A good roll-up of members ensured a successful start to the year’s activities. All available seats in the Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Gardens’ meeting room were filled and we were pleased to welcome David Crawford, Editor of the APS Region’s journal Native Plants and his partner Jan Douglas.
Mark Noake and John Knight had spent some time experimenting with a system of projecting the plant specimens onto a screen so that not only were the plant specimens displayed in minute detail but photos could be taken at the same time. The range of plants on display was quite extensive and considering how dry the spring and summer months have been it is a credit to our members who maintain such diversity and to the plants which exhibit such tolerance.
Above: John Knight leading discussion
After lunch we joined the Friends of ERBG for a presentation by Professor Tony Haymet who discussed his work of accurately measuring the heat in the ocean and the effects this is having on the climate. Oceans comprise 80% of the world’s surface, and as such have the dominant effect on weather.
Our March meeting was held at the property of Jenny and Peter John at Narooma. Mercifully the rain held off and 30 members attended. Vice president Geoff Gosling began the Q & A proceedings and soon banter travelled back and forth as members offered advice or asked further questions on various topics raised. The most highlighted topic was pruning. It seems that many members are still unsure as to the best time to prune, how certain plants should be tackled or even if some plants could be pruned. The advice was as varied as the expertise in the room. Mark Noake’s projection technology was again brought into use to illustrate the various plants.
Above: Mark Noake at the helm and the group discussion on pruning
Our next meeting is at Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Gardens where we will hear a talk from Peter Ollerenshaw of Bywong Nursery on 1st April at 10am. Peter had worked for many years at the Australian National Botanic Gardens then left to establish Bywong Nursery concentrating on Australian plants. At this meeting Peter will detail his work and the trials undertaken to get new plants to market. Visit our website www.southeast.austplants.com.au
