Author: admin
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June 2021
Banksias – Plant lovers who visit the south-west of Western Australia tend to abandon good sense. As loudly as their heads tell them that plants evolved for the west’s thin soils, winter rains and dry summers will not survive Sydney’s killing combo of summer heat and rain, their hearts cry out with desire.
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May 2021
Mt Wilson – before and after the fire. On 14th December 2019 a backburn was started during calm wind conditions in an effort to protect communities near the Bells Line of Road from the massive Gospers Mountain fire. However, soon after, the wind turned and blew in the opposite direction. The fire quickly burned through…
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April 2021
Visit to Boongala Gardens in Kenthurst – On a sunny afternoon in March, twelve members of the Parramatta – Hills APS Group visited Boongala Gardens. This is an amazing native garden created over many years by Mal and Jenny Johnston. The land was previously totally-cleared farming land, and the transformation required a huge amount of…
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March 2021
Pink Flannel Flower – Actinotus forsythii is an annual. This means it flowers once and then dies. It only germinates after a bushfire and suitable follow- up rain. Its habitat is on ridges on skeletal soils in the upper Blue Mountains at a few locations such as Mt Hay, Newnes Plateau, Kanangra Walls and Kings…
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February 2021
NSW RFS helps save resilient wattle from extinction – Among the fire-scarred forests and heathlands of the Blue Mountains, sit the hopeful little yellow pom-poms of the endangered Gordon’s wattle, Acacia gordonii.
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November 2020
Group Visit to Mother Earth Nursery – Mark Massey is the owner of Mother Earth Nursery. This is a general nursery which Mark has owned for only 2 years. From the beginning Mark wanted to create a different nursery, selling unusual, rare and endangered plants from all around the world, including Australia. This little nursery…
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October 2020
Agnes Banks Nature Reserve – on the East bank of the Hawkesbury River near Richmond on a small area of windblown sands which overlays alluvial deposits from ancient river systems (65 million years ago). The reserve is a remnant of the original area as most of the deposit has been mined for the sand. It…
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June 2020
The Indigenous Volunteers in my Garden – The structure of my garden comes from the plants which I have planted but a lot of the infill plants are local natives which by and large have arrived unannounced as what garden writer Esther Dean used to call “volunteers”
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February 2020
Climbing Mount Banks – On 26 November 2019 Lesley Waite and Ian Cox went on a magical walk to the summit of Mount Banks. The objectives of our visit were twofold – to indulge in the beautiful upper Blue Mountains flora, and to experience the magnificent surroundings and views. We were not disappointed in either…
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November 2019
Heron Island – The dominant tree on Heron Island is Pisonia grandis. This is a tree found on coral cays in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its seeds are spread in the feathers of sea birds. It can grow up to 20 metres tall and live for 200 -300 years. The tree has smooth bark…
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September 2019
Medicinal Plants – Early settlers on the whole were not willing to try Aboriginal treatments but preferred to try plants which reminded them of those they had known in Britain and other countries such as India and China. Melaleuca quinqenervia oil can be obtained by steam distillation of the leaves and used for coughs and…
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August 2019
Berowra Valley Wildflower Walk – On a beautiful sunny July day, we met at Trevors Lane, Cherrybrook, for a gentle bushwalk in Berowra Regional Park, to see the early show of spring flowers. The terrain is Hawkesbury sandstone ridgetop with extensive rock platforms and deep gullies through which run Berowra Creek and its tributaries. The…

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Our Group’s floral emblem is Eucalyptus parramattensis. One of its common names is the Calgaroo, a name we have taken for our monthly newsletter. It is also called the Parramatta Red Gum.