Wildflower Society of WA
Northern Suburbs Branch
Celebrating
30 years ~ 1985 - 2015
Newsletter - June 2015
Next Meeting :- June 23rd
7-30pm, Henderson Environmental Centre, Groat St. North Beach
Northern Suburbs Branch 30th Anniversary
“Members’ Memories of 30 Years”
Coming Events :-
28 July
Andy Young - “Tiny Moth Pollinators of
Boronias & Leucopogons”
25 August
Hans Lambers—”Species Richness in Our Most
Nutrient Impoverished Landscapes, Deserving
UNESCO Inscription”
22 September
Michael Morcombe—”Wildlife and Pollination”
Last Meeting
Hazel Dempster
“Red Trees at Anthill”
In May, Hazel Dempster took us on a wonderful journey to Anthill, a destocked
sheep farm of some 2-3,000 hectares in the
IBRA Regions of Yalgoo, Geraldton Sand
Plain and Murchison, and adjacent to the
Wandara Nature Reserve. Assisted with
photos by Sally Page and Jeff Mountste-
phen, Hazel showed us the floral wonders
of this remote property.
Hazel and friends ‘discovered’ Anthill fol-
lowing an invitation by the property owner,
Jane, to “Come and see my red trees”.
These turned out to be Verticordia etheliana var. Formosa (commonly known as
Red Morrison), masses of brilliant red flowers on bushes over 2 metres wide and 1
metre tall. Several visits have been undertaken over the past five or so years, with
many verticordia species noted,
including Verticordia oculata, the
favourite plant of Elizabeth
George who went on the early
trips and chose the species for the
front cover of her seminal work,
‘Verticordia, The Turner of
Hearts’. There are huge plants of
this species near the Anthill prop-
erty, with the pink/white flowers
literally covering the plants over
spring and summer.
But verticordia species are not
the only flora found on Anthill.
Hazel showed a dazzling array of species, including Pileanthus vernicosus
(Coppercups), another plant with masses of brilliant red flowers, Calytrix brevifo-
lia with masses of pink flowers, and Commersonia densiflora with dense, thick,
white flowerheads. Several of Hazel’s photos were ‘group’shots, with reds, purples
and whites mingling together in a
magnificent natural garden.
Because Hazel and friends have
visited Anthill at the same time
of year over several years, they
have been able to observe par-
ticular plants and species year
after year. It was very interesting
to see Hazel’s photos of the same
plants with varying seasonal con-
ditions, with more or later rain-
fall in some years and other varying factors. There was a marked variation in the
intensity of the red Verticordia etheliana flowers depending on the climate condi-
tions. And of particular interest were pho-
tos of bushes that looked for all the world
as though they were dead in one season -
brown and dry, only to recover and burst
into full foliage and bloom in a good sea-
son. Hazel told us that the nursery has had
some success with cuttings taken from the
brown, dormant plants, which seemingly
assume that a ‘good season’ has come once
they’re in the nursery and receiving regular
1st Saturday Landsdale
Conservation Park.
Meet in Landsdale Rd approx
100 metres east of Evandale
Rd, Darch.
Contact Phylis 93499105
2nd Saturday Koondoola
Regional Bushland.
Meet in Koondoola Ave
Opposite Burbridge Ave.
Contact Phylis 93499105
3rd Saturday Lake Gwelup
Reserve.
Meet Scout Hall car park
near tennis Courts,
Huntriss Rd, Gwelup.
Contact Christine 94472983
4th Saturday Star Swamp
Bushland
Meet at the Henderson
Centre at the end of
Groat St, North Beach.
Contact Christine 94472983
5th Saturday Trigg
Bushland
Meet in the car park between
St Mary’s School and
Millington Reserve
(off Elliot rd) Karrinyup.
contact David 94489192
Northern Suburbs
Free guided nature walks.
Each Month
Run approx 1 hour.
Start at 8am.
Hazel showed many more beautiful photos of va-
rieties of pink, blue and purple flowering species,
but with red being the somewhat predominant
colour. This is an indication that many plants,
particularly those with long styles, are bird polli-
nated on the property. One other point of interest
was a priority sedge which has been found on the
property and is now fenced off for protection.
This visit to Anthill
demonstrated emphati-
cally that former graz-
ing and disturbed land
can be brought back to
most of its former glory
with a bit of effort and
enthusiasm. Some in the
audience expressed a
desire to visit Anthill, so
Hazel suggested that the
best way to make con-
tact would be through
her. The parting gift from Anthill was a photo of
a spectacular paddock with huge patches of
bright red pileanthus, inviting us all to marvel at
n a t u r e ’ s
beauty.
-
C h r i s t i n e
Curry
GINGIN MEMBERS
Sally and her husband Greg
have owned farms in the
Gingin area for the past
twenty years and currently
live on a 400 acre property
South of the Gingin townsite.
The size of the property has
enabled Sally to carry on her
parent's (Pat and Norm
Moyle) legacy of growing
Verticordia. Sally's collection
comprises of approximately
120 species growing in her
large gardens.
David has been living in
Gingin for six years on a two hectare property, which was previously a cow pad-
dock covered in mostly South African weeds. He has been revegetating part of
the property to provide habitat for the local wildlife including the Black Cocka-
toos. At the front of his property he has a large native garden which includes
many species of unusual grevilleas.
Part of Sally’s Garden
Where Did We Come From?
In the June 1985 edition of the West Australian Gardener, the following item ap-
peared:
A New WA Wildflower Society Branch
“A new WA Wildflower Society Branch is to be inaugurated in the Northern Sub-
urbs on Sunday, June 30
th
at 10.30am. Venue is Dorchester Hall, Warwick Shop-
ping Centre. There will be interesting speakers on many aspects of growing and
garden designing. Involvement in preservation projects and, weather permitting,
an afternoon excursion to Pinnaroo Memorial Park, where the gardens are beau-
tifully landscaped with WA plants and there is still some natural bush. We are
Sally Page and David Taggart catch up at the
previous Northern Suburbs meeting.
hoping to meet the long-expressed need for such a group and look forward to seeing
some enthusiastic new faces. All new members will receive a valuable surprise pack-
age to help them on their way. Clare Welsh, President [of Wildflower Society of WA]”
And so the Northern Suburbs branch was born. Branch records show that about 70
people attended the inaugural meeting, with short presentations from the following
speakers: Stephen Hopper on the Flora of the Southwest; George Lullfitz on growing
WA native plants; Ken Gibbs on Yanchep National Park; and John English on Pin-
naroo Valley Memorial Park. Following discussion on forming the branch, a soup and
sandwich lunch was served before an excursion to Pinnaroo Memorial Park was con-
vened.
A Steering Committee was formed and monthly evening meetings established. At the
first of these, on 20 August 1985, Dr Stephen Hopper gave a slide presentation on
Perth Flora. The guest
speaker at the September
1985 meeting was George
Barnard, 6WF Gardener of
the Air, who spoke on Plan-
ning Your Native Garden,
this meeting concluding
with the first fundraising
auction of rare native
plants.
The inaugural Annual Gen-
eral Meeting of the branch
was held on 21 November
1985, with the elected
committee
comprising:
President, George Lullfitz;
Vice-president, Tom Al-
ford; Secretary, Frances
Smith; Treasurer, Eileen
Revell;
and
committee
members, Philip Gale, Jean
Evans, Peter Smith and
Alex van Den Ham.
The first Branch Newslet-
ter was produced by Tom
Alford in December 1985.
It was a simple, two-page
document which covered
details of meeting arrange-
ments, committee mem-
bers’ names and contact de-
tails, advice of forthcoming
meetings and information
on summer pruning of native trees and shrubs. Newsletters over subsequent months
in the ‘early years’ confirm a continuing high attendance at meetings, with interest-
ing and very successful speakers on a range of topics, some of whom we still invite
to speak to our branch. Greg Keighery and Bob Dixon are two whom most people
will know. In addition, fundraising auctions of rare and special plants became an an-
nual event and a variety of excursions was organized to places such as Lane-Poole
Jarrah Reserve, Hillarys Marina and Neerabup National Park.
A few familiar faces starting to plant out the Wildflower Gardens at Yanchep
It is a testament to the founders of the Northern Suburbs branch that the branch for-
mat established in 1985 continues relatively unchanged 30 years on. Monthly meet-
ings with a guest speaker and a plant identification table and informative monthly
newsletters continue to be the
mainstay for keeping all our
members informed and in touch.
Memories
30 Years of Guest Speakers
Northern Suburbs branch has had a great diversity of guest speakers over our 30 years.
For quite a few years, the guest speaker program for each year was themed around a spe-
cific topic, with some of the themes being, Small and Suitable for Suburbia and Creative
Uses of WA Native Plants. You may also remember some of these entertaining and infor-
mative speakers from over the years:
1985: Robert Lullfitz
“How to Identify Native Plants”
1986: Bob Dixon
“Landscaping Native Flora”
1987: Anne Taylor
“Compiling the Banksia Atlas”
1988: Hazel Dempster “Selecting Grevillea, Melaleuca, Beaufortia, Kunzia and Ere-
maea Species for Your Garden”
1989: Penny Hussey
“Using Road Verges for Conservation”
1990: Kingsley Dixon
“Tissue Culture and the Purdie’s Donkey Orchid”
1991: Joanna Seabrook “Revegetation: What Does It Mean”
1992: John Colwill
“Introducing Wildflowers Into the Garden”
1993: Marion Blackwell “The Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra”
1994: Kevin Kenneally “Plants of the Kimberley Region”
1995: Bronwen Keighery “Values of Urban Bushland”
1996: Margaret Pieroni “Dryandras in the Garden”
1997: Norm & Pat Moyle “Flowering Plants for Containers and Rockeries”
1998: Alex George
“Small Banksias”
1999: Johnny Profumo “Frog Habitats – A Look at Suitable Plants”
2000: Marion Blackwell “Plants of the Carnegie Salient – the Western Arm of the Great
Victoria Desert”
2001: Eric McCrum
“The Desert in Bloom : A Trip to Alice Springs”
2002: John Dell
“Fauna and Flora Connections”
2003: Jim Barrow
“Vegetation of the Northern Sandplains”
2004: Mark Brundrett
“Underground World of the Orchid”
2005: Tom Alford
“The History of Flora Base”
2006: Una Bell
“Native Grasses”
2007: Philippa Nikulinski
“In the Field with Philippa”
2008: Stephen Hopper
“A Half Century of Extraordinary Wildflower Science in WA
Since 1958”
2009: Kevin Thiele
“Why Do the #@%# Taxonomists Keep Changing the Names?”
2010: Robert Powell
“Leaf and Branch: Trees and Tall Shrubs of Perth”
2011: Jiri Lochman
“Photographing Nature”
2012: Terry Houston
“New Discoveries with Native Bees”
2013: Greg Keighery
“Coppercups and Relatives”
2014: Digby Growns
“Breeding New Grevillea Cultivars with a WA Flavour”
2015: Allen Lowrie
“Carnivorous Plants of Australia”
Putting together the yearly guest speaker program has always relied heavily on members
and friends. Many of the speakers over the years have been Wildflower Society of WA
members themselves and have willingly shared their time and expertise for the benefit of
all, as they still do. Northern Suburbs branch members have always made an invaluable
contribution as well, suggesting interesting topics or passing on details of interesting
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