Franke’s Scrub in September

“Spring is sprung,
The grass is riz,
I wonder where
the birdies is?”
The answer (or part of it, anyway) is that they are in Franke’s Scrub. There are some lovely nests happening. If you go down to have a look, try to make it before 9.00 or after 3.00, when the birds are more active. You’ll find it rewarding.
And while you’re there, you could take a quick walk along the top - the sort you can do in ten minutes in your good clothes - to see how spring is springing, plantwise. Here are some things you’ll see:


The yellow-flowering mistletoe (Amyema lucasii) is looking good on the leopard ash, and the “variable mistletoe” (Amyema congener) which has blood-red bases to its flowers is looking good on several plant species. Keep an eye out for Jezabel butterflies.



This tuckeroo (Cupaniopsis parviflora) is flowering massively, its sweet-scented little flowers attracting every nectar-loving insect in the district. It’s just buzzing with life (and no doubt the insects it is attracting are part of what the birdies is counting on, to feed their babies). The tuckeroo may give us a splendid display of its orange fruits after Christmas, if the quality of the flowering is any indication.


The great grandmother scrub boonaree (Alectryon diversifolius) is flowering, too, so we must keep an eye on it for a possible display of its little red rooster fruits at the same time.




The wonga vines are also blooming away. The flowers on these vines throughout our district are variable, and the Frankes Scrub ones have particularly yellow throats.



Yellowtop (Senecio pinnatifolius var pinnatifolius ) also known as (Senecio lautus subsp dissectifolius) is there too. It has been particularly good around the district this year, offering a good opportunity for gardeners to collect seed and establish this lovely plant in their gardens.
For an article about this plant, and some of the issues (there are a few) about growing it, go to http://www.Toowoombaplants2008.blogspot.com/