The Australian Plants Society (Victoria) is dedicated to promoting, growing and the conservation of Australian native plants, in gardens, community areas and their original environments.
We will try keep event status up to date, but please contact the event organiser if in any doubt.
Many nurseries are still open, although with some restrictions, and they welcome your business. Please phone the nursery to check current restrictions before going there.
Because it is topical, here is a link to information on fire-resistant and retardant plants.
Australian Native Plants Society (Australia) Bushfires Submission
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Velleia bites the dust. Goodenia takeover on the cards. Goodeniaceae all a fluster! Goodness me!The concluding chapter of a long-running saga in the charismatic Fan Flower family was published today in PhytoKeys. Our local Goodeniaceae guru Kelly Shepherd and Rachel Jabaily Colorado College, together with their Goodeniaceae Working Group colleagues and Brendan Lespchi Australian National Herbarium, have updated the classification of Goodenia and allies following almost a decade of collaborative research.
We bid a final farewell to the genera Velleia, Verreauxia, Pentaptilon and Selliera, which have now been subsumed into an expanded Goodenia (>250 taxa), while the monotypic genus Diaspasis has been formally transferred to Scaevola. The team have made a total of 35 name changes to reflect our improved understanding of evolutionary relationships in the family. Details of these changes, together with modified generic descriptions and keys, can be freely accessed at phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/49604/
While some of you may lament these changes, the alternative would have knocked you for six — if Velleia and the other genera had been retained as distinct, then around 160 taxa in Goodenia would have required renaming under newly reinstated or circumscribed segregate genera!
While this may be a final chapter it is perhaps not the last word. Kelly recently spent a month with Rachel in Colorado exploring new molecular data sets on other members of Goodeniaceae. Stay tuned.
WINTER WATTLES!
With daylight increasing a number of Acacia are coming into flower - hopefully to brighten up your winter.
The Golden Wattle Acacia pycnantha is Australia's floral emblem. Wearing a sprig of Wattle as a national emblem was first discussed as early as 1838 in Hobart Town and of course our indigenous Australians roasted Acacia seed and had a host of uses for Wattles.
"Wattle Day" on 1 September is a peak flowering time - but many have also finished by then. There are around 1,080 species of Acacia in Australia and many are beautiful garden plants.
These photos are from the Maranoa Gardens in Balwyn yesterday and a couple from a home garden.
Now this is a beautiful story about saving our threatened native orchids! Great work by the Australian Native Orchid Society and the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qDjef4LXdM&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR3xun_SLXU5ZAP83hdTbtRQojOZ12Chvfm-bj...
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Take a virtual deep dive into the world of these precious plants with Cranbourne Gardens orchid expert Dr Noushka Reiter and the Orchid Conservation Program ...The latest news on the FJC Rogers Seminar 2020 - on native Mint Bushes & Allied Genera - is out, with the Covid-19 edition of the Registration and Newsletter here apsvic.org.au/fjc-rogers-seminar-2020