Sometimes we don't spot a madeira vine until it has grown around a host tree trunk and then climbed to the tree canopy. At this stage a single plant may have produced thousands of aerial tubers along its stem. In turn, each of these tubers are capable of germinating if …
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Ekibin Creek had its first bushcare working bee for 2019 on January 27. Since it was so dry we spent some time watering plants at the eastern end of the para grass patch. This bit is the first stage in our small bird habitat restoration project. Later this year we'll …
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Sometimes, Nature steps in to help along a regneration effort. About seven years ago this area was a noxious sea of Singapore Daisy (Sphagneticola trilobata) reaching about one metre in depth. After it was cleared (by physical removal and chemical treatment of re-growth), we planted a mixture of native shrubs …
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Over the past few years we have been using cordless, battery-powered saws to combat woody weeds and dead trees. It is surprising how well this tool has performed, so much so that it has largely displaced our use of a petrol-powered chainsaw. In this case, Steve has cut back a …
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At the last working bee we removed a dead wattle tree that was supporting an equally dead bougainvillea. This was quite a delicate operation since bougainvillea branches were covered in hard, sharp thorns. We cut the main trunk of the wattle with an electric saw and then used a winch …
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Asparagus plant (sometimes erroneously called a 'fern') is a serious environmental weed. Ekibin Creek has a limited number of outbreaks, probably released from dumped garden refuse or from visiting birds dropping seed. A confusing variety of plants from the genus Asparagus are non-native environmental weeds in Australia. This outbreak, which …
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We have been slowly dealing with a very large bougainvillea vine over the last few years. It was probably grown as an ornamental, next to the (now demolished) farmhouse about a century ago. In the intervening years it grew extensively, even infiltrating the canopy of nearby eucalyptus trees. As well …
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At our second working bee for the year, we started to clear the first patch for the July Tree Day plantings. This patch has three mature trees in a line, marking the western boundary: a tallowood (Eucalyptus microcorys), a swamp box (Lophostemon suaveolens) and an old wattle. The triangle has …
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