September working bees

The Scrub was looking good at this morning's working bee (or what we could see of it through the dust storm!).

There were quite a lot of scrambling caper plants (Capparis sarmentosa) flowering beautifully, and with lots of buds. They should look even better next week. The scrambling lily (Geitonoplesium cymosum) was also in flower.
Jamie Pukallus and his team got a lot of the bigger asparagus vines out of the upper end of the scrub, and the rest of us (there were only three) got more, as well as a lot of smaller plants. It looks so different from the scrub of a few years ago, with all those enormous plants up in the canopy, so we are making progress!
We need to keep our collective eye out for any larger plants that have still escaped us, as those are the ones that keep producing seed - but we can now start working on eliminating the next generation of plants, some of which are starting to climb.
We inspected the cats claw corner and got down the few bits that had escaped up into the trees again. I'm hoping that Steve will be able to have another go at poisoning the roots before too long. His last effort was very successful, knocking it back considerably, so it's not nearly as extensive as it once was. However, I did find another small plant in the centre of the scrub. Although I got most of the tubers out, I think I missed a few - so that's something we'll also have to watch out for. It would be a disaster of the cats claw spread through the scrub.
WORKING BEE NEXT WEEK.
We'll have another, unofficial one, next Wednesday (30 September). No representatives from the council will be there, but some of our members will be spending the morning working. Will you join us?
Trish

It's on again soon!

Spring and September are rushing on and our next working bee will be held next week on Wednesday 23rd. It has been suggested that we do not work very hard! We certainly enjoy it and this time of year will be great.
If you can't make it next week, there are some who are going to be there on the 30th as well. Same time and same place.
We hope to see you then!

A spring meeting

We are planning to have our next working bee on Wednesday 23rd September.
This is a date in the U3A and school holidays, which may enable more friends to be there. Please let others know, who might be interested. The reserve is coming on nicely and Spring promises to be a lovely time to be there.
We'll start at 9.00am (or earlier if you prefer), pause for morning tea at 10.30, (so bring a little something and a chair) and we'll go on from 11.00am for those who want to make a full morning of it. For those who have done enough work, this is a nice time to stroll around, listen to the birds and see what is happening in the way of growth and flowers.
Bring the usual tools, not forgetting gloves to protect you from prickles, and something suitable for digging up little asparagus plants - a sharp trowel or an old blunt knife.
Secateurs are essential of course, and those who haven't yet equipped yourselves with a mini-mattock will find them selling inexpensively at BMS hardware (and probably other places as well).
September is lovely time of year to be out in the bush, and we will probably see the scrub at its spring best, with flowering at its peak.
Expect good perfume and lots of butterflies!

Planting Plumbagos

We had a good day today. We are still finding asparagus vine in the canopy and removing some large ones, but in most areas we have made a real difference to the canopy and are finding an interesting range of young plants coming away.

Pic 1: Alison Balke and Toowoomba Regional Council Bushcare officer Steve Plant study a mutant asparagus fern removed during the July working bee at Franke Scrub at Cawdor.

Pic 2: Friends of Franke Scrub members Rosalie Eustace (left) and Sally Steel plant native plumbago seedlings from Crows Nest Nursery at the Franke Scrub reclamation project at Cawdor. These plants were grown from seed collected at Franke Scrub.
Thank you Gary Alcorn for these photos.

July working bee reminder

July is almost over and our regular working bee will be held next week on Wednesday 29th July.
Despite wet weather on the preceding day in June, our last meeting turned out to be delightful weather in the scrub. It was sunny and quite sheltered.
The asparagus vine continues to grow so there is still plenty of work to do, in fact we are still finding some large vines which we must eliminate before spring.

At the working bee

There were several plants of interest in Franke Scrub last week.
The hairy boonaree, Alectryon pubescens, was putting out a few of its showy fruits. This is not a common plant in this district, and one of the things which makes Franke Scrub special. It resembles the closely related common scrub boonaree, but has larger leaves and fruits.

The key distinguishing factor is the hairiness of the capsule. Here you can see how it has been burst open by the swelling of the red “cockscomb” aril.

This muttonwood (Rapanea variabilis) is covered with buds, which will take months to ripen into brownish flowers, then be followed by pretty purple-blue fruits - all clinging to the branchlet in the distinctive muttonwood way.

One of the scrub wilgas (Geijera salicifolia) was putting out a few flowers, too. We’ll see more of these over the next few months.
Lots of little birds are to be seen in the scrub at the moment, attracted by the pools of water down in the creek. They will appreciate the food provided by the wilgas, whose fragrant flowers attract little insects.
Trish Gardner

A June meeting

We are having an extra working bee on Wednesday 24th June.
Every fifth Wednesday just does not come around often enough for some of us.
We will of course still be meeting on Wednesday 29th July as scheduled, so we hope you can make it to one or both of these.
As usual we start around 9 am or earlier if you wish.
Bring a chipping/chopping implement, secateurs, gloves, bag for weeds and your morning tea. Cameras are also welcome, to record interesting things happening in the scrub.