A large Sweet Briar rose growing over the fence post at Oldfields Lane. Birds and foxes (!) eat the fruits and spread the seeds over large distances. This Sweet Briar along with many similar sized roses has been removed 15 years ago after this photo was taken in 2009 (W. Pix).
Welcome the New Year with a working party to remove woody weeds in the nature reserve around the gully adjacent to Valour Park. Friends of Mount Majura will be returning to the area to continue cut and dab Sweet Briar roses and remove young blue gums on Sunday 19 January in a shady site mostly under trees.
When: Sunday, 19 January 2025 from 9am to 12 noon.
Where: Meet at the nature park entrance near Tay and Ian Nicol Streets, The Fair, North Watson; click on this map to view the meeting and volunteer registration point and the blue outlined target area.
Bring and wear: Sun protection, eye 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.
Tip: take some Blue Gum branchlets with juvenile leaves home for their decorative appearance and powerful eucalyptus perfume.
Enquires: secretary@majura.org
About Blue Gums
Southern Blue Gum mature leaf (left), juvenile leaves (right), fruits or gum-nuts (top) and warty flower buds (Canberra Nature Map).
The up to 45 m tall Eurabbie or Southern Blue Gum, Eucalyptus globulus subsp. bicostata is a tree from Victoria’s forests which has been extensively planted in Canberra, for instance along Anzac Parade, the nature strip along Antill Street and in the Valour Memorial Park. The large blue gums of Valour Park drop their gum-nuts into the adjacent reserve; if unchecked, this non-local species will replace the local trees of Mt Majura’s Yellow Box Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and form a blue gum forest along the drainage line that runs parallel to Valour Park. Therefore, young Blue Gum saplings and seedlings should be removed on a regular basis.
Young plants up to about 30cm tall can be pulled out and larger saplings can be cut with loppers and the cut surface dabbed with Glyphosate. Some of the older saplings might be marked with pink tape for easy identification and to distinguish them from the local Blakely’s Red gums.
Young blue gums in the nature reserve and their mature parent trees (in the background) growing on the other site of the fence in Valour Park (Canberra Nature Map).
