Fruiting hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna (W.Pix). This particular hawthorn discontinued fruiting 🙂 It was one of the many hundreds of hawthorns that Friends of Mt Majura killed about 10 years ago in the reserve east of the Fair. Some hawthorns still persist hiding in less accessible sites such as the one HappyWanderer spotted and recorded on Canberra Nature Map. Let’s put an end to them spreading their fruits around.
Friends of Mt Majura will continue removing woody weeds at our monthly Sunday working party in April to protect and enhance the critically endangered grassy woodland of Mt Majura’s north slope. We’d love to see you there. We moved our 3rd Sunday-a-month work party to the 4th Sunday, people may prefer to search for Easter eggs rather than weeds….
When: Sunday, 27 April 2025 from 1pm to 4pm; please be on time at the meeting point to join us on the walk to the target area, as well as an introduction of the weeds and how to tackle them safely and efficiently.
Where: Meet at the nature park entrance near Tay and Ian Nicol Streets, The Fair, North Watson; click here to view a map with the meeting and volunteer registration point and the blue outlined target area.
Bring and wear: Sun protection, sturdy boots, body covering garden clothing and garden gloves if you have them; we’ll provide tools, herbicide and nitrile gloves to tackle the weeds and a delicious cake.
What to expect: Hawthorns, Sweet Briar roses, Blackberry, and non-local Cootamundra wattles and their hybrids, young Snowy River wattles, and Grevillea shrubs invading from the Federal Highway plantings. Many hawthorns are small, heavily grazed, may carry only few leaves and be hard to spot such as these recorded on Canberra Nature Map.
Enquires:Â secretary@majura.org
A hawthorn growing six new stems after the originally single stemmed plant was cut (W.Pix Canberra Nature Map.
We will tackle exotic species such as deciduous Hawthorn and Sweet Briar roses and some non-local evergreen Australian plants such as Cootamundra wattle, Snowy River Wattle, and
Grevilleas which invade the grassy woodland from the Federal Highway road verge plantings.
Autumn is a good time to cut deciduous hawthorns and wild roses and treat them with herbicide before they enter winter hibernation.
It is crucial how to carry out work: suckering hawthorns and roses must be cut close to the ground and herbicide applied to the cut surface immediately using a spray bottle or dabber.
If not treated correctly, roses in particular tend to re-sprout with growing more stems than before the treatment such as this re-sprounting rose and sending out suckers along their underground stems. The result would be more work for volunteers.
Cootamundra wattles growing in the grassy woodlands of Mt Majura’s north slope (Photo W.Pix Canberra Nature Map).
