Dioxins (including derivatives of Agent Orange), Lead, Lindane, Hexachlorobenzene, Tetrachloroethylene and good, old Mad Hatter’s Mercury.

“Progress” has brought civil war, genocide and HIV/AIDS to Africa. It has deformed our politics, driven away our best and brightest all in search of the Holy Grail of ‘Development”,

We can eat Trelawny yam and gungoo peas. We can’t eat Red Mud, although we may have to drink it, if progress has its way with the Land of Look Behind.

Prosit !

Blandfordia nobilis

2006-11-20T16:40:00.000+11:00

A thank you to Australia's Ken Beath, aka http://www.flickr.com/photos/95027075@N00/ for today's photograph of an Australian native plant (original image via the Flickr BPotD Group Pool). Ken also has a web site, complete with photo galleries. The image is much appreciated, Ken!
As Ken notes, the common name for this plant is Christmas bells, due to the time of year it flowers in its native New South Wales. According to the Pacific Bulb Society's page on Blandfordia, the four species in the genus Blandfordia may also be collectively known as Christmas bells, so that is worth noting if you intend to source this plant for your garden and you prefer common names.
Like many Australian plants, the history of this species in both botany and horticulture contains the words “Britain” and “English”. Tony Cavanagh of The Society for Growing Australian Plants has written an excellent summary of the history of the genus Blandfordia, complete with English botanists, horticulturists and nobles. If you're more interested in the plant itself, the Australian National Botanic Gardens has produced this factsheet on Blandfordia nobilis.
Botany resource link: I linked to University of Connecticut's EEB Plant Growth Facilities yesterday, but I thought I'd point out this in particular today: Pollination Syndromes is a categorical listing of different modes of pollination (by wind, by bat, etc.) accompanied by links to factsheets about the plants in the EEB Plant Growth Facilities currently in flower. The result of aggregating this information is a very handy way of comparing pollination syndromes.

Australia suffers worst drought in 1,000 years

2006-11-15T20:46:00.000+11:00

Australia suffers worst drought in 1,000 years.

By John Vidal, The London Guardian,

“Australia’s blistering summer has only just begun but reservoir levels are dropping fast, crop forecasts have been slashed, and great swaths of the continent are entering what scientists yesterday called a ‘one in a thousand years drought.’ With many regions in their fifth year of drought, the government yesterday called an emergency water summit in Canberra. The meeting between the prime minister, John Howard, and the leaders of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland was told that more than half of Australia’s farmland was experiencing drought. David Dreverman, head of the Murray-Darling river basin commission, said: ‘This is more typical of a one in a 1,000-year drought, or possibly even drier, than it is of a one in 100-year event.’ He added that the Murray-Darling river system, which receives 4% of Australia’s water, but provides three-quarters of the water consumed nationally, was already 54% below the previous record minimum. Last month it recorded its lowest ever October flows. Inflow this year was just 5% of the average… The drought has set off a fierce political debate in Australia about climate change.”

Act on Climate Change!

2006-11-15T20:25:00.000+11:00

Act on Climate Change!

“As politicians gather for the UN climate meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, people across the globe have been busy sending a clear message – we want decisive action on climate change not more hot air. Thousands of people joined the global day of climate action on Nov 4 to demand decisive steps to combat the biggest threat to the planet.

Here’s a quick snapshot: [Photos of Nov 4th Actions; More Photos from Australia; More Photos from the UK; More Photos from Around the World.]…

But will governments listen to the unified voices of the people, scientists, and economists all over the world?… Only the next two weeks will show if there is real global political will to tackle climate change or if politicians again choose to talk instead of act.”

Wangari Maathai Launches New International Tree Planting Initiative .

2006-11-15T20:22:00.000+11:00

Wangari Maathai Launches New International Tree Planting Initiative .

By Daniel Wallis, “The United Nations and Africa’s Nobel laureate, environmentalist

Wangari Maathai, launched a project on Wednesday to plant a billion trees worldwide to help fight climate change and poverty. Kenya’s Wangari Maathai, who in 2004 became the first African woman and first ‘green’ activist to win the Nobel Peace Prize, urged people from the United States to Uganda to plant trees to combat global warming and to make a long-term commitment. ‘Anybody can dig a hole, anybody can put a tree in that hole and water it. And everybody can make sure that the tree they plant survives,’ she said on the sidelines of the U.N. meeting on climate change in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.”

Exploring Alice with lives up to movie

2006-11-15T20:16:00.000+11:00

Exploring Alice with lives up to movie
By Janice LawCorrespondent

— A poignant, triumphal tale of love and honor across three continents and two decades drew me to this remote outpost. Twenty-five years after I first saw the enchanting 1981 film “A Town Like Alice,” on PBS — winner of multiple international awards — I was in “the Alice” as it is known locally. The taxi driver disclosed that 3,000 Americans live here at a “secret” U.S. base, which, like most “secret” government installations around the world, is wellknown to locals.Alice is famous for the annual Henley-on-Todd regatta, a farcical boat race on the usually dry Todd River bed where competitors charge forward in foot-powered bottomless boats. The humorous event is canceled only if there is water in the Todd.Right off the plane, we bicycled to Olive Pink Botanic Garden of native plants — www.opbg.com.au. Then cooled off at Red Centre Dreaming Dinner and Show, a delightful evening program of fireside aboriginal dance, weaponry demonstration and music. As rock wallabies scampered near the outdoor stage, we heard the didgeridoo, a long tonal instrument playing eerie, extremely low tones — www.aurora resorts.com.au. Our first full day, we boarded the Alice Explorer, a downtown-based hop on, hop off van that circles all major attractions. We were pleased to learn that our one-day ticket entitled us to a free second day ride — www.alicewander er.com.au. We spent four hours exploring the Cultural Precinct, a compound of three excellent art and history museums, a museum of antique planes and a watch-artists-at-work craft center where a local gave us oranges from her trees — www.ascp.com.au.Our second day, we bussed to the museum of the old Ghan train, Australia’s famous cross-country adventure. The old Ghan was often as much as three days late, and stranded in the remote outback, it is said the engineer shot kangaroos to feed his passengers.Luckily, the new improved Ghan was timely arriving in the downtown station, where a friendly attendant let us peek into the luxurous Golden Kangaroo compartments.With desolate cattle stations (ranches) hundreds of miles apart, the Royal Flying Doctor Service has been a literal life saver since 1939. The service gives a fascinating behind-the-scenes tour, and their shady patio restaurant is a refreshing lunch or tea stop — www.flyingdoctor.net.Female physicians, artists, athletes, lawyers and housewives who pioneered in their field are profiled in the inspiring National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame — www.pioneerwomen.com.au.In the Telegraph Station Historical Reserve, restored buildings trace area history, including the original springs, named for the stationmaster’s wife. Alas, the “spring” is only a spot where the Todd River seeps through the sand; and Alice never saw the springs named after her.We didn’t have time to visit the School of the Air, billed as “the world’s largest classroom,” where children on remote cattle stations are schooled via computer, and get to meet their classmates in person only once a year. There was more than enough to do to fill three days in Alice — with many outstanding attractions still unvisited.Although I realize that “A Town Like Alice” was a film, not reality, I kept hoping that Australian actor Bryan Brown, or British actors Helen Morse or Gordon Jackson would step from behind a Eucalyptus tree. But they did not, of course. In Alice, I did buy a copy of Nevil Shute’s international best-selling book of the same title, on which the haunting film was based. Reluctantly, I settled for that.We are flying from the outback to coastal Melbourne.

6 trips for gardeners

2006-10-23T21:47:00.000+10:00

Garden gone to sleep?

These shows will inspire your green-thumb dreams until spring

Today is Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. And even if you don't know Diwali from daylilies, if you're at all in tune with the natural world, you're probably feeling some of the same impulses that have moved Hindus since ancient times to fill their homes with sparkling, warm clay oil lamps at this time of year.

The urge to light up the dark, cold night also prompted pagans to put glowing coals in turnips at Halloween (it was reputedly an Irish rascal named Jack who made the first jack-o-lantern). Later, Christmas trees are illuminated to bring light and joy inside winter homes.

As gardeners, we understand the cycle of the seasons -- it's natural for many plants and trees to go dormant until spring -- but as humans, like our ancestors, we crave light, warmth and life.
Here are half a dozen of the most dazzling ways to indulge that impulse until spring.

1 Montreal lantern festival: Until Halloween, you can visit the Magic of Lanterns festival at Montreal's Botanical Garden. Open every day until 9 p.m. (you could make a quick trip down on a week night), more than 800 silk lanterns illuminate the largest Chinese garden outside Asia. These lanterns, which are handmade in Shanghai and shipped by boat to Canada, provide the only outdoor illumination, making a magical atmosphere. Magic of Lanterns highlights several traditional Chinese festivals, key among them the mid-autumn festival, which celebrates the moon and harvest time. Unless it's raining, Chinese music is played and Chinese pastries are for sale Wednesday through Sundays. Admission is $12.75 for adults, which also gets you into the greenhouses.

See www.villemontreal.qc.ca/jardin for details.

2 Philadelphia chrysanthemum festival: The annual chrysanthemum show at the Experimental Farm used to be a warm, fragrant escape from November in Ottawa and, like many, I really miss it -- maybe even enough to drive eight hours to Philadelphia and its nearby Longwood Gardens, which bills itself as "the world's premier horticultural showplace." From Oct. 28 to Nov. 19, people will come from all over the world to see more than 20,000 chrysanthemum blooms inside its conservatory. Special events, from Chinese dance performances to "behind-the-scenes" chrysanthemum walks, are held every day during the festival. On Nov. 23, Longwood Gardens starts its Christmas display, with 420,000 lights throughout the garden. Admission is $14 U.S. for adults until Nov. 23; $15 from Nov. 24 to Jan. 1.

See www.longwoodgardens.org for details.

3 Thailand tour: From Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, 2007, one of the largest horticultural tours ever planned for southeast Asia will be held in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the king's coronation and his 80th birthday, the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek will feature more than 2,200 species of tropical flowers and plants and -- talk about lush -- more than 50,000 orchid plants from thousands of varieties from around the world. Calypso Island Tours, a California company that specializes in botanical and nature tours, is offering several week-long tours to this show, including three nights in Bangkok, in November, December and January. Prices start at $799 U.S. per person, but that doesn't include airfare to Thailand.

See www.calypsoislandtours.com for details.

4 Glow worms Down Under: It's summer Down Under when it's winter here. Australia and New Zealand have long traditions of lovely botanical gardens in nearly every major city. A tour by California company Pacific Pathways called "Explore the Magic of New Zealand" is subtitled "An Odyssey for Plant Lovers" and is sponsored by the San Francisco Botanical Gardens and the University of California's Santa Cruz Arboretum, with experts on board. On this tour from Nov. 2 to 19, you'll see spectacular scenery such as Milford Sound and Fiordland National Park, several botanical gardens and even go on a night bush walk by torchlight in a traditional Maori village to see glow worms. Prices start at $3,568 U.S., not including airfare. Other Australian garden tours are offered later;

see www.pacificpathways.com/garden.

5 Azaleas in Italy: Lucas & Randall is another California-based tour company, this one specializing in garden tours of Europe. From April 26 to May 9, it's offering a two-week tour that focuses on the spectacular displays of azaleas and rhododendrons in the Italian Lake District. Stops include Venice, Tuscany and Rome, with a four-night stay on Lake Como, from where you can see Isola Bella, a 17th-century baroque palace with unique terraced gardens, and Bellagio, which the tour company says is known as the prettiest town in Europe. Prices start at $4,295 U.S., not including airfare.

See www.lucasandrandall.com.

6 Chelsea Flower Show: England's Chelsea Flower Show is the world's top garden show and you can go there with a Canadian group that's done it -- in style -- for 11 years. The May 22 to 30 garden tour put on by icangarden.com includes lovely accommodations in downtown London and tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show, as well as visits to Sissinghurst Castle garden and Great Dixter garden. "For those of you who have not toured with us yet -- everything else can wait -- make this the year you do!" says the website rather persuasively. Prices for the Chelsea trip start at about $3,300, not including airfare.

See www.gardeningtours.com.

New Orchid species discovered in rain forest

2006-10-16T10:37:00.000+10:00

With their spectacular colours, delicate petals and extraordinary shapes, orchids have long been the most prized of flowers. In times gone by people even died in pursuit of these rare, exotic blooms.

Now conservationists have made a discovery that would make any orchid hunter weep with joy - up to 28 new species of the flower. Eight of them are already confirmed as brand new plants that have never been seen before.

Among them is a stunning orchid with a delicate star-shaped flower and another that has bright white petals dabbed with vivid fuschia. The team have also recently found another 20 orchids in the same area and are now busy trying to verify whether these too are newly-discovered species.

Conservationists say the discovery of so many new orchids in the unexplored rainforests of Papua New Guinea is incredibly exciting - especially as around 70 species have recently been wiped out in neighbouring Indonesia.

They are now appealing for renewed efforts to protect the Kikori region where the orchids were found to ensure these flowers and other unique species are not destroyed.

The flowers mark the culmination of a long-term study by the WWF charity going back as far as 1998 of tropical rainforest in the country. Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of the tropical island of New Guinea - the other half belonging to Indonesia - which lies to the north of Australia.

Some 85 per cent of the country is covered in tropical rainforest home to a combination of Asian and Australian species including birds of paradise and the extraordinary tree kangaroo. Papua New Guinea is also known to have more recorded species of orchid than any other country in the world.

Wayne Harris, a botanist from Queensland Herbarium and one of the leading experts on orchids said: 'The island of New Guinea is an incredible goldmine of orchids.

'There are over 3,000 known species found here with countless varieties yet to be discovered.'
Olo Gebia a WWF forest ecologist said the finding of the new species was very good news. 'The discovery of such as large number of new species is incredibly exciting,' he said.

He said around 70 species that used to exist in the neighbouring forests of Indonesia have died out because of illegal logging. 'The sad reality is that many of these plants including those which may contain cures to some of the world's most deadly diseases may become extinct before they have even been discovered - this gives even greater urgency to ensuring the long-term conservation of the remarkable Kikori region.'

The WWF is working to help conserve the Kikori region which is home to 20,000 people who rely on the bounties of its forests and streams for their livelihood and food.
Two new Wildlife Management Areas, protecting significant areas of rainforest, are due to be announced in a week's time to help extend the amount of protected land in the country.
Orchids, because of the shape of their petals and tubers, have been connected with sex for 2,000 years and have been used as an aphrodisiac.

In the past their beauty and rarity has prompted hunters to scour the globe for them even risking their lives in the process.

More than one collector has fallen to his death trying to dislodge those growing trees and some have even ventured into landmine-scattered areas of Vietnam to collect rare orchids.
In his 1939 book, Orchid Hunters, Norman Macdonald wrote: 'When a man falls in love with orchids, he'll do anything to possess the one he wants.

'It's like chasing a green-eyed woman or taking cocaine...It's a sort of madness.'

Joan’s garden of delights

2006-10-13T15:30:00.000+10:00

Joan Ough is throwing out an open invitation for people to visit her glorious garden as part of Australia’s Open Garden scheme.

DEVON Meadows gardener Joan Ough has the pleasure of waking up and smelling the roses of her well-manicured garden every day during spring.And next weekend local residents can do exactly the same when the gates open up on Windsong, Ms Ough’s award-winning garden, which has been grown, pruned and cared for over the past 20 years.

Ms Ough, a 72-year-old avid gardener, spends about 20 hours a week in her garden and has lifted her workrate in preparation for the hundreds of strangers expected to visit her special sanctuary.

Visitors are encouraged to stroll through the gardens at their own pace and are welcome to bring a picnic rug and enjoy lunch on the lush green lawns.

“The garden is a mixture of both native and exotic plants,” Ms Ough said.Along with the colourful foliage of weeping elms and Japanese maples is the native wildlife that calls the garden home.“We have a lot of aviaries with our own birds and that seems to attract other types of wildlife to the garden,” Ms Ough said.

Windsong covers more than 1.5 acres and all areas will be open to the public to admire.People entering the garden will be charged $5 – with all the proceeds going to an organisation Ms Ough thinks of highly.“The money is going to the Devon Meadows CFA. I really think they are the unsung heroes and the work they do is just wonderful,” she said.

Members of the CFA crew will also provide refreshments on the day.Ms Ough said the recent dry winter would make it particularly tough for firefighters this year – a factor that helped influence her decision to donate the money to the local unit.

Windsong will be open from 10am to 4.30pm on 21 and 22 October at 24 Rawlins Road, Devon Meadows.The weekend is part of Australia’s Open Garden scheme that enables people to take pleasure in private gardens and at the same time help raise money for community groups.

Caltowie open garden

2006-10-11T10:44:00.000+10:00

Some people say people are like their dogs, but often gardens are like their gardeners.

Shirley Lang's Old Bank of Adelaide Garden at Caltowie like her - bright, friendly, with a new idea around the corner and an energy that makes sure it always looks good.

The garden, which will be open under Australia's Open Garden Scheme on October 21 and 22 from 10am-4.30pm is in Brown Street, Caltowie. It was badly hit by frost during winter, and although sad at losing some favourite plants, Shirley views it as a challenge to plant something new.

Wander around the garden and Shirley rattles off rose names like friends, and tells how she searches far and wide for plants, even interstate. There is a wide variety of plants in the garden and visitors are sure to get good ideas for planting in particular spots in their gardens.

The garden is organised into different areas but is linked by a general enthusiasm to develop all spaces into something attractive. An arbour of the "longest wisteria yet seen in an open garden this season" is spectacular, old millstones add a touch of history and Alan's obelisks provide height and an excuse for a rose to grow vigorously.

If you have been to The Old Bank of Adelaide Garden, visit again! As the life of the garden continues, Shirley responds by replanting, discovering new plants and really enjoying the garden!

2006-10-05T17:07:00.000+10:00

Dendrobium Mrs Butt

Dendrobium Graeme Hewitt

Dendrobium, Australian orchids, put on a delightful show of flowers

Piece of paradise opens in Alstonville

2006-09-29T12:16:00.000+10:00

Peter and Barbara Swain relax by the pond in their beautiful 3.5 hectare garden at Alstonville, which is open to the public this long weekend.

Seven years ago it was a camphor laurel and lantana infested bit of scrubland in Alstonville. Now Peter and Barbara Swain’s 3.5 hectare garden is a thriving rainforest full of native plants and wildlife, including wallabies and a platypus or two who have inhabited the couple’s meandering creek.
You can see this amazing transformation for yourself this long weekend when Peter and Barbara put their garden on show as part of Australia’s Open Garden Scheme.
You can wander along the rainforest gully, sit by the pond, marvel at the prolific bird life attracted by the native garden and even visit a miniature Stonehenge.
“It’s just a hobby really,” said Peter modestly of his piece of paradise.
But he admits there was a lot of sweat and toil involved, with the couple planting thousands of trees and shrubs to restore the rainforest.
Peter and Barbara’s garden will be open this Sunday and Monday, October 1 and 2, at 26 Eden Valley Drive, Alstonville. There will be bush tucker teas and scones, plants for sale and a charity bric-a brac-stall, with all proceeds going to the local Mental Health Support Group.
The garden will open daily from 10am-4.30pm and entry is just $5. For more information phone 6628 7936.•
If you’re on the garden trail this weekend you can also visit the Dunbars property at 317 Koonorigan Road this Sunday, October 1, between 10am and 4pm. The event is a fundraiser for the Koonorigan Community Centre and refreshments will be served. For more information phone Gloria on 6689 9281

Piece of paradise opens in Alstonville

2006-09-29T11:35:00.000+10:00

Peter and Barbara Swain relax by the pond in their beautiful 3.5 hectare garden at Alstonville, which is open to the public this long weekend.

Seven years ago it was a camphor laurel and lantana infested bit of scrubland in Alstonville. Now Peter and Barbara Swain’s 3.5 hectare garden is a thriving rainforest full of native plants and wildlife, including wallabies and a platypus or two who have inhabited the couple’s meandering creek.
You can see this amazing transformation for yourself this long weekend when Peter and Barbara put their garden on show as part of Australia’s Open Garden Scheme.
You can wander along the rainforest gully, sit by the pond, marvel at the prolific bird life attracted by the native garden and even visit a miniature Stonehenge.
“It’s just a hobby really,” said Peter modestly of his piece of paradise.
But he admits there was a lot of sweat and toil involved, with the couple planting thousands of trees and shrubs to restore the rainforest.
Peter and Barbara’s garden will be open this Sunday and Monday, October 1 and 2, at 26 Eden Valley Drive, Alstonville. There will be bush tucker teas and scones, plants for sale and a charity bric-a brac-stall, with all proceeds going to the local Mental Health Support Group.
The garden will open daily from 10am-4.30pm and entry is just $5. For more information phone 6628 7936.•
If you’re on the garden trail this weekend you can also visit the Dunbars property at 317 Koonorigan Road this Sunday, October 1, between 10am and 4pm. The event is a fundraiser for the Koonorigan Community Centre and refreshments will be served. For more information phone Gloria on 6689 9281.

Wattle go best in your garden?

2006-09-28T12:10:00.000+10:00

THE question for Bob and Dot O’Neill is not “what’ll they think of next” but what wattle will they think of next?

Close to 1000 different wattles grow in Australia and the O’Neill’s grow about 100 of them at Katandra Gardens in Wandin North.

The display is magnificent, especially at this time of the year when most species are in flower and the taller black and silver wattles provide a spectacular backdrop to low-growing and shrub species.With careful selection, wattles make excellent garden plants.

“We have wattles flowering here 12 months of the year, in shades of cream through to lemon, yellow and gold,” Bob said as he pointed out the elongated flowers of the Drummond Wattle.The Drummond (A.drummondii), the Snowy River (A.boormanii) and gold dust wattle (A.acinacea), are among his favourite shrub varieties.

Where a low-growing plant is called for, Bob suggests grass-leafed wattle (A.Willdenowiana) or the A.Browniana, and for shade or privacy, Australia’s floral emblem, the golden wattle (A.pycnantha), or the ovens wattle (A.Provisimia).

Their main requirements are plenty of sun, space to grow and protection from strong winds.

Drought tolerant, most not only survive, but can thrive in even harsh conditions.

Acacia are a good source of pollen which attract bees, and seeds are a valuable food source for certain birds.

A stroll through the wattle gardens at Katandra is a useful first step for anyone thinking of adding a wattle or two to their garden.All the wattles are named, so a note book and a camera, will help identify the plants you want when it comes time to buy.

If you can go back at different times of the year you will be able to see what is flowering at that time?

Katandra Gardens, at 49 Hunter Road, Wandin North, will be open as part of the Australian Open Garden Scheme on 14 and 15 October.

Backyard makeovers threaten environment

2006-09-26T11:54:00.000+10:00

WEEDS masquerading as pretty garden plants are a growing threat to the environment and agriculture, but now their days are literally numbered.A calendar to help gardeners find and weed out the pretenders is the latest weapon against the pests and it identifies 12 weeds commonly found in South Australia, some of these available from garden nurseries.
Its launch coincides with the Australian Weed Conference, which began in Adelaide yesterday, drawing more than 450 feral plant experts. The Weed Management Society of SA, which has produced the calendar, says that although the plants are relatively benign in suburban gardens, birds can carry their seeds to farmlands.
Society president Doug Bickerton said other pests such as polygala and ivy, which are not on the list, were still being sold, saying: "Many do look very pretty, but they can do real harm.
"They are introduced to people's gardens because they are quite attractive and grow easily and some nurseries are convinced what they are selling are sterile hybrids, but they are not."
Meanwhile, a survey of the Western Cape species of bridal creeper is under way in SA after the pest was discovered in Adelaide in June.
Weeds of National Significance program co-ordinator Dennis Gannaway said the species found in Tea Tree Gully in June had so far not responded to known control measures.

Hardenbergia Happy Wanderer

2006-09-18T16:09:00.000+10:00

Hardenbergia Happy Wanderer is a useful plant for use on pergolas, trellises or fences. Growing very profusely in many soil types and locations

What to do when scale starts lunching on potted plants

2006-09-18T13:55:00.000+10:00

Q:Out of my eight different citrus trees (all in large clay pots on a very sunny rooftop garden and all bearing tasty fruit), two trees, a 'Rangpur' lime and a 'Dancy' tangerine, have a nest or bug. I took the bug and leaf to a nursery and they said it's a ladybug nest. There is also a sap that drips or runs and is kind of waxy and brittle, and the branches are dying. I'm in South Beach. Do you know what it is and what I should do?
A: The photo you sent does not show ladybug nests (they don't make nests), but cottony cushion scale, a pest of citrus as well as heavenly bamboo (nandina), and pittosporum. The insects have attached themselves to your plants and are sucking the sap. The dripping material may be "honey dew," a euphemism for the partially digested sap that they deposit after they feed.
If you have only a few scales, taking them off by hand is a good idea, but you can try other tactics to keep the pest from multiplying.
Scale insects start life as crawlers, tiny insects that crawl about seeking a good place to feed, then settle down and suck in one place for the rest of their lives. The white, cottony material is a sac full of eggs about to hatch into new crawlers
Vedalia lady beetles, not the common red ones, but ones that are black with orange spots, were imported from the scale's native Australia in the 1890s. This lady beetle species established itself in California, then pretty much cleaned up cottony cushion scale. Native lacewing larvae also eat this scale. However, clearly neither of these predatory insects found your plants.
One reason that the predators sometimes have trouble doing the job is that ants feed on the honey dew and protect the scale insects. So if you have ants on your trees, you should get some sticky Tanglefoot and apply it to the stems as directed on the label. Make sure that the leaves of the plants don't touch other plants, buildings, or the edge of the pot, so that ants can't find another way into the plant.
Another way to exclude ants from potted plants is to create moats without letting the pots stand in water. For example, you could put the plants on pot feet and put each pot foot in a small saucer of water.
Or you could use a boric acid bait to attract and kill the ants as well.
Another reason for the lack of predators is dust or city grime on the plants. The solution? Spray your plants with plain water a few times in the dry season to discourage ants, by washing off the honey dew.
You can buy Vedalia beetles and lacewings, but this might be an expensive choice. It would cost less to plant a few flowers that attract these helpers, such as cosmos, (especially white ones), coreopsis, tansy, yarrow and sweet alyssum.
To reduce the number of pests, your best choice is summer or superior oil spray diluted in water according to directions. Some more toxic and longer lasting pesticides will kill this pest, but these will also kill the predator insects, so using them would be a poor policy in the long run.
Many superior oil sprays are petroleum-based, but some nurseries carry ones that are based on soy or canola oil. If you use a petroleum-based spray, be sure to wash your fruit.
It is safe to spray superior oil whenever the temperature is below 90 degrees. However, because eggs and crawlers are most susceptible to the oil, time your applications to kill them.
A winter spray kills overwintering eggs. Spraying in the spring, when the crawlers are active, can keep them from getting established for summer feeding. Always be sure to spray thoroughly, wetting the entire plant to the dripping point.
To detect tiny, just hatched, crawlers, make tight wraps of double-sided clear tape around branches below where you expect the scale. Use a hand lens to examine the tape until you see red crawlers on it, then spray plants with oil.
May and June are good times to examine and spray.

Pam Peirce is the author of "Golden Gate Gardening" and "Wildly Successful Plants: Northern California." She teaches gardening at City College of San Francisco. Read her blog at goldengategarden.typepad.com

Madeira cranesbill

2006-09-18T13:05:00.000+10:00

Madeira cranesbill (Geranium maderense) is a tall (height about 1 m), half-hardy perennial plant native to the island of Madeira. It is grown for its spectacular flowers.

From my friend Jill's garden. Isn't it wonderful in flower.

Bell Fruited Mallee

2006-09-12T13:44:00.000+10:00

Eucalyptus preissiana(after Ludwig Preiss, 19th-century German botanist) 2 - 5m x 2 -3 m Spreading tall to medium spreading shrub is best suited to semi - arid and warm to cool temperate zones. This plant is growing successfully at a retirement village in Somerville and produces many flowers.

Plants can become large, speading and open foliaged. Judicous pruning helps to promote 'bushier' growth

# Urgent # Making Every Drop Count # Urgent #

2006-09-07T15:55:00.000+10:00

Debra has let me know - They have 'won' FIRST prize in SPRING garden for Courier Mail 2006 garden competition and their garden is open to the public this weekend 9-10th Sept 10-4.30pm for $5 entry fee as part of the Australian Open Garden Scheme.

Don't forget their story Making every drop count and look in The Courier Mail Friday 8 September for details.

I am sure Debra Ottway would love you to call her for information on p: (07) 3800-1265 m: 0411 888 391

Boronia Purple Jared

2006-09-06T17:46:00.000+10:00

Boronia Purple Jared

Botanical name: Boronia heterophylla x megastigma

Purple Jared is a hybrid Boronia developed in Western Australia in the late 1990's. This is a popular variety with a brilliant deep purple bloom with a lighter centre and green leaf.

It is a great plant to have in a container so it can be brought inside during flowering.

This plant is on our front verandah and we enjoy it's perfume while sitting over a 'cuppa'.

Growing plants in the garden can give blooms of flowers to pick and take into a vase.

Hardenbergia 'alba'

2006-09-04T21:34:00.000+10:00

Hardenbergia violacea alba is a white flowered self supporting climber/shrub. This form is a self supporting shrub growing to about 1 mtr in height. I keep it pruned to this height annually, it would also make a good screening plant. It is easy to propagate, soaking seeds in hot water and after selecting seed that have 'swelled', sow in seed raising mix for reliable results.

Casaurina for street plantations

2006-09-03T15:55:00.000+10:00

Casaurina make a very good street tree. Being uniform in shape and size they are very hardy for plantations.

Banksia praemorsa flowering

2006-09-02T16:49:00.000+10:00

A delightful shrub Banksia praemorsa, after Latin praemosus meaning 'bitten off' reffering to the leaves which appear 'bitten off'.

This shrub is 1 metre tall x 800cm across after 7 years from planting. It is growing in sandy soil and gets watered infrequently during very dry conditions using the 'water bottle' technique.

The flowers are red maroon in colour and about 15 - 20 cm long, 8cm wide.

It is pruned lightly to remove vigorous growth. I find it 'blends in' with all other plants in this part of the garden.

It is nice to see the sun catching the yellow styles on the flowers giving a striking blend of colour.

Where the desert blooms

2006-08-31T16:12:00.000+10:00

Swathesof everlasting flowers cover the ground at certain times of the year in parts of Western Australia

The flowers that bloom in the spring are to be found in their millions in Western Australia. Or are they?

The much-vaunted swathes of everlasting daisies, grevilleas, banksias and the like are certainly there, but not always as readily seen as expected. Sometimes a closer look at what lies just off the beaten tracks is required.

The rather boring scenery that flashes past at 100km/h hides a multitude of little gems.

A walk among the scrub and gum trees that line the roads reveals tiny yellow donkey orchids sheltering beneath bushes, cat's paws that resemble little kangaroo paw flowers, pinky-mauve olearia, and tiny blue fan flowers whose shape is perfectly defined by the name.

White fluffy heads of pimelia floribunda cluster together with feather flowers of yellow and brown and kangaroo paws of red and green or, rarely, black and green. Dampiera in shades of blue grow alongside wreath plants, whose flowers appear in delicate pink and white circlets 30cm across.

Roads are lined with acacias, their flowers appearing like little bits of yellow cottonwool stuck to the stalks. And if you are lucky, you may come across great areas of smoke bush and its close relative, the finer-flowered summer smoke bush, reflecting and resembling clouds.

But the vistas of purple seen in the distance are described as the plague of WA, the hated Paterson's curse. Imported by a South Australian run-holder, and known in that state as Salvation Jane for its ability to grow and feed stock when nothing else would, its habit of spreading and rapid seeding chokes out native plants.

Geraldton wax, a bush that appears in the wild all over the state, is often grown as a screen along city streets and motorways, and is popular in home gardens for its survival rate and appeal as a cut flower.

The wildflower season is dictated by geography, rain and sunshine. In general, the flowering begins in the north of the state in an area known as the Pilbara, in about July. As late as November, flowers of different species and colours will be decorating the southern part of the state.

The everlastings are more commonly found in the north, with Kalbarri National Park a good kicking-off point. In the south, orchids are more common, as well as the carnivorous pitcher plants, yellow mistletoe-topped Australian Christmas tree and the scented brown boronia.

Not every year brings a huge display of wildflowers. Seeds can lie in the ground for up to 30 years, with the flowering triggered by rain. Still others will only bloom after a fire, when smoke rather than heat is essential for germination.

If time is short, visitors to Perth need only go as far as King's Park in the heart of the city. Here the Western Australian Botanic Garden occupies 17ha of the 400ha park, known locally as the Soul of the City.

The annual Wildflower Festival is held at the end of September, and showcases about 3000 different species of annuals and perennials. This is about one-eighth of the plant species native to Australia, of which about half are found only in WA.

The park also contains a water garden, an elevated walkway through native trees, and an area dedicated to ancient cycads which predate dinosaurs.

So when spring is sprung and the grass is riz, we know now where the flowers is.

Western Australia

Getting there

Air New Zealand flies direct to Perth daily.

Wildflowers

There's plenty about wildflowers on the Western Australia Tourism website (see link below) or you could try the Wildflower Society of Western Australia.

Links
• Western Australia
• Wildflower Society of Western Australia

Making every drop count

2006-08-29T19:21:00.000+10:00

THERE are logical reasons Debra and Gavin Ottway can boast a colourful and varied garden while many of us are struggling to keep plants alive under water restrictions.One is that Debra is letting the plants understand how they are going to be treated. Now that they are accustomed to only one serious drink a week, they are toughening up and responding accordingly.

Another is that if a plant is faltering in full sun, it won't be replaced a similar one. If Gavin really wants to fill a gap, he'll find a tough shrub or a sun-hardy species.
Then there's daily dead-heading of the annuals. And plenty of compost and mulch.
Harness grey water and give the whole picture a deep weekly treat. Invest in a rainwater tank.
But all of the above advice is immaterial without a passion for plants, and the Ottways have that in truckloads – their social life is put on hold when they're preparing for a garden competition, or for the public to wander around their botanical baby.
"This year we've planted half the number of annuals and twice the number of flowering shrubs," Debra said. "After the annuals give up we let them go to mulch so we can keep the shrubs alive."
In the north-facing front garden of their Regents Park home, south of Brisbane, the Ottways have added more rose bushes, and, for spring colour ranunculus, primulas, petunias and tiny violas known as "jolly jump-ups".
"They're hardier than pansies," said Gavin, who is also impressed with the differing textures and architecture of unusual plants scattered throughout the tiered gardens. Ornamental cauliflower and variegated chinese lanterns stand proud next to callistemons; there's italian parsley and several varieties of tough salvia, bright bougainvilleas, and allysum at the edges.
Standing guard over these hundreds of specimens is an advanced brilliant pink bauhinia – its leaves perfect mulch.
Gavin, who works for an irrigation company, and Debra, a sales representative, have several gardens on their property, an awkward-shaped 799sq m that backs on to four neighbours.
The only area that could be dug for a swimming pool for their kids when they bought the land 12 years ago was in the middle of the back yard, because service pipes ran along the back of the property. So the shapes of the gardens were thrust upon them.
By the pool are elkhorns, staghorns and cordylines in countless colours. Some are in pots, others, including one grand pinky-orange leafed sample, defies the dry and gets fed only occasionally.
There are bromeliads, antherium lilies, several dracaena varieties including outstanding marginata and potted azaleas.
A herb garden near the undercover entertaining area has rosemary, oregano, basil, mint and thyme. Other perfumed plants that add to the evening scent are frangipani, lavender, rhondeletia and brunfelsia. To the side of the house is the Water Walk, with a bubbling water feature – a pottery head of a nodding croc emerging from under a rock. Crotons, broms and buckinghamia line the path.
Debra is persevering with a rose garden in one hidden corner that was a small orchard years ago. A loquat, lemonade, grapefruit, mandarin and tangelo tree remain, and Gavin has a novel method of keeping fruit fly away: "I brew my own beer, and I put the sludge from the bottom of it in these plastic bottles with holes punched in them. It works."
The temperature rises markedly in a fernery tucked between the house and a side fence, with shade-cloth screening a forest of tropicals including ardisia, variegated croton and stripey-leafed caladiums.
Gavin uses no poisons on the property. They installed a 3000-litre tank, which filled several weeks ago in one of Brisbane's freak downpours. Gavin has used this for plants around the pool. Debra harnesses the grey water from the household wash.

Container gardening with Azalia

2006-08-25T16:56:00.000+10:00

An easy container grown plant. A small Azalea indica species, growing in a 25cm container will be pruned and shaped to about 700mm.

Azalia are not lime tolerant so it is best not to plant them in concrete containers where they will get an oversupply of lime leaching from the concrete.

I use a very open potting mixture that holds a reasonable amount of water and nutrition.

Feeding is taken care with by using a slow release fertilizer, for 'top up' purposes, about twice per year

Grevillea lanigera

2006-08-22T14:56:00.000+10:00

A delight for ground cover, rockeries or for between taller shrubs.

This semi prostrate form is a delight in my garden. It has been planted for about 4 years and spread is about 1 metre.

It flowers for an extended period, this year starting June/July, normaly as early as March and I expect it to flower up untill Christmas.

This garden bed is well drained and is sandy loam, formally coastal woodlands. I rarely water it now it is established, I use my 'bottle' watering in hot dry summers occasionaly.

I give it organic food randomly, perhaps as often as once per year. I do believe shrubs do benefit from feeding or growing in conjunction with appropiate families giving a balanced nutrition.

Flowers in late winter garden

2006-08-19T19:48:00.000+10:00

Toadstool

2006-08-15T15:01:00.000+10:00

Juicy fresh heritage

2006-07-05T12:16:00.000+10:00

Looking at the types of apples on display at the supermarket - Fuji, Gala, Pink Lady, Jonathon, Red or Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and the rest - you might be excused for thinking that that's quite an array.

However, it doesn't even scratch the surface.

Heritage apple grower Clive Winwill says the 'National Apple Register of the United Kingdom' lists 12,000 (that's not a typographical error - it is 12,000) types of apples. He estimates that around 2,000 of those have been grown in Australia, with around 400 to 500 of them still in existence.

Clive's well on his way to having most of those hundreds of extant breeds at his place, except for the modern breeds.

"We don't keep any of the modern ones, because most of them are patented and you've got to have a license to propagate them," he says.

So he sticks to the old, traditional types of apples, the 'heritage' types.

"They grow the same as any other apple," he says.

"It's probably only hard because there are so many of them - you need a bit of space, and a lot of pruning, [which is] hard on the wrist."

He says he prunes all year round as needed, but the bulk of the work is in January, as a general rule.

"Most pruning is better done in summer rather than winter. Winter's only for reinvigorating trees, really.... It's been traditional that you prune everything in winter, but in fact winter pruning just produces more wood growth to replace what you've cut off, so it reinvigorates trees. If you want to stabilise a tree and have it stay the same size and produce fruit more, you prune in the summer."

Colin says his interest in 'heritage' apples goes back 30 or more years, opening a nursery in the 1970s to deal in old garden plants that were going out of fashion, and possibly facing extinction. That trend to old-fashioned plants led to the 1980s 'cottage garden' fashion.

"Part of that brief, of course, was fruit trees, because cottage gardens always were fairly self sufficient, and that was one of our aims with it, so fruit trees came into that. Fruit trees gradually led to specialising in apples simply because there were so many of them."

The current range of varieties in supermarkets is only skimming the surface of all the thousands of varieties out there; what has made the heritage apples more or less attractive than the modern types?

"I think what makes them more attractive to the home gardener is the fact that up until World War I, apples were selected for use in home gardens. There weren't commercial orchards of massive scale, there weren't trucks ferrying things to market, and there wasn't a coolstore until World War I either, so you had to have your different apples coming in, ripening in different seasons from early autumn into early winter.

"All those cultivars were selected for home use. They had much tenderer skin than modern ones, which tend to be tough-skinned for transporting to markets. The modern ones are bred for commercial use - it doesn't matter if they're a bit disease-y because sprays are used all the time. The old ones tend to be a little less susceptible to that sort of thing because if they were badly disease-susceptible, they wouldn't have stayed on in circulation.

"And individual flavours as well," he adds.

"The mass market can't tolerate curiosities of flavour - everything's got to be a bit sweet."

It's love at first sight

2006-07-03T10:30:00.000+10:00

FOR the first time, scientists and plant lovers have witnessed the flowering of a rare banksia species found in remote Western Australia.

It was discovered by a bushwalker in 2000, but its bright yellow flowers — which resemble tennis balls — had not been seen before last month.

Botanists believe the banksia finally flowered after storms spawned by cyclone Glenda dumped the equivalent of a year's rain on its drought-ridden home in one day at the end of March.

Its precise location has been kept secret to protect a number of plant species found in the area, many new to science. What is known is that it lies on a cattle station on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert, south of Mount Magnet.

The banksia's discovery has been compared to that of the "dinosaur" conifer, the Wollemi pine, in the Blue Mountains in 1994.

Stawell botanist Neil Marriott and Sydney colleague Peter Olde named it Banksia rosserae, in honour of self-taught Melbourne botanical artist Celia Rosser.

Only 27 Banksia rosserae plants have been discovered, within a radius of about 20 kilometres. Mr Marriott says they are extremely old, with massive lignotubers — swollen bases that store water and resprout after fire.

"We suspect they germinated before (Captain James) Cook reached Australia," he said.

Mr Marriott said there were many seed cones on the plants but no sign of seedlings. The combination of a wildfire, which releases the seed, followed by cyclonic storms may occur once every few centuries.

Late last month Ms Rosser, 75, flew to Perth and drove hundreds of kilometres with a party of botanists and banksia enthusiasts to witness the flowering of the plant.

"It's such a special flower, gorgeous and round," she said.

"Until last week, I doubted I was ever going to see it in flower in the wild. (The area is) so remote — if you got lost out there, nobody would ever find your bones."

Ms Rosser brought home four flowers so she could paint them in her studio.

The artist spent 25 years on The Banksias, acclaimed as one of the 20th century's great botanical artworks. She started in the 1970s and finished — so she thought — in 1990 with two species that came to light during a national survey for The Banksia Atlas in 1987.

The atlas survey was supposed to rule a line under Australia's most botanised wildflower genus. Most experts doubted any species would be found in the arid zone. They were wrong.

The Banksia rosserae had not flowered since bushwalker John Cullen stumbled across it in 2000. About a year later, Mr Marriott and Mr Olde came across the plant. Although it carried no flowers, they knew they had seen a new species of banksia.

West Australian botanist and banksia expert Alex George, a member of the expedition that visited Banksia rosserae last week, said it was amazing that new species of Australia's most thoroughly studied plant genus were still being found 236 years after European settlement.

"Based on this discovery, it's conceivable we could find other new banksias, along with new species and genera of other heath land groups," he said.

Banksias belong to one of the world's most ancient flowering plant families, the Proteaceae, which evolved in the mid-Cretaceous period at least 110 million years ago. A fossil banksia, archaeocarpa, found in 50 million-year-old sandstone in Western Australia's Kennedy Ranges, is nearly identical to the WA species Banksia attenuata.

Garden Path

2006-06-05T17:09:00.000+10:00

A wonderful photo of a very relaxing garden, belonging to Jill