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Money from the Treasury

3/30/2023

 
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It was raining money today. The purses were open, and the coins were flowing, all over me and through my hair. The seed from The Tasmanian Christmas Bush, look like small coins, lovingly tucked into bronze coloured, purse shaped capsules. When I hear the seeds rattling away in the wind, the seed is ready to harvest, the purse strings are off, and the coins are flowing.

However, with every good bank, there is a security system to get through, before you can steal the loot. With the Christmas Bush , it's the spines that make a robbery difficult. There never seems the perfect way to collect the seed, avoid the thorns, without getting seed all over myself in the process. As soon as the upright, heart shaped purses are tipped, the money flows. Collecting seed from the Tasmanian Christmas Bush, is a messy business.

The Tasmanian Christmas Bush, or Prickly Box, has the perfect Latin Name, defining the features I was negotiating today. It has the botanical name of Bursaria spinosa. Bursaria is from the Latin word bursa or purse, and spinosa, referring to its sharp spines.

So why bother with such an unfriendly plant?

The Tasmanian Christmas Bush is covered with masses of sweet scented, beautiful white flowers at Christmas. The flowers hum with bees, and the honey is highly prized for its distinctive fragrant flavour. The nectar is also desired by the Shouldered Brown and the Bright Copper Butterflies. The prickles are also important. They provide a safe haven for small birds, from predators such as cats....and me. The leaves also contain a secondary compound called aesculin, which was used as an ingredient in sunscreen, in the 1940's.

To add to the The Tasmanian Christmas Bush's curriculum vitae, is toughness. This small tree grows in very inhospitable sites, from the steep, rocky, dry hillsides in the Midlands, to coastal areas with salt spray. Once established, it's extremely resilient, and can be trimmed to make a hedge. Politely called a deterrent barrier. This plant has a wealth of talent on offer and a worthy addition to your garden.

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Loss and Celebration

3/23/2023

 
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Saying goodbye to family and friends is always hard, in whatever way they leave our lives. My way to cope is to plant something in their memory, a tradition I learnt as a child. After World War 2, the Tasmania people planted an avenue of trees from Launceston to Hobart along the Midlands Highway, to overcome their conflicting emotions, loss of loved ones,  while also celebrating the return of loved ones.

I also have conflicting emotions with the widening of the Midlands Highway. Yes, we can celebrate a highway that will be safer and easier to travel, and grieve the loss of memorial trees, who have lost their lives in this action. But its even harder saying goodbye to many of my native plant friends growing along the roadside verges, from ground covers to trees. These plants have stood witness to my journeys and brought me so much joy as I watch out for their flowering throughout the year.

Roadside verges are linear strips of what once grew in the area. They are important reminders of the past. Although these strips seem insignificant, they are important linear reserves for our native plants, and for future generations to know what was here. There is a small reserve at Conara, wedged between the railway and the highway, a tiny almost insignificant area. But this area is significant, it is a celebration of the tail end of the once greater Epping Forest. This area contains 111 different species.

So we soldier on, celebrating the life of these  plants and the pleasure they brought and grieving their loss at the same time. In the meantime, I collect the seed, grow their offspring and plant in their memory.

A plant list for this tiny reserve can be found under Plant Lists.
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My Art Gallery

3/15/2023

 
A farmer in our district once said, I live in the best art gallery in the world with changing landscapes all day every day.' The Midllands is a landscape of outstanding natural beauty, a mosaic of grassland and open woodland. The native grasses are all seeding now, mostly bleached by the summer sun except for the kangaroo grass, which is a standout, gorgeous rusty colour.

But what makes these grasslands so special? A grassland is dominated by grasses, but between the grasses there is a fascinating range of tiny plants that make the grassland so desirable, and why they make this area so healthy for wildlife and sheep.

We drum into our kids the need to eat their vegetables, but wildlife and sheep have an innate knowledge about their dietary needs. No one is nagging them to eat their broccoli and just one more tint tomato. A native grassland offers all their dietary requirements because of the mix of tiny plants between the grasses, the equivalent of eating rainbow coloured vegetables on a plate. When these areas are overgrazed, the tiny plants disappear and the health of the grassland is compromised, and thus the health of the wildlife and sheep.

The tiny plants may look insignificant, but these are the plants that make the Midlands grasslands so desirable and interesting. Some of these plants are lilies including  Bulbine, Chocolate, Milkmaid and Vanilla lilies. Depending on the season these lilies can give the most amazing flowering displays, the hills ablaze with colour. Others are shy, with the tiniest of flowers hiding among the grasses such as woodruff, speedwell, orchids, violets or a whole suite of pea and daisy plants.

I feel blessed to live and witness this art gallery with a landscape that's so beautiful it still takes my breath away. And each plant within this landscape brings me joy. And each plant, however seemingly insignificant, brings their own gifts and talents, to contribute to the health of the whole grassland community. And each plant has its own beauty contributing to the best art gallery in the world.


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    My Art Gallery
     A  farmer in our district once said, "I live in the best art gallery in the world.'

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