The coastal display garden at the start of the Heysen trail is taking shape. What a change a few months can make. Thanks to the team from District Council of Yankalilla for installing the new bench and cutting the walking paths through “the lower loop”. Support from the AMLR-NRM helps us keep on top of the weeds and propagate and buy our seedlings. Our small group of volunteers, together with the green army, planted 900 seedlings this year! Thanks everyone who helped. The only disappointment was how dry the soil was so we had to lug water in 10L containers to give the seedlings a drink. We are very pleased for all the rain in late June and mid July. We’ve learnt a lot in our 3 years about how critical watering and hand weeding is for survival, especially on the sandy lower loop. If you want to know more about the plants we are growing or the weeds we are removing, give us a ring or come out and join us at one of our working bees!

Lower loop paths after the planting. A well earned rest at the new picnic table.

 We welcome new volunteers.  Contact Carolyn Schultz 0423 213 481.

RICE MILLET

(Piptatherum miliaceum)

(Photos: E. Cousins, plant, seed head; http://ausgrass2.myspecies.info/content/piptatherum-miliaceum)

This perennial grass can be recognized by its long, wiry stems. These stems can be up to 1.5 metres tall, and are segmented, looking very much like bamboo! Whereas the leaf-sheaf is smooth, the leaf-blade surface is ‘scaberous’ (rough, as if it is covered with scabs). The plant occurs as a loosely tufted clump. As can be seen from the second photo, the seed stem has several spirals of branches; branches in turn divide into secondary branches which bear clusters of the grass flowers. Green/purple flowers then seeds appear over summer and autumn. Originally from Eurasia, this grass is now fairly widely distributed over the bottom half of Australia. It likes disturbed sites, and has frequently spread from plantings used to stabilise mine dumps, etc.

PYRAMID TREE or NORFOLK ISLAND HIBISCUS

(Langunaria patersonia)

LINCOLN WEED or WILD ROCKET

(Diplotaxis tenuifolia)

(Photos: E. Cousins; Cape Jervis)

We recently found this declared weed on a hillside at Cape Jervis, while we were looking for Lemon Beauty Heads. Lincoln Weed is an erect plant with dark green leaves and yellow flowers. The flowers have four short rounded petals (about 1cm in length); they occur in small clusters at the end of the flower stems. The dark green leaves occur on the lower stems. They are shaped like a lance, with lower leaves often having several lobes. If you crush the leaves, you might recognize the aroma…the plant is a member of the mustard family. Though versions of rocket are used in salads aplenty these days, this one has been reported as being toxic to stock. It reproduces both from seed and by branching from its long taproot, which needs to be removed if you are hand weeding.

FEATHERTOP

(Pennisetum villosum)

(Photos: C. Schultz, Cape Jervis)

This is a tufted grass, up to 1 m tall, on the S.A. environmental weed list. The leaves are narrow, mostly hairless, and droopy. Where the leaf sheath meets the leaf blade is a ring of hairs, like a collar. The spiky seed-heads are up to 12cm in length, composed of long, feathery bristles. They are  greenish-white when young, fading to white, cream then a straw colour. The flower head is made up of lots of little spikelets, surrounded in turn by long whitish bristles. It is these bristles that give the plant its feathery appearance. The seeds, with their bristles, are dispersed by the wind, or carried on animals, clothing, vehicles, etc. This weed is similar to another weed, Fountain grass (Cenchus or Pennisetum setaceum). If you do like This is a tufted grass, up to 1 m tall, on the S.A. environmental weed list. The leaves are narrow, mostly hairless, and droopy. Where the leaf sheath meets the leaf blade is a ring of hairs, like a collar. The spiky seed-heads are up to 12cm in length, composed of long, feathery bristles. They are  greenish-white when young, fading to white, cream then a straw colour. The flower head is made up of lots of little spikelets, surrounded in turn by long whitish bristles. It is these bristles that give the plant its feathery appearance. The seeds, with their bristles, are dispersed by the wind, or carried on animals, clothing, vehicles, etc. This weed is similar to another weed, Fountain grass (Cenchus or Pennisetum setaceum). If you do like their feathery effect though, try planting Cenchus advena…this is a nonseeding hybrid, so it won’t become invasive!

Bringing back the Glossies: when will the plan become a reality? Hopefully in the next few years! Glossy black cockatoos are fussy buggers. They only eat the seed pods of the drooping she-oak, Allocasaurina verticillata. We had a visit in April from two researchers, Karleah and Mike, from the KI Glossy Black-Cockatoo Recovery Program. They were impressed with the extensive she-oak plantings around the Cape that started with Greening Australia ≈ 17 years ago. Other groups have contributed including COOTs, Cape Jervis & Delamere Progress Association and CJCCG. Keep your eyes and ears open; for the distinctive “chewings” at the base of trees, and their noisy, creaky, wheezy calls (http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Calyptorhynchus-lathami. Will you be the first person at the Cape to spot one?

Photos R Tipper. Glossy black facts – Natural Resources South Australia

Next get together – Tree Planting, Jun 5 & 6 2015. Training & cake provided.

We welcome new volunteers.  Contact Carolyn Schultz 0423 213 481.

No tree branches – No worries! I’ll just use this garden stake to sun myself … thinks this adult bearded dragon (left photo). What a treat to see as we were doing a site visit on the “lower loop” near the start of the Heysen Trail / ferry terminal. The other lizard is also a bearded dragon, but a very young one, that I found while removing weedy gazanias from a remnant patch of scrub containing Lomandra effusa (scented mat rush) in my garden. Rushes, grasses and sedges provide great habitat (food and shelter) for lizards so it was not surprising that I would find one in this patch. We are including lots of different species of these important food and shelter plants, so we should start to see more and more lizards over the next few years.

Photos C. Schultz: Adult bearded dragon, juvenile bearded dragon

Next get together, 11 & 12 Apr 2015. Training & cake provided. We welcome new volunteers.

Contact Carolyn Schultz 0423 213 481.

CAUSTIC WEED

(Chamaesyce or Euphorbia drummondii)

(Photos: E. Cousins; growth habit, close up of leaf, tap root)

We recently found caustic weed on our lower site at Cape Jervis. If you have found it in your garden, you will know it is a persistent little sucker. It is an annual or short-lived perennial herb with a deep taproot. Smooth, thin red stems fan out from the centre and hug the ground; these stems can grow up to 20cm long, and can exude a corrosive, milky sap when damaged.  The oval-shaped leaves are blue-green with a reddish-purple blotch. They grow in pairs with very short stalks, opposite each other along the stems. The tiny flowers have no petals; they grow in small groups that are composed of one female flower surrounded by several male flowers; even so, the entire flower head is fairly inconspicuous. Seeds can germinate at any time, with the biggest flush in spring; then the plants grow quickly over summer.

Want to help protect your garden and the Cape from woody weeds? One  great way is to learn to recognise the young seedlings of Acacia cyclops and olives. In their first 6 months of life both are easily pulled out by hand. Cyclops grows quickly and can reach > 1 m x 1 m in 1-2 years, setting seed in 2-3 years. Cyclops and olives often germinate in the shade of shrubs such as Leucopogon (coastal beard heath) or in the ground covers muntries (Kunzea pomifera). I recently found 10 seedling in one old muntries, near Fleurieu Ave. Imagine how different the view would look in 2-3 years if they were left to grow. The easiest way to get good at recognising cyclops and olive seedlings, is to learn by doing. We  are happy to show you how..

Photos C. Schultz: Leucopogon + cyclops (circles); 10 cyclops hidden in muntries

Next get together, 11 & 12 Apr 2015. Training & cake provided.

We welcome new volunteers.  Contact Carolyn Schultz 0423 213 481.

COASTAL GALENIA

(Galenia pubescens)

(Photos: E. Cousins; growth habit, close-up of leaves and flowers)

There are some patches of coastal galenia near the start of the Heysen Trail at Cape Jervis. They occur as flat, sprawling patches about 1-2 metres across. The oval-shaped leaves are very small; like the stems, newer ones are covered in fine hairs, which you might be able to see in the second photo. You’ll also see tiny flowers at the leaf junctions. These are white, possibly with a pink tinge at the start, but turn yellow as they age. The leaves are normally a sage-green colour, but summer stress has changed the ones shown to a reddish-brown in places! Galenia is a common environmental weed around the coast of SA. It likes sandy soils and disturbed sites… in the photo above, the clumps are on a path!  It can be difficult to eradicate when established.