Correas in Flower
No Comments »25th April, 2006; Category: Correas
I was sorting plants for the Plant Sale today and found some precious plants. A few years ago I was given cuttings of a number of Correas I had not seen before. They seemed to get lost in the system during a time when I was not well and lost track of a lot of plants.
There they were. Some new Correa reflexa and Correa pulchella forms and very pretty, too. I was able to match some photos I had taken and not labelled either. Not terribly organised. At least I have been able to repair the mess this time.
I have a beautiful red Correa pulchella, with large bells, in flower at the moment. There are enough plants to create an informal hedge, I think.
Seeds are Germinating
Some Paper Daisies (Everlasting Daisies) have begun to germinate. These are Rhodanthe chlorocephala, sub species rosea. It is always an exciting event when I see the first green shoots that signal germinating seeds.
I also noticed the first shoots of Anigozanthos humilis (Cat’s Paw), one of the Kangaroo Paw family. I can’t let myself get excited yet. Germinating is one thing. Getting them to grow on is another matter. That is when you will hear the cheering.
A friend’s mum had a wonderful yellow form of Anigozanthos flavidus from which I collected seed. That is always a reliable plant to propagate, and quite hardy in this area. The flower stalks are often over two metres tall. They look good planted in groups. They should be showing in the seed pots soon.
My great desire at the moment is to be able to germinate Anigozanthos rufus (Red Kangaroo Paw). I fell in love with this plant when I saw it growing on the side of the road near Esperence in Western Australia.
These are plants that are popular at the Australian Plants Society Plant Sale in Adelaide. The next sale is this Saturday and Sunday 29th and 30th April 2006. There is another sale at Geranium the following Sunday, 7th May.
Monarto Conservation Park
We had lunch at Monarto Conservation Park today. It is at least six months since our last visit. I was really pleasantly surprised to see that the heath areas looked to be in really good heart.
Correa glabra var. turnbullii (used to be Correa schlechtendalii), or Rock Correa, was flowering and most shrubs were leafy and lush. This has a dark pinky/red bell flower with lemon yellow reflexed tips. A few had that ‘I need a drink’ look about them that occurs in the Autumn before any significant rainfall.
The first flowers on Baeckia crassifolia were appearing (a pretty mauve pink) and a white Leucopogon species (Bearded Heath) was in full flower. Must work out which one it is. The Boronia caerulescens had new growth and many were looking quite bushy instead of the usual straggly specimens. I found one covered in very early flowers. Usually this is in flower from winter on.
There was a sign up that there had been baits laid for foxes. I know there has been a considerable problem in the area. There were kangaroo trails everywhere but not the usual signs of rabbits so maybe some eradication work has been carried on to allow this Park some revegetation space.
Sowing Grass Seed
I have been putting in seed this week. I’m only a few weeks behind! I like to have the seed in by the end of March, so I have lost some critical propagation time.
Anyway, where I have been working, I have a view of the yard and all the activities of the birds. We are very fortunate here in that we have a large population of resident species and we get to see many species which are seasonal visitors. The exception is the water birds as we are a bit far from the river.
I found a supply of native grass seed which I had missed earlier and now is a good time to put the seed in. I am still learning about the optimum time for various species. We have Austrostipa species which flower from late winter to summer. There are also the summer growing species, like Chloris truncata (Windmill grass) which gives nice patches of green in an otherwise brown landscape, apart from the trees and shrubs. I probably haven’t got the sowing times correct.
Anyway, for better or worse I planted
- Austrostipa nitida, (Spear Grass)
- Austrodanthonia setacea (Wallaby Grass)
- Cymbopogon ambiguus (Lemon Grass)(Not the one used in Asian cooking!)
- Chloris truncata (Windmill Grass)
- Enneapogon nigricans
All of these are local species.
Grasses at the Zoo
Husband was really keen on seeing the birds in the Asian Rainforest area as well as the other aviaries at the Zoo. He was able to take some lovely photos. In the smaller aviaries where Australian birds are kept it was, of course, more difficult to take photos with the netting in place. He can’t tick these off his list because of his rule-it has to be seen in the wild to be ticked. However observing helps with identification.
What interested me was the increased use of grasses in many of the aviaries. I am still learning to identify the South Australian species which are local, but it appeared that SA species were being used. Because of the height of the plants, the birds were using them for shelter and foraging. Dried grass would have been used for nesting material. There was no seed left on the plants at this time of the year but the birds would have loved the seed panicles last season.
Something that I had promised husband was a number of potted grasses to rotate through his aviary for the finches. I must do this for him instead of just talking about it. When the plants become tatty they can be trimmed and tidied, while other pots replace them. He wants to landscape the aviaries, and this would be one way of doing this.
We have always had our compatible interests. When we go bird watching we are also plant watching because each is dependent on the other.