Calendar
Feb
Wed 13 Propagation at Bidjiwong Community Nursery 10am to 1 pm
Sat 23 2-4pm Bimonthly meeting and AGM at Gumnut Hall, Gumnut Place Cherrybrook at 2pm with guest speaker Linda Groom
Mar
Wed 13 Propagation at Bidjiwong Community Nursery 10am to 1 pm
Sat North Rocks Plant Sale 8:30am – 5:30pm Date to be announced
Apr
Sat 27 2-4pm Bimonthly meeting with guest speakers Ray and Elma Kearney
Welcome everyone to 2019 with Para Hills APS Group
We have an exciting array of speakers lined up for our bi-monthly meetings, starting with Linda Groom on February 23rd. Linda will be telling us about her activities as both Convenor of Save Kosci Incorporated and Walks Secretary of the Canberra Bushwalking Club.
As Convenor of Save Kosci Incorporated, a not for profit association, Linda Groom organised a protest walk from Sydney to the summit of Kosciuszko. The walk sought strong action to control environmental damage by wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park. Save Kosci Incorporated was a short-lived organisation formed solely to organise the walk. Its campaign work is being continued by Reclaim Kosci , a program of the Invasive Species Council, for which Linda works as a volunteer. She makes no claims to being a botanist, but is a great admirer of Australian plants.
In April we have guest speakers Ray and Elma Kearney who will tell us about Cooperation between Plants Animals and Fungi in Nature. Ray and Elma call themselves ‘Citizen Scientists’. Ray and Elma Kearney call themselves “citizen scientists” and have discovered numerous new species over the years during their weekly bushwalks. This includes nine new species of mushrooms as well as two new species of wasp. Hopefully, if we are blessed with good autumn rains, we will also have the opportunity to join a Lane Cove fungi-spotting bushwalk in May to follow their talk.
URBAN GREENING
a talk by Prof. Michelle Leishman
Prof. Michelle Leishman is a plant ecologist with a special interest in climate change. She is head of the Department of Biological Studies at Macquarie University. On Saturday 24th November she gave us a talk on urban greening. She heads a team trying to make life more comfortable as climate change heats up our urban areas and our population density increases. It is known that 70% of Australians live in urban areas. In hot weather heavily populated city centers, with high rise buildings and large paved areas, heat up more than outer suburbs, where buildings are spaced further apart and there are larger areas of garden and parklands. Heat sensors show that even in median strips with vegetation and rows of street trees temperatures are lower than over the adjacent roads.
Urban green spaces can be home gardens and public parks, street trees and retained areas of bushland. These help to absorb water run off during heavy rain and reduce the ambient temperature on hot days. But what can be done in areas of high building density? Interest is growing in roof top gardens. Greening the roof of a building has many advantages. It has been proven that such a building has lower power costs for both cooling and heating. The roof area absorbs storm water and can collect rain water to maintain the roof top garden. Plants help clean the air by absorbing CO2 and also collecting particulate pollutants, reducing the prevalence of illnesses such as asthma. Green spaces and gardens are good for relaxation and increase feelings of wellbeing in people. Solar panel efficiency is reduced in high temperatures, so planting greenery under them improves their efficiency. It is also possible to produce green walls with plant containers connected to a watering system set between windows and the levels of the building. These are harder to build and maintain than roof top gardens.
Developers are being encouraged to incorporate a roof garden in the design of new high-rise buildings. The initial building costs are obviously higher. Depending of the size and scope of the roof garden, the building will need increased structural strength to support the weight of soil and water. Ideally there should be a water storage system to collect water running off the garden, whether from rain or artificial watering. This reduces the use and cost of town water for maintaining the garden. To balance the extra structural and building costs, there is the saving in the cost of power for air conditioning. It is also known that units in a building with a roof garden can sell for as much as $100,000 more than those with no garden. The developers can recoup the initial higher building costs.
Green roofs do not have to be complicated. In Europe, they can be flat moss gardens. The climate might not allow that here, but a roof covered with tough native grasses would work just as well. Other roof top gardens have beds of shrubs, flowers and vegetables with outdoor seating and areas for social interaction. Even more complicated ones may have garden mounds with soil deep enough for small trees and larger shrubs.
Prof. Leishman heads a study called “Which Plant Where”. This study is aiming to produce lists of plants suitable for greening roofs and other urban areas. The plants are tested in artificial laboratory conditions and are exposed to increasing heat and periods of drought. The plants which manage to withstand large alterations in conditions are more likely to survive the climate changes predicted to occur over the next 20 years or more.
Recommendations for suitable plants will also be arranged to account for different locations in Australia. The aim of the study is to produce plant suggestions so that new gardens can continue to thrive as the climate changes. This study is progressing well and on completion will be available online and as a phone app.
Report by Pip Gibian.
If the world’s soils keep drying out that’s bad news for microbes (and people)
From The Conversation ; theconversation.com.au
February 9, 2016
The world’s driest areas are tipped to get even drier, with potentially worrying implications for soil productivity.
Deep beneath our feet, out of sight and out of mind, millions of tiny communities of microbes are working together to perform key functions for the ecosystem. They provide services that are essential for human development and wellbeing, such as food and fibre production, nutrient cycling and climate regulation. The scale of these communities is staggering. The microflora in soils are the most abundant group of organisms on Earth. A teaspoon of soil contains up to a billion bacteria, several metres of fungal filaments, and thousands of protozoa and nematodes. Yet, like many plant and animal communities, microflora are facing new threats due to climate change.
Dry spell
One of the biggest concerns is the drying trend forecast for many regions across the world. Little is known about whether this increasing soil aridity will cause a loss of microbial diversity, or what the effects might be. Unlike plant and animal communities, the consequences of this loss of microbial diversity remain debatable.
Dryland ecosystems are crucially important, both to the environment and humans. They cover 41% of the Earth’s surface and are home to around 38% of the world’s people. They also harbour a rich and unique diversity of species, and play a critical role in the global carbon cycle.
Drylands are expanding, too. The most recent climate forecasts indicate that the global extent of drylands may increase by up to 23% by the end of this century. Despite this, there has so far been no global, systematic assessment of the bacteria, fungi and other microbes that live in these soils.
Studying soil microbes worldwide
In two related studies, we and our colleagues looked at the impact of the drying trend on soil microbial diversity, and at whether these soils are likely to become less fertile and productive as a consequence.
In the first study, looking at 80 dryland sites, on all continents except Antarctica, we found that soil bacterial and fungal diversity and abundance reduced as these drylands get drier. This is largely because when soils dry out, plant cover and soil organic carbon content both decline, which in turn affects the bacteria and fungi living in the soil.
In the second study we investigated the relationship between microbial diversity and a range of functions such as soil fertility and plant productivity. We looked at drylands all over the world, and compared them with a wide variety of temperate ecosystems in Scotland including grasslands, forests, croplands and bogs.
Our results showed that a high level of microbial diversity is linked to higher plant productivity and soil fertility in drylands. Microbial diversity was equally important for ecosystem functioning in temperate Scottish ecosystems. However, the risk of aridity-linked decline in microbial diversity is significantly greater in dryland soils. Therefore, these already dry areas are particularly vulnerable to further drying.
Our findings indicate that a loss in microbial diversity caused by human activities and climate change will negatively impact key ecosystem functions in soils that are vitally important for global food production.
Many microbes make good soil
Together, the key message from our two studies is that soil microbial communities, which are crucial for fertile soils and plant growth, are vulnerable to climate change and environmental degradation. Thus, these microbial communities need to be explicitly considered in management and conservation policies.
The loss of microbes in drying soils across the world could have severe consequences for the global population. Some 90% of human settlements in dryland environments are in developing countries. This poses serious challenges for future food security, carbon sequestration and environmental sustainability.
It is estimated that severe degradation of 10-20% of global drylands could affect up to 250 million people, mostly in the developing world. That would have a detrimental impact on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the eradication of poverty and ensuring environmental sustainability.
We need to develop new approaches to protect soil microbes, to protect the world’s soils for future generations. This will require a coordinated approach to slow the rate of climate change, combined with changes to land use patterns such as avoiding overgrazing.
Authors
Brajesh Singh Professor of Microbial Ecology, Western Sydney University
Fernando T Maestre Associate professor, Head of the Dryland Ecology and Global Change Lab, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Manuel Delgado Baquerizo Soil Ecologist, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University
Have you ever wondered: is rain better than tap water for plants?
You might have noticed how bright green your plants look after rain. Or you may have been watering your garden this summer, over many hot days and weeks. So, which water is best for your plants? The stuff that falls out of the sky or the water that comes out of the tap? You might be surprised to find that rain, especially during a thunderstorm, has special qualities that can give your plants a boost.
Lightning can be a tonic
This summer, much of the east coast of Australia has been affected by a series of intense summer thunder storms. A rare combination of events saw thunderstorms stretch from North Queensland to Tasmania. Tropical cyclone Penny also caused very heavy rain in far north Queensland. Although winds and hail can damage a garden, rain during thunder storms can be particularly special for plants. That’s because lightning helps add nitrogen to your garden.
from www.shutterstock.com
It’s about the nitrogen.
Australian soils are notoriously poor in nutrients and nitrogen is no exception. Plants crave nitrogen for a range of reasons, in particular to produce chlorophyll, the green photosynthetic pigment. If plants are deficient in nitrogen, they might look yellowish. If the nitrogen levels are very low for extended periods of time plants might be stunted, get sick or die. Nitrogen makes up about 78% of the atmosphere but plants cannot access it directly from the sky as it takes too much energy to turn it into a form they can actually use.
Instead, plants can get their nitrogen from other sources, in processes scientists broadly refer to as nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen can come from added fertilisers, the decomposition of organic matter in the soil, and organisms that can break down atmospheric nitrogen into something usable. Plants can also get their nitrogen from high-energy processes in the atmosphere, like solar radiation and lightning, which is where summer storms come in.
The enormous heat and pressure that lightning generates provides enough energy to break down and convert atmospheric nitrogen into a number of reactive nitrogen species. When mixed with oxygen and water in the atmosphere the resulting rainfall will contain greater levels of nitrates and ammonium.
For over a billion lightning flashes around the globe each year, 2 billion kilograms of reactive nitrogen is produced. The total amount of nitrogen in rainfall varies depending on where you live and the season. A coastal region that is subject to industrial activity may have greater nitrogen deposition.
Once the rain drops reach the ground they deposit ammonium and nitrates that can be used by plants, whilst bacteria and fungi in the soil can further transform the available nitrogen in a process known as nitrification. So, if you have had wet summer thunderstorms roll over your property, not only will your plants have had a good watering, they will have had a top up of nitrogen.
How about other factors?
Comparing tap water, that is supplied as treated drinking water, with rainwater that falls outside of summer storms can be tricky. That’s because some tap water is more alkaline (a higher pH) or saltier (have a higher ionic strength) than others. Prolonged watering with water that has a higher levels of chloride (and to a lesser extent, fluoride) can also stop the plant from taking up available nitrate. Plants can also be harmed by the surprisingly high levels of sodium in some drinking water supplies.
Processed drinking water is almost always a poor source of nitrate. There is a very good reason for this. Water authorities all seek to minimise the nitrate content of drinking water, because high concentrations can be dangerous for babies and trigger blue baby syndrome.
Most gardeners want a slightly acidic pH because it makes nutrients more available for plants and is better for overall soil health. Here, rainwater might be your friend (pH 5.6). Tap water is more alkaline (between pH 6-8.5) depending on where your drinking water is sourced. So certain tap waters can work against you and your plants.
Authors:
Ian Wright Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science, Western Sydney University
Jason Reynolds Research Lecturer in Geochemistry, Western Sydney University
Australian Native Plants Need Phosphorus!
So why are native plant fertilisers low in phosphorus?
from Daavid Turnbull
Phosphorus is a key nutrient for plants. It performs an important role in converting other nutrients into a form that plants need to grow. A phosphorus deficiency may show in plants failing to thrive with poor root development, stunted growth and few or no flowers. There may also be a purplish tinge to the stems and the foliage, though the only time I have seen this is on tomato seedlings, and they seem to soon grow out of this without remedial action.
If phosphorus is so important to plants, why do Australian plants need so little of it? The answer is to do with our ancient soils which are low in phosphorus. The, Australian continent evolved relatively early in the history of earth forming part of the ancient continent Gondawana, with Antarctica, India, Africa and South America.
All these land masses have, mostly, similarly low available phosphorus for plants in their soils. Phosphorus is depleted from soil by weathering which breaks it down into a soluble form that plants can absorb and can be carried around by water and eventually into the oceans.
The fertiliser superphosphate, high in phosphorus and used in some fertilisers, is usually formed by an accumulation of bird droppings. Phosphorus also becomes unavailable to plants through chemical and other reactions, locking it up in a form that plants cannot absorb.
Plants that have evolved in soils with low phosphorus availability such as Australia can make do with the limited amounts available. Often their roots have evolved special adaptations to absorb as much phosphorus as they can. An example of this is the proteoid or ‘cluster’ roots on members of the Proteaceae family. This includes proteas and leucadendrons from Africa and banksias grevilleas and hakeas from Australia. These root systems are easy to recognise on potted specimens as they tend to form at the edge of the soil within the pot. In the picture of Hakea decurrens shown, the ultra fine proteoid roots are clearly visible and circled in red.
Plants that have evolved in soils with much higher phosphorus availability tragically do not have these adaptations, absorbing the phosphorus they need without them. If you attempt to grow plants with root systems evolved to maximally absorb phosphorus in soils high in phosphorus, or with too much phosphorus in the fertiliser you use, they suffer significantly and can die. This is why it is important to use a low phosphorus fertiliser with native plants.
So what should you look for in a fertiliser for your natives? All commercial fertilisers provide an analysis of their contents, which is generally summarised as N-P-K with the ‘P’ indicating phosphorus. At Austplant Nursery we suggest using fertilisers with less than 2% phosphorus, so the middle number in this summary should be 2 or less. The ’N’ is for Nitrogen which is mostly about (green) growth and the ‘K’ is Potassium which mostly affects flowers and fruit.
It should be noted that there is a lot more to fertilisers than just the core nutrients. The derivation of these core nutrients, the role of microbes in breaking down the nutrients and moving them around for the plants to absorb, and trace elements in the health of the plant are vital. Only recently are these components starting to be understood, They make a huge difference.
The only fertiliser we use and sell at Austplant Nursery has an N-P-K of 14-1.4-10.5 in a very slow release (8 month) pellet. It also incorporates beneficial microbes which disperse into the soil in advance of the nutrients, as well as trace elements. We find that we can use this, in the root zone when potting up and planting out all our native plants.
Australian plants do need phosphorus, just not very much of it. It is important that you are not adding a lot when you fertilise.
Daavid Turnbull is a Senior Horticulturist at Austplant Nursery at Arthurs Seat. Previously he was a Foreshore Ranger at Capel Sound, Guide and Driver at the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne and responsible for planting and maintaining government owned properties. He has a Horticulture qualification from Chisholm TAFE.
Growing Australian – Leptospermum brachyandrum
from Graeme Nicholls, APS Victoria
This species is found growing in mainly coastal areas from mid-NSW to northern Queensland, usually beside creeks and rivers, in part shade to full sun. In cultivation, it seems to be very adaptable.
The colourful trunk makes this an interesting plant for the garden as moulting of the outer bark reveals a distinctive trunk with shades of grey, pink and copper.
It is a large shrub or small tree, reaching up to 4-5m by 3m wide, The leaves are linear-lanceolate in shape about 5cm long and grow on slightly pendulous branches. The white flowers in spring and early summer cluster around the ends of the branches and are attractive to small birds.
It makes a stunning screening tree or row of trees and is also great as a specimen tree. It is very easy to propagate by cuttings or seed and is quite frost hardy. Watch our for caterpillar infestations and scale insects.
There is a green leaf form and a grey leaf form. The latter is sold as L. brachyandrum ‘Silver’. They seem to need very little pruning to maintain good shape.
Bunya Pine – Araucaria bidwillii – My Favourite Tree
One of the first trees I learned to identify was the Bunya Pine. So easy to recognise as they emerge from the eucalyptus canopy in older Sydney suburbs, often marking the locations of elegant old colonial mansions.
The name Bunya is from Aboriginal language. Bunya Bunya. It is a long lived (up 600 years) tall monoecious tree up to 50m tall typically displaying a conical crown in younger specimens but tending to be dome shaped in older trees.
Typical of the Araucaria family, branches are produced in a whorl pattern from the trunk with the foliage in dense tufts at branch ends.
Photo: Jess Ica (From Facebook)
The Bunya Mountains in SE Queensland derive their name from the tree and from the triennial aboriginal gatherings which took place between December and March. The abundance of the rich and abundant Bunya nuts facilitated large gatherings with distant clans travelling many hundreds of kilometres to attend and share food (Bunya nuts) knowledge, goods and cultural observations. The last Bunya meeting is believed to have taken place in 1902 but there are currently moves to revive the event.
From Leone de Ferranti
APS NSW PLANNING FOR THE NEXT 3 TO 5 YEARS
At the Presidents Workshop held in November 2018, participants made a number of recommendations. The first one was that APS NSW communicates the need for more resourcing to keep the Society operating and to delegate more roles.
The first task was to develop an overall plan of APS NSW quarterly Gatherings (one day events) and Get togethers (2 day events) for the coming 3 to 5 years, and invite District Groups to take on hosting specific events.
Benefits of this approach are to:
- Ensure we create high impact events to attract new members and promote Australian plants
- Leverage the creativity of Groups to introduce new thinking to our events
- Spread the workload of Board members and Groups
- Allow time for Groups to plan ahead.
If support or advice is required to host an event, the Board is happy to assist. However, if a Group is simply unable to take on this commitment due to size or other reasons, we understand – please just let us know.
We have developed a draft calendar of Gatherings/ Get-Togethers over the coming 5 years – see attached. Events from November 2019 onwards are looking for a Group to host them!
This draft calendar will be emailed along with this newsletter. Please read it and think about how you might be able to contribute so that we can discuss these issues at our Parra Hills AGM in February.
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT REQUIRED
A second recommendation was that jobs required to keep the Society running be published, so people know how they might assist. We plan to share this information in an email to members in the next few weeks. However, we’d appreciate if you could also publish the need for assistance in your newsletters and meetings, if appropriate. Here is a detail that you may want to use.
‘At a recent Presidents’ Workshop, the Board outlined the challenges it was experiencing in undertaking all the tasks required to keep the Society operating, let alone progressing the strategy.While financial management has successfully been outsourced to Accounting for Good, there are still many jobs still to be done, whether as a Board member or in a non-Board capacity. These include:
- Assisting with managing the website and developing content including fact sheets and plant profiles
- Developing communications to members as well as online content/journal for memberse.g. online journal
- Overseeing organisation of Gatherings and Get togethers (ie Program Officer)
- Editing the Australian Plants journal
- Developing promotional and marketing communications and materials for non- members
- Assisting with the Biennial Conference in 2021 including design and organisation of the event, as well as pre- and post-conference tours
- Engaging other stakeholders with similar aims and ambitions to APS NSW
- Being part of the Board of APS NSW. Our board are both board members (governance) as well as do operations of the organisation. Roles include event coordination, risk management, secretarial responsibilities
If you are interested in assisting with any of these jobs or part of these jobs, please contact John Aitken (johnstaceaitken@gmail.com) or Heather Miles (heather@heathermiles.com.au) to discuss ideas and what might make sense. Together, we can hopefully keep the Society successfully operating for the next 60 years.’
CLARIFYING GOVERNANCE REQUIREMENTS OF GROUPS
A number of Groups noted the challenges in filling committee roles at a Group level, and the need to be flexible in how they run the Group. However, they expressed concern as to whether this created any challenges according to the APS NSW Memorandum and Articles of Association – link here: (https://austplants.com.au/resources/ Documents/Main-Site-Documents/ APS%20NSW%20Memorandum%20and%20Articl es%20of%20Association,%2018%20April%202018.pdf).
The answer to this appears to be ’no’ regarding committee positions and Group management, as long as any financial accounts and meetings held are conducted in accordance with the governance requirements. A summary of what the Memorandum and Articles of Association specifies for Groups are that Groups:
- Are an integral part of the Company and are made up of members of APS NSW
- Can conduct fundraising operations and pay the proceeds of such into a bank account approved by the Council (ie Board) but shall not hold any asset in any capacity other than as an agent of the Company and under no circumstances may any part of such funds or any other income or property be transferred or paid, directly or indirectly to any members of the District. This is so except in the case of a reimbursement for out of pocket expenses incurred and these need to be approved by the committee
- Shall maintain proper accounts and minutes of meetings and shall forward a statement of the accounts and details of assets and liabilities to the Company at the end of each year, in addition to monthly/ regular financial reports
- Shall have its own set of rules, but such rules must not be inconsistent with the Memorandum and Articles of Association or the Law
So, in summary, if the Group has money in its bank accounts and/or holds meetings, then someone needs to be responsible for managing these two activities – a responsible person needs to be appointed (regardless of title). Other than that, the Group has flexibility to manage its affairs flexibly, as long as it does so within the objectives and governance of the Society.
NEXT STEPS
If you have any questions or queries about any of these items, please contact us. Best regards, John Aitken (President) and Heather Miles (Secretary)
Parramatta and Hills District Group
SECRETARY: Caroline Franks
Email: apsparrahills@gmail.com