Week 1 May 2001: Spent some time weeding one of our garden beds. The bed has been invaded by Commelina cyanea. This perennial herb has fleshy leaves and stems and deep blue 3-petalled flowers. It is a native but was carpeting this bed and choking all the plants.
Sighted a new bird one morning. A flock of Jacky Winters (Microeca leucophaea) was near the house. The flock was probably a family group. These attractive birds are members of the flycatcher family. This was our first sighting at Yallaroo and has been added to our bird list.
Two shrubs are in full flower at Yallaroo. Crowea Coopers Hybrid is a medium shrub with aromatic foliage. Croweas are members of the Rutaceae family in company with the Boronias. At this time of the year the plants are covered with masses of five-petalled pink flowers. Flowering continues for many months. Hakea decurrens is a tall shrub with prickly foliage. At this time of the year each branch is covered with white flowers. Woody fruits follow the flowers.
Talked to the University of the Third Age this week. This group of senior citizens are interested in local history and the local environment. We spoke about the flora of the Northern Tablelands and sparked some lively discussion about environmental topics. Later in the year they will visit Yallaroo for another session of ear bashing.
Bought another toy this week. We are now proud owners of a digital camera. It is a model from the lower price range. We will use the camera to capture images for the site. The camera will focus down to five cms, and we are experimenting with close-up images of native flowers and fruits.
Squeezed in a three-day trip to Sydney to attend a wedding. On the way we noticed many Yellow Boxes (Eucalyptus melliodora) flowering around Tamworth. This will make the local apiarists happy. The wedding reception took place in a function centre in Royal National Park. We were looking forward to a walk in the bush to look at the beautiful native plants that grow in this Park. The weather was against us with heavy rain all afternoon.
The trip was saved when we visited a native plant nursery in southern Sydney. At the nursery there was a Hakea bakeriana in full flower. This species comes from an area north of Sydney. We have some seeds germinating, seen plants growing in the bush, looked at photographs, but have never seen a specimen in full flower. The nursery plant was about three metres tall with narrow leaves and masses of pink flowers. The flowers popped out of branches everywhere including old wood and thick branches. The production of flowers on trunks and major branches is known as cauliflory and often occurs on rainforest species. We have never seen a Hakea flowering like this. We will be growing a lot more of this magnificent plant.
After this horticultural excitement we did manage to buy some plants. Included in our purchases was: a dwarf form of Kunzea parvifolia, Pultenaea capitellata, Grevillea buxifolia and Grevillea pilosa.