Welcome to the July 2015 edition of the FoMM newsletter. National Tree Day is on this month! To celebrate, FoMM will be holding a planting party on the 19th and a tree walk on the 26th where you can learn more about the local trees in our neighbourhood. And a great way to make a difference at home is through planting local native trees and removing any woody weeds in your garden. Plants such as Privet, English Ivy, Hawthorn and Cootamundra Wattle spread easily to the nature park where FoMM volunteers work hundreds of hours every year to remove them. So everyone can play a part in conserving our local native flora!
See you on the mountain.
Jo Lynch
FoMM Secretary
FoMM activities and news:
Mt Majura Planting @ The Fair – Sunday 19 July, 1pm – 3.30pm
Join our planting party in the Mt Majura nature park. Come for a demonstration on How to plant at 1pm and then get your hands dirty and plant local trees, shrubs and flowers. Bring your mum and dad and friends and make the event a real community planting party. This year’s event will be the fourth stage of a community re-vegetation project that started in Winter 2012 in the nature park behind The Fair in North Watson. We aim to replace weeds with local native plants, provide habitat for little woodland birds and improve the overall condition of the degraded endangered grassy woodland in the area. Bring your mum and dad and friends and make the event a real community planting party. Volunteer registration opens at 12.45pm.
Where: Mount Majura nature park behind (east of) The Fair in North Watson. Access intersection Tay and Ian Nicol Sts, The Fair or via nature park entrance Antill Street opposite Carotel for a 5-minutes walk to the planting site.
What to wear: Garden gloves, appropriate clothing and foot wear. Wrap up warmly.
What to bring: Bucket, trowel or small mattock if you have one. Please label items with your phone number so that we can reunite any left-behinds with the owner.
Enquiries: Ph. 62477517 or reply to this email.
Click here for more information.
The planting event is a wonderful opportunity for new and old neighbours of Mt Majura to work together, get to know each other and promote the joys of our local bush environment. (W. Pix)
National Tree Day walk – Sunday 26 July, 2pm – 4pm
Celebrate National Tree Day 2015 with a gentle and informative tree walk on the slopes of Mount Majura with local ecologist Michael Doherty. Learn how to identify local woodland and forest trees, see where they occur and hear how they survive fire and drought.
Where: Nature park entrance, Helms Place close to Rivett and Richards Sts intersection, Hackett
Wear and bring: Sturdy shoes, sun protection, and drinking water.
Tree guides are available for a gold coin donation.
Enquiries: phone 6248 8955
Bundy (Eucalyptus goniocalyx) flowers and buds (W. Pix)
The continuous struggle with woody weeds
Every year since the Friends of Mt Majura sprang into action in 2003 we have tackled woody weeds. What are they, where are they, and are we making any progress? This report gives you an update on the woody weed front. The removal of woody weeds from Mount Majura’s bushland is an ongoing, continuous and, in the end, unsustainable process unless we do something about the seed supply coming from nearly gardens and public land.
Woody weeds controlled behind McKenzie St, Hackett, during the 2014-15 year (W. Pix)
Fridays @ The Fair – 9.30am – 12.30pm
The volunteers at The Fair have been very busy lately, and luckily enjoying some beautiful sunny winter mornings! They have been topping up the plantings, treating more Paterson’s Curse, and spreading lots of mulch and woody debris around the site to reduce erosion and encourage natural regeneration – especially where they have recently direct seeded some native grasses. Thanks to the ACT Parks and Conservation Service staff for providing all the material. If you are free on Friday mornings, and want to make a difference or get some on-ground environmental experience, we would love to hear from you. Just reply to this email for more information.
FoMM volunteers Jonas, Joseph and Kevin spreading mulch at The Fair (W. Pix)
Other items of interest:
Lookout for Madagascan Fireweed (Senecio madagascariensis)
The ACT Government is urging Canberrans to be on the lookout for infestations of the invasive weed Madagascan Fireweed (Senecio madagascariensis) as recent wet weather may prompt the weed to flower, set seed and spread in the ACT. Infestations have previously been detected in Forde, Franklin, Chisholm, Casey, Lyneham, Crace and Coombs on public and private land. ACT Government weed management staff will control weed incursions as quickly as possible on both public and private land. Madagascan Fireweed is a small multi-stemmed daisy-like plant with bright yellow flowers often with 13 petals. It is usually 10 to 60 centimetres tall. The weed produces fluffy wind borne seeds. Plants can produce tens of thousands of seeds, making it highly invasive. Madagascan Fireweed invades land along roadsides before spreading into neighbouring pastures and nature reserves. Locating and eradicating the weed quickly will save the ACT significant expenditure in future weed control and protect our native flora and fauna. Click here for more information.
Open Gardens Canberra
Thanks to the initiative of founding president Shirley Pipitone, Open Gardens Canberra has been established to take the place of the now closed national scheme. Shirley aims to create a community of garden lovers in the Canberra region. Open Gardens Canberra will open at least nine gardens in Canberra and the surrounding region in 2015, and more are planned for 2016. For a small annual fee, members will have free entry to all gardens opening under Open Gardens Canberra. Shirley can be contacted at this email. Details will also be available soon through the website opengardenscanberra.org.au, which is now being developed.
