Vol 16 issue 1 growing matter autumn 2014 by Noreen Swan

Growing Matters Volume 16 Issue 1

Features: Singapore - Garden Capital Iconic Grass trees Botanic Gardens Trail

Autumn 2014

Friends of the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens

AFBG 2014 Conference … and an invitation to help... Friends of Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens will host The National Conference of the Association of Friends of Botanic Gardens (AFBG) 8-10 August 2014 at the Mercure Gold Coast Resort, Palm Meadows Drive, Carrara. With over fifty Friends groups from Botanic Gardens in Australia and two from overseas, the conference, aptly themed “Growing Matters … Growing Gardens, Growing Friends” will be the first to be held in Queensland. Professor Tim Entwisle, Director and Chief Executive of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, and formerly Director of Conservation, Living Collections and Estates at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, will be the keynote speaker. The programme sets out to entertain, instruct and inspire with topics ranging from conservation of regional plant species, plant identification technology, education and interpretation to engage students and the community, fundraising as well as attracting and involving volunteers. It will be a celebration of the wonderful work done by Friends organisations in Botanic Gardens around Australia and New Zealand!

‘Welcome Cocktail Drinks’ on Friday evening and the ‘Conference Dinner’ on Saturday evening will be an opportunity for delegates to meet with old Friends and make new Friends. Gold Coast Friends have organised pre and post conference tours to the stunning Gold Coast Region and Hinterland, visiting national parks, as well as private and botanic gardens at Tamborine Mountain and Currumbin Valley. With all this organisation and activity, the Conference Committee is going to need YOUR help to ensure it is a successful conference! Please keep 8 -10 August FREE. Can you help in any of the following areas?

 packing of delegates’ bags  setting up and dismantling displays and exhibits  registrations and ‘Meet and Greet’  ‘Guiding at our Botanic Gardens’  set up of Saturday Conference Dinner including floral arrangements Rana Baguley Conference Coordinator

Experienced and confident in operating audiovisual technology? We would be thrilled to hear from you. For any offers of assistance please contact secretary@friendsgcrbg.org.au Register with Early Bird Registration (till 9 May) Visit AFBG website : www.friendsbotanicgardens.org Friends of Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens http://www.friendsgcrbg.org.au/event/afbg-conference-2014/ for more information and registration.

Table of Contents: P2 AFBG 2014 Conference P3 President’s Report & From the Curator P4 Nursery & Gardening News P5 Xanthorrhoea (Grass trees) P6 Coffee at the Gardens, Spring into Summer P7 Singapore Gardens with Neil Morley P8 Volunteer Guides & Communications

P12 Plants of our Region (new series), BGANZ SMART Gardener Volunteer Training. P13 Secretary’s Desk & Recipe P14 Craft Group, Archives & Workshop Notice P15 General Information and Merchandise P16 Useful Information and supporters

Front Page:

P9 Community Planting—Butterfly Gardens

Xanthorrhoea (Grasstree genus)

P10 Butterfly Gardens (photo page) & Educational Opportunities

See page 5 for Alan Donaldson’s article on this iconic Australian genus.

P11 Rose Garden & Notices

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New Friendsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; President Speaks 2014 It has been a busy time at the Friends Centre over the last few weeks.

The volunteers' workshop on the first Saturday in March was successful and generated many ideas for our Meet and Greet Teams at the Centre this year. The morning tea to follow has certainly inspired us to plan for more social events ahead. Rain showers throughout the week have brought smiles to the faces of the Maintenance Team after a long hot Summer. May such rain continue and brighten the Gardens once again. Other achievements worth observing around our Centre are the attractive fencing under the centre providing lots of storage, increased Arts and Crafts for sale with Mothers Day coming up and increased Guiding Tours around the Gardens. Look out for the next Morning Tea welcoming many new members to our Friends' Group on Saturday, 15 March at 9:00 am. Remember RSVPs are due in a few days. We are certainly hoping for a great roll-up on this day for we are also launching our newest venture, coffee@ the gardens. Come along and be one of the first to sample our take-away coffee service. This is certainly the year to be energized by your Botanic Gardens. Don't forget the Community Planting Day on March 30th.....come along and plant, or bring your children to the butterfly displays and storytelling, or learn how to plant your own butterfly garden. I look forward to meeting with you all in my new role.

Elinor Cox

From the Curator Welcome to 2014 at the Gardens Dr Liz Caddick

The New Year has started off as a tough one for the plants, which are battling high temperatures and drought. Sadly, some of our plants have not survived. Council is currently working to replace the trees we have lost in the Sensory Gardens. Low water tables and heat stress have been a big contributory factor and the challenge is to select species that can survive in a spot where they may be inundated one year and sunburnt the next. The maintenance team are doing their best to keep the water coming, undertaking repairs to the irrigation system and using water trucks in some areas. You may have seen some new faces around the Gardens recently as we have a few volunteer job seekers helping out with maintenance work and gaining valuable work experience at the same time. This programme is aimed at assisting long term unemployed to re-enter the workforce and as our maintenance team have a lot of experience in trainee supervision, they are well placed to contribute to initiatives such as this. I would like to congratulate Friends secretary, Mary Woods, on being awarded Council's prize for outstanding contribution to the environment for the Friends of Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens. Mary has a huge amount of energy, commitment and passion for the Gardens and does a tremendous job as Friendsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; secretary. She is an absolute pleasure to work with and has been a huge help to me in the last 12 months while I've been finding my feet as curator. On a sad note, myself and the rest of the Gardens team are very sorry to see David Baguley finish up his term as Friends president. David's strategic planning skills, his hard work and his friendly and approachable manner have made him really good to work with and his valuable input will be missed. David is also doing a brilliant job getting the new coffee cart up and running, and I look forward to chatting with some of you over a coffee at the Friends Centre soon.

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Nursery notes with Alan Friends nursery has progressed well since the last Growing Matters, despite a few disappointing setbacks with propagation and our watering system. A couple of pesky water hens left their normal environment at the lakeside to eat some of our seedlings and young plants. That aside, our stock continues to grow and the enthusiasm of our volunteers has not waned in the slightest. Prior to Christmas we propagated a large quantity of cuttings with mixed results, and a number of losses, probably due to a problem with our automatic watering system Time and further attempts will confirm whether these losses were due to our process or the plants themselves. A big thanks to Katherine for constructing the water hen netting barrier over one of our benches whilst I was unaware of this activity and enjoying a Christmas break. Fortunately, trampled and chewed leaves are now a thing of the past. As our stock numbers grow we continue to experience bench

space problems. Looking ahead for 2014 I hope we can budget for more benches and an improved automatic watering sy stem from remaining grant funds. I am Alan Donaldson also planning to construct some outdoor storage shelving from surplus pipe we have available. A huge thanks to Brian, a recent Friends member, for fabricating our new retail trolley. Thanks to a suggestion from Leah and Kerri we have started growing a range of herbs as an additional attraction for future plant sales. They are proving to be easy to grow and should be good sellers. Great idea. Our group has discussed future plant sales and believe that in a few months we could support a monthly plant sale in addition to the sales at the Friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Centre. Alternatively a sale to coincide with our Autumn Community Planting could be an option.

A day at the Friends Nursery

Gardening Group News Alan Donaldson Group Coordinator There is lots of maintenance work to catch up with since the Christmas break. Work has continued in the rose garden and when I last looked it was in great condition. In the M to M our work has centred around weeding in the Friends Centre garden. Weeds such as nut grass seemingly thrive in the dry weather! Watering has been critical at this time of year and I would like to thank those who have helped. Unfortunately our group numbers have reduced due to ill health and accidents away from the gardens for three of our volunteers.

We wish Shirley, Joan and Katherine speedy recoveries and hope to see you all back as soon as possible. A call went out for help with watering and a number of willing Friends have volunteered. Thanks Jan, Alex Bev Paul and Lorelei whose help will supplement the irrigation, and to Katherine, Poul and Sue for watering the Friends Centre. Note: Since this article was placed we are pleased to say that all those sick and injured are back with us some fitter than others. Welcome back Joan, Katherine, Shirley and Shelly from all of us.

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Xanthorrhoea (Grasstree genus) Alan Donaldson Grass trees had many uses with our indigenous people. Resin from the trunk was used to fasten heads of spears or axes and the tender inner-most shoots were eaten raw or roasted. In some cases the flower scape and spike were used for lightweight spears.

Xanthorrhoea glauca planting Oct. 2011 To me our most iconic plant is without doubt the Xanthorrhoea or Grasstree genus. It is unique to Australia, and, with a few exceptions, one of the 28 species in this Genera can be found growing somewhere in our country.

Birds and insects are important pollinisers. For those interested in propagation, the almost mature seeds capsule can be placed in a tray in a warm oven, and the seed either pops out or can be easily extracted. Sown in a seed raising mix with capillary watering, most seeds easily germinate. Seed grown plants, although relatively slow growing are much more reliable than larger transplanted specimens that may take 2 to 3 years to die after purchase. I propagated the species growing in the Open Eucalypt Woodland zone in 2005 from seeds collected around Beechmont. Last year the first of these flowered, and we also had outstanding flowering from the seed grown plants in the Montane. Fire appears to play an important role in their propagation and flowering. Ideally these fires should not be too hot or too frequent and without fire plants will still frequently flower.

Although little research has been done on this interesting Genus, they are worth a place in home gardens. Purchase a seed grown plant, choose a welldrained sunny position, and water in well with a seaweed product at planting. Although they are low maintenance plants, they do thrive on occasional deep watering and an application of Blood and Bone or slow release native fertiliser. They resent root disturbance and are extremely sensitive to herbicide. Weed nearby by hand, As they grow, prune away the dead fronds below to expose the trunk. I’m sure you will be rewarded with a wonderful feature plant for your landscape, just as the plants found in our Xanthorrhoea glauca can be found growing in Botanic Gardens are beginning to demonstrate. our hinterland. It is often multi-trunked, has bluegreen foliage with a rhombic leaf 2.5 – 5 mm wide, X. glauca August 2013 in the Montane with flower scapes to 2 m and spikes of 1m. Look for these in the Montane zone of the Mangroves to Mountains. Xanthorrhoea fulva is usually a trunkless species found in heathland or coastal swamp, in moist sandy soils. Look for these near the Butterfly Garden. Throughout the Gardens 3 other species can also be found. Xanthorrhoea johnsonii (Forest Grasstree) with narrow, almost circular leaves in cross section. Xanthorrhoea latifolia - with its much broader and flatter leaf Xanthorrhoea macronema - trunkless with a distinctive small bottle brush flower spike. Five of this Genus grow naturally in our region and we are fortunate that all 5 these species are represented in our Botanic Gardens. Species are sometimes difficult to identify, a guide to their identification through basic leaf shape can be found in our reference book “Mangroves to Mountains”. Unfortunately due to hybridisation and the existence of subspecies, definitive identification is not so simple. In the wild, mature growth, flower spike and scape lengths, together with the vegetation type and geographic zone where they are found is of more help.

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coffee@thegardens

Thanks to Councillor Dawn Crichlow, the Friends now have the use of a wonderful coffee cart to provide a coffee service from the verandah of the Friends’ Centre. It will not only provide a muchneeded service to visitors to the Gardens, it will also attract more visitors to the Friends Centre. The coffee cart has been cleaned ready for service. Once the power supply has been upgraded to the unit we will start a 3-month trial.

The trial will to be conducted by Flamenco Espresso, an experienced coffee business, to assess demand and hours of operation. We hope to commence the trial in early March. Coffee will be available 7am to 12noon Mondays to Fridays and 9am to 2pm over weekends. The new service will be officially launched on Saturday 15th March when we are hosting a welcome to new ‘Friends of the Gardens’ at the Friends Centre.

Watch out for the signs and spread the word about the new Gold Coast coffee destination in the natural environment of the Botanic Gardens.

Xanthorrhoea (Grass Trees) grove in flower - could ours look like this in the future ?

Spring into Summer at Your Botanic Gardens We are pleased to announce that on November 23 2014, Friends of the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens will once again host an exciting “Gardens Festival”. We look forward to inviting those stall holders back who so generously contributed their time and effort for our 10th Anniversary celebration last July. Our focus will again be on our wonderful “Garden” and gardening in general so if you know of someone, business, organization, or interesting food vendor who may like to be part of our special day please send us their contact details for further consideration. We will of course be relying on many of the “Friends” volunteers to help out on the day, but more of that at a later date. However, if you have any suggestions for making this day bigger, better and brighter please don’t hesitate to contact us. Katherine Page

Event Coordinator

Katherinepage24@gmail.com

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Neil Morley visits SINGAPORE the Garden City On a recent visit to Singapore, my wife Margaret and I were awestruck at the manner in which the city has really become a Garden City. A lush garden environment has been carefully planned and developed through half a century, taking Singapore from a ‘garden city’ to its dream of being ‘a city in a garden’. Orchids flourish within the airport terminal and shady trees line the roads from the airport. Fort Canning Park contains many historical sites within its boundary while providing a green oasis in the city centre. It was here that a national garden evolved in 1822 when Sir Stamford Raffles developed the first ‘Botanical and Experimental Garden’. This botanic garden closed in 1829 and 30 years later the current Singapore Botanic Gardens were founded by an agri-horticultural society. The scientific mission evolved when the colonial government assumed management and deployed RBG Kew trained botanists as administrators. In the early years the Gardens promoted agricultural development through collecting and growing potentially useful plants. The most important of these for the area was the successful experimentation and promotion of the Para rubber crop Hevea brasiliensis. The Gardens have fantastic facilities and huge staff levels to give the gardens an excellent feeling of well being and all plants show a high level of care. There are many Gardens within the Botanic Gardens. Focussing on VIP hybrids produced to commemorate its celebrity visitors, the Orchid Garden is a highlight and is the only section of the Gardens with an entry fee. The array of hybrid forms is beyond belief. The laboratory work on the hybrids can be viewed through windows in the Botany Centre. Other Gardens within the area are the Ginger, Healing, Evolution, Eco and Children's in addition to Rainforest and Palm Valley sections. The Gardens are part of the National Parks and has a Biodiversity Research Centre and Herbarium. I was fortunate to be able to visit the Herbarium and discuss its work and view its collection. With 1 million specimens, including 11,000 type specimens, the Gold Coast has something to aim for. The collection began in the 1800’s and its oldest specimen, collected in 1790 is from India. Present day collecting brought to light, in 2002, a species not seen since 1892 and thought to be extinct. In addition to the wonderful Botanic Gardens, we visited the dramatic ‘Gardens by the Bay’. Described as something out of science fiction, it certainly illustrates what is possible with the display of plants. This billion dollar development is built on land reclaimed from the sea and presents a wide variety of phenomenal exhibitions. General entry is free, but the two Domes do have an entry fee. The Gardens allow you to view Indian, Chinese, Australian, Heritage and River Walk Gardens as you amble through lush displays.

The Cloud

The two Domes are the Flower and Cloud Forest and have dramatic displays within their glass structures. The Flower Dome presents different geographic zones, including South America, Australia, Mediterranean and Californian. The instant garden beds have adult Baobab and Bottle trees and I was informed that the Olive tree was 1,000 years old. It is hard to imagine the organisation, effort and cost necessary to obtain these mature specimens. The Forest Dome is seven storeys high and a focus is the waterfall. Visitors use a lift to go to the top of the waterfall, gradually meandering to ground level under, around and through the vegetation surrounding the cascading water. Each dome provides a welcome relief from the high temperature of this tropical area. To complete your visit to these Gardens, you can also view the 14 super trees stretching 14 storeys high. Their steel lattice trunks are covered with luxuriant plants and have a skywalk attached which enables visitors to see the Gardens from above. At night there is a Light and Sound Show (powered by Solar panels in the canopy) which completes a memorable visit to these magnificent Gardens .

Margaret in the Dome Text and photos Neil Morley

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Volunteer Garden Guides at the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens Shelly Kelly Garden Guides Coordinator

The heat of summer has not deterred a rush of enquiries from groups requesting information regarding a guided walk in our Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens. February saw three tour groups appreciating the walks & talks and enjoying their morning tea either on our verandah or in the Sensory Gardens. Thanks to Kate, Rana, Lyn, Noreen & Poul for their guiding assistance. Many of the visiting group of 40 from The Probus Club in Southport had not previously been to the Gardens. A number of the group were second generation Gold Coasters and were particularly interested in the history of the site. They all were impressed with what they saw and those who had not previously visited were pleasantly surprised with the content and standard of the Gardens. We are looking forward to welcoming a large contingent from our “sister group” The Friends of Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens on

Communications Kate Heffernan Communications Co-ordinator and team

The efforts of the Communication team continue to grow and their creativity brings life to Friends promotional materials. Katherine has joined our small team to concentrate primarily on a Friends Gardens Event on November 23rd. Noreen’s work on this Newsletter is legendary, and although always a high standard, Growing Matters just keeps getting better. With a Conference and Event to promote, as well as Planting Days, Botanica, Arbor Day, Certificates and media work, the Communications team is trying to schedule the work load. We are asking Friends who need promotional materials to advise us as soon as possible. A new website and Facebook are additions to our growing information sources. Created by Alinga Design, the website was a monumental effort by a

Wednesday 30th April. Education for the guides is continuing and this year will see the introduction of regular tours for the public in our Gardens, we really are “coming of age”. If you are interested in becoming one of our ‘ambassadors’ for the Gardens, please contact the Friends on 0449 561 674 to register your interest in the next training programme for Garden Guides or email: info@friendsgcrbg.org.au

Probus visitors (for information on Guided Walks go to page 11)

number of Friends. Keeping both ‘live’ with up to date information requires a constant source of images and news. Thanks to Lyn Reilly and a grant from SEQ Catchments, a new brochure describing some of the natural and free attractions of the Gold Coast is now at the Friends Centre. We’ve enjoyed working with Membership Co-ordinator Elinor, to create a Welcome Pack for all new members, and look forward to meeting as many new members as possible on March 15th. Friends share their newsletter with Botanic Gardens around Australia ,and receive issues from many other Gardens. Please drop by the Friends Centre and have a cup of coffee or tea and check these out, and at the same time spend some time looking at books in the Friends library. There will be a need for helpers for the planning and then for the Event in November so please watch out for our call. Raising the profile of the Gardens and Friends is our charter and an event brings new visitors. Scoping and planning has just started and information will be available soon.

New team members are welcome... contact Kate 0404 853 043

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Autumn Community Planting - The Butterfly Garden

Butterfly and Cultivar Garden August 2012 K. Heffernan The Butterfly Gardens were originally sponsored by the Gold Coast Bushwalkers Association in 2006, planned by Friends and planted by a large group of bushwalkers with Friends guidance and support. In the intervening time several infill plantings have been undertaken by the Friends volunteer maintenance group and visiting student groups. The Butterfly Garden, a Zone within the Mangroves to Mountains Precinct, is popular with visitors. A Butterfly Fact Sheet is available at the Friends Centre and provides visitors with some basic information about life cycles and host plants and is a starting point for further investigation. After 8 years, restoration to return the Butterfly Garden closer to its original intent is underway and will be completed as a Friends Community Planting Day on March 30th. Plant selection is less challenging than would be expected for a site that is subject to heavy wet soils, inundation and flooding or extreme dryness and cracking in drought conditions. Ten years installing regional species, previously unused in ornamental displays, has yielded valuable knowledge and various tolerances have been observed. Many of the original plantings have been discovered under adjacent overgrown plants, some beyond salvation, but others carefully reshaped. A healthy crop of invaders including Camphor laurel, Broad leaf pepper tree, Passion fruit vine and Asparagus fern have been removed. Right across Queensland, a non-endemic Melastoma

has found its way into the Nursery Industry and conservation projects. This exotic, a native of China, had grown larger and bushier than the native Melastoma malabathricum, so has also been eradicated from the Butterfly Garden. Bursaria spinosa, originally intended to be informally, but regularly shaped, had grown too large and was another casualty requiring removal and also leaves a gap. The impact of these removals is several expansive open areas, but this as an opportunity to introduce some new species. The Rotary Education Shelter will be built close to the Butterfly Gardens, so their return to an orderly garden style is well timed. Care and maintenance will not be as intense as, say, the Rose Garden or hedging displays, but Friends volunteer assistance would help keep this important part of the plant collection in top shape. Please join your Friends and community on March 30th and help bring the Butterfly Gardens back to life. As well as planting for butterflies, Author and Friend of the Gardens, Lyn Reilly will be reading from â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Birdwingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New Homeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and plant lists and a display will add another dimension to the day. If you would like to be part of the care of this or other parts of the Botanic Gardens contact Alan or Kate. Text and photos: courtesy K. Heffernan (Additional photos on page 10)

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(Continued from page 9)

Before the path. September 2006

January 2008 Dense growing ground covers Goodenia and Scaevola in the Butterfly Garden

Installing the path. April 2008

Butterfly Garden Restoration Planting Day March 30 2014

8 am start

‘Birdwing’s new home’ reading by children's’ author Lyn Reilly 9.30 am Find out how to encourage Butterflies to your garden.

Bushwalkers planting 2006

Educational Opportunities Since the last ‘Growing Matters’ in December 2013 we have had a wonderful Christmas Botanica Arts and Crafts. There were forty-two children along with their parents/carers and they made some really amazing Christmas craft. Children are always so creative! Thank you to all the helpers in the Botanica Team for their efforts in providing the activities and assisting so many of the children with their creations. Our next Botanica Quest will be held in the Easter school holidays on Friday 11 April with two sessions at 9:00 and 10:00am. Book early: 0449 561 674 The display in the Friends Centre will soon be changed to tie in with the new interpretative signage being prepared for the Dahl Trust Grant. Kate Heffernan has been working on the content and design of the signage. It will be wonderful when it is installed to give our visitors more opportunities to ‘learn’ about the natural environment. With the construction of the Rotary Interpretative Shelter there will be more opportunities to educate our visitors about the Mangroves to Mountains Walk with signage. It will also be used for guiding, educational activities for school groups and trainees. 2014 is shaping up to be a Year of Interpretation! Rana Baguley Education Coordinator

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New Year Report - the Rose Garden It’s all good news from the Rose Garden. After celebrating the growth and health of the Roses with High Tea in the Rose Garden last November our small team has continued to nurture the plants through summer. Although it has been very dry and watering a major difficulty, so far as flower production is concerned, roses seem to thrive in these conditions. There has been a most colourful display through this season. The red standards (mainly “Lili Marlene”) have given the garden a most colourful heart or centre piece. The mulching and fertilizing has continued to nurture the plants thanks to Wendy Lamp and her group of Council workers. Our Friends group of rose gardeners remains small and we hope the New Year brings some new faces who would like to share our maintenance activities with us. We are to be found every Wednesday morning, clipping, weeding and digging in the Rose Garden from 6:00 am – 8:00am. All welcome.

Elinor, Joan, Noreen and Dave.

Visit Friends new website at www.friendsgcrbg.org.au to find out everything about Friends. Friends Facebook page at www.facebook.com/friendsgcrbg will keep you updated on coming events and shows images of what is happening and growing at the gardens. Please be sure to visit both, and comment or ‘like’ us on Facebook!

Microsoft Office Workshops Want to know more about the Microsoft Office suite of programmes? If you are interested in developing your personal use of Microsoft Excel, Publisher, Word and/or PowerPoint presentations please let me know so that we can then cater to this need. Provide your name and communication preference when responding. Contact:

GUIDED WALKS

Noreen Swan noreen@swanjoy.com

Mobile: 0429 424 981

(Continued from page 8)

With the completion of training for a new group of guides there are now sufficient people and diverse skills to cover a regular activity of free Guided Walk Sessions beginning in April  

the first Sunday of each month beginning 6th April meeting at 10.00am the 3rd Wednesday of each month beginning 16th April meeting at 9.30am. Meet at the Rotary shelter where there is ample parking for all. Specialised Group walking tours may also be booked. Please see the website or visit the Friends Centre for details.

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BGANZ SMART Gardener Volunteer Training Another group of FRIENDS have completed 40 hours of training and will now be part of the Friends gardening group. They have committed to giving 40 hours of their time to helping maintain the Gardens. Last week half the newly trained volunteers spent a morning at Rosser House Gardens, preparing an area for planting and this week a number of interesting old style perennials will be planted. Some of the group are also working with Alan in the established Wednesday volunteers or at the Nursery. SMART Gardening has trained almost 30 active volunteers for Friends of GCRBG. Hope to have another training programme soon. Please register your interest with Friends Horticulture Coordinator Alan Donaldson 0418 708 179 or info@friendsgcrbg.org.au

Plants of our Region S.E Queensland

Photo: P. Reilly

Backhousia myrtifolia (Grey myrtle) FAMILY: MYRTACEAE DISTRIBUTION: In coastal areas from Gladstone south to New South Wales. HABITAT: Found in various types of rainforest, common in riparian and dry rainforests. HABIT: A shrub or small tree up to 15 metres. CULTIVATION AND PROPAGATION:

Photo : K Heffernan

The Nursery and Gardening groups have attained 21â&#x20AC;Ś..21 active volunteers ! They contribute to fulfilling Friends objectives by tending the Regional collection, the Rose garden, the Rosser Heritage Garden as well as propagating and growing plants for use in the Gardens and for fund raising. The newly constructed tool storage will make their job so much easier and free space for other important resources used by the Friends to promote and support the Gardens.

Thanks to Trevor and Lee from ALLCOAST Fencing. Great job!

This is an adaptable dense shrub suitable for informal or formal screening or as a small specimen tree. It responds well to pruning, producing contrasting foliageâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;pale greens and bronze colours. Moist well-prepared and mulched soil is preferred otherwise growth tends to be slower. Fragrant foliage. Usually propagated from attractive forms by cuttings of semihardened wood. Can be raised from fresh seed using a fine humusrich mixture. Hedged form at Redlands Indigiscapes Photo : K Heffernan

Text : Graham McDonald Author: Grow Natives on the Gold Coast: a practical guide for gardeners Available for sale at the Friends Centre

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From the Secretary’s Desk… Mary Woods secretary@fgcbg.org.au

0449 561 674

Management Committee changes Elsewhere in this edition of our newsletter, you will read about recent changes to our Friends Management Committee. A warm welcome is extended to Elinor Cox, our new President and the three new members of our Management Committee, Neil Morley, Rana Baguley and Helena Kelso. Farewell and thanks to our retiring committee members including President David Baguley, our Patron Gene Rosser (now an Honorary Position), Past President Nick Bloor, and all Australian Plants Group reps including Peter Reilly as well as committee member Elaine Swan.

Autumn Planting Day Sunday 30 March will be a special Planting Day for the Friends and the Gold Coast Bushwalkers. The Butterfly Garden, originally planted with the Bushwalkers to recognise a special anniversary, is being renovated. This special planting day will be for Friends and the Bushwalkers. The next big Community Planting Day will be on National Tree Day, Sunday 27 July

Changes to Friends Centre building Exciting scenes under the Friends Centre – a smart new “undercroft” is taking shape!

STOP PRESS—stage 1 is finished.

With grant funding from Queensland Community Benefit Gambling Fund, the space under the Friends Centre verandah has been enclosed and will provide much needed storage for Friends garden gear. It will be so much easier to access tools through the new doors directly at garden level. It really looks good too – come and have a ’gander’! Maybe you’ll be tempted to join the Friends ‘volunteer gardeners’.

coffee@ the gardens Saturday 15 March will see a warm welcome to recent new Friends members at the Friends Centre, at the same time as the launch of coffee@ the gardens It has been a long time dream for the Friends and visitors! Now, it’s happening. A lot of work has been expended to provide this facility but it’s there for you and your friends to enjoy now. Looking forward to seeing more of you around the Friends Centre for coffee@ the gardens

ods Mary Wo Experienced barista & café operator Samantha will introduce organic, free trade coffee and tasty organic gluten free goodies. Samantha supports local producers and suppliers. Variety of teas for tea aficionado's !

Flamenco coffee Recu Samantha

coffee@ the gardens

VEGIE CHOCOLATE CAKE 125g butter Icing (optional) ½ cup brown sugar 125g butter, 1 ½ cups icing sugar, 1 egg 2 tbsp. cocoa ½ cup cooked mashed pumpkin ½ cup cooked mashed sweet Method: potato 1. Beat butter & sugar to a cream. 1 medium (raw) grated zucchini Add egg, ,sweet potato, syrup, 1 tbsp. golden syrup zucchini, pumpkin, rind & juice. 3 tsp finely grated orange rind 2. Fold in flour, bicarb & cocoa. ⅓ cup orange juice 3. Grease & line a 23cm round tin 1 ½ cups SR Flour – base & sides. 1 tsp bicarb soda 4. Bake 180° C for 45 mins. Let 2 tbsp. cocoa stand 5 mins, cool on rack. Chopped walnuts / pecans to decorate (optional) Thanks to Lyn Reilly for this delight.

Growing Matters Newsletter of the Friends of Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens info@friendsgcrbg.org.au www.friendsgcrbg.org.au P13

News from the Craft Group Thank you to all those who supported our inaugural Christmas Market in December. The craft group worked many hours to create festive gifts and decorations to celebrate the season of giving. Together with the Book Stall of pre-loved books and the Plant Stall, the Friends Centre Display was artistic and welcoming. It was a most successful venture in promoting the Botanic Gardens with the Christmas Spirit and many of our valued volunteers chose to support us by visiting The Market for some of their Christmas shopping. This support made all our efforts and hard work seem worthwhile and the Christmas craft items for sale on the verandah– 2013 proceeds , which were quite substantial, will benefit all who visit and enjoy the gardens. The Craft Group meets on the First Monday of each month from 10am at The Centre and we warmly welcome new members. Nancy McWatters (Co-ordinator)

The Friends archives constitute a collection of materials in all forms to preserve a record of our Association and its vital contribution to the City of Gold Coast. Our archivist, Helena Kelso, and several Friends members also belong to the Garden History Society and understand the importance of well documented and stored garden records. Helena asks if all members could contribute any news clippings, photos (digital or otherwise), video clips, pod casts or any other material that should be archived.