Threatened species day 7/9
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Brunonia australis – Protected flora -
Correa alba – Protected flora -
Grevillea infecunda – Listed as vulnerable -
Podolepis jaceoides – becoming rarer in Melbourne -
Pultenaea tenuifolia – possibly extinct in Melbourne
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Microseris lanceolata or scapigera – once prevalent in Melb, now rarer -
Lotus australis var. australis – rare in Melbourne, possibly Vic -
Brachyscome parvula – locally rare -
Mentha australis – locally rare -
Zygophyllum billardieri – rare in Victoria
Planning News runs Park story
The history and future of Westgate Park was featured in the August edition of the Planning Institute of Australia, Vic Division, newsletter. As usual, this was a joint effort so thanks to Lecki and Janet for input.
Lyn
Luis Mata on pollinators, ABC RN
Hear Luis talking about pollinator insects in the City of Melbourne, the pollinator observatories at Westgate Park, the import role insects play in supporting healthy parklands and why understorey plants are necessary to foster this.
ABC Radio National Blueprint for Living, Saturday 18 August 2018, listen here.
Quick facts:
- over 600 species of insects have been discovered by Luis Mata’s RMIT team
- there are estimated to be more than 1 million species of insects worldwide and 1,500 in Melbourne
Download below the beautifully illustrated children’s book: The little things that run the city, created by Kate Cranney, Sarah Bekessy and Luis Mata, in partnership with the City of Melbourne
Blue-banded Bee, photo Luis Mata
National Tree Day(s) 27 & 29 July
Westgate Biodiversity: Bili Nursery & Landcare and 77 eager volunteers planted over 2000 indigenous plants at three events to celebrate National Tree Day:
- Friday. City of Melbourne staff, their Citizen Foresters plus 14 volunteers put in more than 500 understorey plants along the Maribyrnong River. The site had magnificent Eucalypts, Sheoaks and various other trees but no groundcovers, wildflowers and small shrubs.
- Sunday. At Elwood Beach 35 volunteers put in over 1000 coastal plants to increase the habitat for the small colony of Superb Fairy Wrens and other birds that use this section of foreshore.
- Sunday. At Westgate Park 28 volunteers from 15 Trees planted 500 wetland plants in the new western section of Southern Wetlands. This wetland will become excellent habitat for birds, frogs and insects.
These planting activities help form corridors for small animals and critters that are overlooked when only trees and non indigenous shrubs are used. Indigenous understorey species provide good cover and they flower at different times of the year, providing food for caterpillars and vital nectar and pollen for native birds, bees and other insects. These are in turn food for the Superb Fairy Wren and of course other small birds.
Did you know?
- Superb Fairy Wrens form family groups – generally one male, several females and the young. They feed on insects on the ground and in low bushes.The female incubates the eggs alone, but the whole family group helps feed the young.
- Bili Landcare plants all year round at Westgate Park – Monday to Wednesday and the third Sunday of each month and Bili Nursery operates weekdays and Saturday mornings and grows over 200 species of indigenous plants. We supply 100,000 plants every year for projects like these.
Check out our page for volunteering options that might interest you.
Monarch visits
The Wanderer – Danaus plexippus or Monarch, shown here on Pimelea sp. – Rice Flower, is an uncommon and somewhat puzzling visitor to Victoria. According to Museum Victoria’s Butterflies: Identification and Life History:
Populations are temporary in Victoria and migrating adults recolonise Victoria annually. Two or three generations can occur if migrating adults arrive in early spring.
…. In northern Australia the food plants are widespread weeds but in Victoria Gomphocarpus fruticosus – Swan Plant is grown more as a garden ornamental.
….. It is known as the Monarch in North America where it is noted for its large, long-distance migrations to overwintering sites in California and Mexico. Some limited migration also occurs in Australia and small overwintering colonies are known from SA and near Sydney.
Pollinators workshop
At our winter workshop participants learned to identify several insect pollinators, including native and non-native bees and butterflies. We then visited the pollinator observatories to make observations of plant-insect interactions.
This was the fifth in this series of workshops and each time we have seen something unexpected just through observing more closely.
Stay tuned for the results!
George’s blog
Having planted many thousand plants a year for 18 years through all types of weather conditions, I am building up a lot of knowledge about what survives and what doesn’t. Influencing factors include soil moisture (too dry or too wet), attack by rabbits, possums, rats and birds, lack of mycorrhizal associations, drought and waterlogging, soil pH and encroaching shade and competition.
Then there is also natural senescence. What is the life expectancy of a poa tussock or a goodenia? I have learned to plant only the hardiest types in the harshest sites, a hard won lesson by experience. Then sometimes a favourite plant such as blue devil thrives when I have almost given up on it. Possibly because of higher year round moisture or maybe a hardier variety.
Then there is a host of special and colourful plants that I have being trying to establish for years that hardly survive their first summer. Plants such a native heath, blue stars, hoary sunray, love creeper, trigger plant, common beard heath, orchids, stackhousia and many more. Yet these grow exceptionally well in their natural habitats, sometimes in the harshest or driest sites. I suspect they have their own special mycorrhiza and other soil flora aiding their survival which are lacking in the park.
The soil in Westgate Park is all imported from countless sources. A few years ago we investigated commissioning a study into beneficial soil flora and fungi with the aim to perhaps introduce what was missing. However the cost was prohibitive and it went no further. Meanwhile we just keep plugging away trying different sites, soil conditions and summer water regimes.
Love Creeper (Comesperma volubile) has now brightened up our heaths each spring for a number of years and Hardenbergia is now a spectacular resident.
The challenge now is to pass on the accumulated knowledge to those that follow. Record keeping is not my strong point but totally necessary.
July 14, 2018
What a way to mark World Environment Day!
On 5 June, 127 volunteers in three teams joined our Bili Landcare crew of 15 to plant, mulch and clean up the River bank at Westgate Park.
- Community Volunteers Australia arranged for 96 enthusiastic workers from Aon, Origin, FujiXerox, Energy Australia, Bridgestone, BASF and TabCorp and they put in around 2,500 plants.
- Landcare organised 8 Telstra volunteers who did a good day’s work mulching and planting
- Covestro Australia sent 8 staff to remove litter from our stretch of the Yarra River bank which is no easy task on that rock wall.
Thanks to everyone involved!
Website under construction!
We are building our website so you can have access to a wide range of information about and photos of indigenous plants, those we grow and those we plant.
Read about the transformation of Westgate Park by Westgate Biodiversity’s Bili Landcare and there will soon be a shop where Bili Nursery plants and other products can be purchased online.
See too our upcoming events in the sidebar.
Thanks for your patience!