23 November Meeting
Saturday 23 November 2 pm. Gumnut Hall Cherrybrook
Speaker: Simon Leake Principal Soil Scientist SESL “The soils and vegetation of Barangaroo Headland Park”
The Barangaroo Headland Park landscape uses almost completely recycled resources to make the soils suitable for the sensitive Sydney sandstone flora and the public park turf areas.
The concept was first used at Sydney’s Olympic Parklands where crushed sandstone, an abundant natural recycled resource in Sydney, was successfully used to create soil profiles for bushland regeneration.
Building on that experience the SESL Australia soil scientists came up with a concept design for the completely reconstructed soils needed for the Headland Park..
In this concept the three main materials used were:
- Crushed sandstone originating from building excavations in Barangaroo South commercial developments
- Recycled sand from building excavations
- Recycled green garden waste compost (produced from “green bin” and council drop off garden waste collections)
- Composted wood mulch screened from green garden waste collections.
Calendar
Nov
Sat 23 2 pm. APS Meeting with guest speaker Simon Leake at Gumnut Hall talking about the created soils and vegetation of Barangaroo Headland Park
Dec
Wed 11 Propagation at Bidjiwong Community Nursery 10am to 1 pm
What Increases House Value by $50,000 ?
by Doug Daniell in Finance Wealth Creation 03/10/2019
So, what increases house value? Here’s an answer that will not only increase your house value but help the planet too.
Research shows green infrastructure such as trees and canopy treetops by the street could increase the value of your house by $50,000.
You may have heard of Sydney’s Inner West Council creating a new policy where residents no longer have to seek its approval to prune or remove trees within three metres of their house or a structure. But not calling a tree removal service yet is good for you from a financial perspective.
Keeping the greens around your home increases your property value as well as makes your home energy efficient, which apparently could also reduce energy bills by up to $400 a year. There is a direct financial gain whichever way you look at it.
Plus, if you’re keen on green, it’s always nice to know that urban trees on streets and yards don’t just provide financial benefits, they also influence critical environmental factors to a healthier planet.
How Street Trees Affect Land and House Values in Sydney
So according to the research, a tree is what increases house value. Increasing tree canopies in your house will increase its value, too. Take a look at the picture above.
The study calculated the tree canopy coverage and compared it with property sales information from RP Data. The analysis shows there is a relationship between the canopy size and the price of the land and property.
A 10 per cent increase in a canopy can increase the value of a property by $55,000 in Blacktown, $33,152 in Willoughby, and $60,761 in Annandale.
By optimising green infrastructure around your house, these trees can be a valuable asset.
There are challenges to maintaining trees. They can damage roads, electrical lines, plumbing and other infrastructure but, a study shows that they can also extend the life of buildings and asphalt pavements.
So if you’re asking what increases house value, hang on to the trees around your house. They’re worth $50,000.
HERON ISLAND
In October this year we went to Heron Island for a short holiday. The usual images of Heron Island are of coral reefs and nesting birds and turtles. However, the vegetation is also interesting.
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. (On Heron Island no building can be higher than these trees). The tree has smooth bark and large green leaves which are the favoured nesting material of Black Noddy Terns.
When we were there, thousands of these birds were building their nests, sticking the wilted leaves together with their saliva.
The branches are spongy and exceptionally brittle and often not equal to the task of supporting the dense canopy. The tree will resprout from the fallen branches. The green sweet smelling flowers evolve into sticky barbed seeds. The sticky seeds cause the death of some birds when so many are caught in their feathers that they cannot fly.
In Malaysia the leaves are used as a cooked vegetable.
Here are some of the other plants which are commonly found on the island. Not shown is one which we are quite familiar with Crinum pedunculatum
Bushfires
While it is too late for over 350 homes that have already been lost this year to bushfires, there are some things that you can consider in future to help reduce bushfire risk.
Flower Power’s Jennifer Stackhouse provided the following information which may be of interest to our native plant gardeners.
As summer warms up, all homeowners need to think about being bushfire safe. This means getting rid of rubbish, clearing weeds and debris and cutting back overhanging branches so they are clear of buildings.
If you live close to bushland, also remove flammable wood-based mulches especially from around buildings. Replace flammable mulches with inorganic products such as gravel that don’t burn, or lush green groundcover plants including lawn. Mown green lawn is a great barrier against fire. Also mow or whippersnapper along fence lines to remove weeds and long grass.
While plants can’t stop a fire, they can help protect homes and property from ember attack and slow the passage of flames. Plants that work in this way can be trees, shrubs, perennials or groundcovers but they need to be lush with high moisture content in their leaves and be low in volatile oils. It is important to realise however that any plant can burn if conditions are right.
To increase the effectiveness of plants to act as fire retardants, keep them green and healthy with regular watering. Prune out old or dead growth and remove any build up of dead leaves. Keep weeds and dead grass away from the base of trees and shrubs and rake up fallen leaves and bark, which may be flammable.
TREES
Time and time again gardeners who’ve experienced a bushfire and seen their homes survive when others around have been destroyed, praise the work done by the tall, deciduous trees around their garden. The dense canopy provided by deciduous trees such as oak, liquidambar and elm can protect from flying embers. Even if these trees are scorched, they are unlikely to erupt into flames and most recover after fire. As well as trapping embers and sparks in their lush canopy, they can also reduce the wind speed as the fire approaches.
Other fire retardant trees include native rainforest species such as water gum (Tristaniopsis laurina), lilly pillies (Syzygium australe and others), native frangipania (Hymenosporum flavum), tuckeroo (Cupaniopsis anacardioides) or Illawarra flame tree (Brachychiton acerifolius). The ‘flame’ in this tree’s common name refers to the colour of its flowers not its reaction to fire!
SHRUBS
Dense non-flammable shrubs can also protect from ember attack when a bushfire is raging and slow the passage of flames if the fire does arrive. Suitable candidates could include hydrangeas and native shrubs such as correa (Correa alba). Keep shrubs clear of debris such as dead growth and fallen leaves.
PERENNIALS AND GROUNDCOVERS
Low plants are particularly useful to slow a fire down and reduce spot fires, allowing time to put out the flames or for the fire to run out of energy before it can ignite the house, fences or outbuildings.
Massed agapanthus is a great fire-retardant planting choice. Although the leaves may burn during a fire, these perennials reshoot after a fire, allowing the garden to quickly recover from a burn. Other good choices are succulents such as ice plant, guinea flower (Hibbertia scandens), dichondra (Dichondra repens) and clumping grass-like lilies such as dianella and lomandra.
Additional species listed by Fire Tasmania as low flammability:
| Artemisia sp. | E | Wormwood or Angels Hair |
| Camellia sp. | E | Camellias |
| Capsicum annum var. fasciculatum | E | Chilli |
| Datura suaveolens | E | Angels Trumpet |
| Diplarrena moraea | TN | White Flag Iris |
| Gazania hybrida | E | Treasure Flower |
| Hebe speciosa | E | Veronica |
| Hemerocallis aurantiaca | E | Day Lilly |
| Hydrangea macrophylla | E | Hydrangea |
| Hymenocallis littoralis | E | Spider Lily or Spider Flower |
| Hymenosporum flavum | AN | Native Frangipanni |
| Lampranthus aurantiacus | E | Pigface or Iceplant |
| Lavendula angustifolia | E | English Lavender |
| Passiflora herbertiana | AN | Native Passionfruit |
| Pelargonium peltatum | E | Geranium |
| Pomaderris apetala | TN | Dogwood |
| Prunus sp. | E | Plum |
| Solanum melongera | E | Eggplant |
Royal Botanical Garden Tour 26 October, 2019
Organised by Jennifer Farrer Article and Photos Marilyn Cross
On a sunny spring day, we met our Guide at the Woolloomooloo Gate of the Royal Botanical Garden, Sydney, for a historical and botanical tour.
We started by learning of the establishment of the Garden 203 years ago, with historical photos of the various stages of development from 1900s under the leadership of Charles Moore, followed by Joseph Maiden and to the present day.
“1890-1920s: A blossoming Garden under Maiden
Following the long-term leadership of Charles Moore came Joseph Maiden. Appointed in 1896, Maiden was the first Director who was also a professional scientist. Maiden’s influence in lifting the scientific role of botany in Australia and the continuous publications that emanated from the Botanic Gardens still resonates today.
…
The National Herbarium of NSW was completed and officially opened in 1901, which today stores over 1.4 million preserved specimens (in its collection, the Herbarium stores samples from Sir Joseph Banks and Dr Daniel Solander’s collections, dating back to 1770”
https://www.botanicgardens.org.au/discover-and-learn/horticulture-and-history
We learned about some of the oldest trees in the garden and the many plants and beds established in the early days.
We slowly traversed some of the gardens (it would take days to appreciate all the gardens in depth), learning as we went and admiring the current plants in flower as well as some of the contemporary sculptures including the koala exhibits.
We were privileged to visit two of the glasshouses with their strange and wonderful plants including the Ant Plant (Myrmecodia beccarii) which is a “safe haven for the tiniest of animals and insects, the internal chambers of which serve as five star accommodation for ants, moths and small frogs”
and the Tongue Orchid (Bulbophyllum fletcherianum) which has a flower that smells “like a dead, rotting rat which is a magnificent evolutionary trick that attracts pollinators such as flies and beetles looking for somewhere to lay their larvae”
Our final destination was the carnivorous plants exhibition in the Calyx which ranged from tiny sundews (Drosera pygmaea) to very large pitcher plants.
“Plants with Bite!” exhibit at the Calyx will be open at the Botanic Gardens until Winter 2020.
Note: Australia has one of the world’s richest carnivorous plant floras, with around 187 recognised species from 6 genera, including Drosera, Cephalotus, Utricularia and Nepenthes.
Parramatta and Hills District Group
SECRETARY: Caroline Franks
Email: apsparrahills@gmail.com