If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

GOOD TREES – BAD TREES/ 3

When we purchased this farm in 1992 the small cottage that was to become our home and which was later extended to provide guest accommodation had no garden but was surrounded by native Eucalyptus, wattle and T-trees.  The house had been constructed in the midst of a clump of Eucalyptus trees. We brought in a bulldozer to clear ground for our guest wing and at the same time thinned the trees on our northern side to allow in more winter sunlight and the establishment of gardens. We allowed the tall Eucalyptus trees at the front of our house (the eastern side) to remain. I insisted on the total removal of all the trees on our western side because I knew that Granite Belt storms came from the west and I saw those trees as a possible threat to our home. Sure enough the first vicious storm we had came from that direction in 1994 and threw the roof of our cold room onto the roof of our house. Plus it belted us with hail. But no, no tree came crashing onto our roof.

Next, in 2001 a small tornado approached from the west but once more our house suffered no damage although five large Eucalyptus trees in our front garden were broken and tossed across our front fence and car shed, damaging both. Fortunately our car was not at home as I had taken two WWOOF girls on an outing. Only Eberhard witnessed the devastation as it happened.  I addition to destroying five Eucalyptus trees in our front garden that storm smashed five similar trees  outside our front garden.  This tornado came like a bouncing ball, destroying those ten trees and then bouncing off to tear a roof from a shed near Glen Aplin. The damage to our garden was immense and I had to establish another garden, minus the advantage of shade trees. My friends tried to offer me consolation for the loss of my beautiful garden, saying, “See it as a challenge.”  I needed time to grieve for my loss.

Patches on a tree trunk

By 2005 it was only tree trunks like the one above that revealed where once  shady trees had sheltered our front garden. By 2010 these stumps have been totally covered by green vines or hidden by spreading conifers and no one now visiting our garden is aware of the damage it experienced. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Beautiful Garden, Bouncing Ball, Bulldozer, Clump, Cold Room, Conifers, Consolation, Devastation, Eucalyptus Trees, Glen Aplin, granite belt, Growing Trees, Guest Accommodation, Hail, Indigenous Trees, Midst, Northern Hemisphere, Pine Trees, Shade Trees, Shady Trees, Storms, Stumps, Tornado, Tree Trunk, Tree Trunks, Vicious Storm, Vines, Wattle, Winter Sunlight, WWOOF

GOOD TREES – BAD TREES? 2

Weeping Willow - Stanthorpe

It is winter now on the Granite Belt and most of the Weeping Willows have dropped their leaves.

This is a tree much favoured around the world for its lush green foliage. It is frequently planted in parks. But, in Australia it is  classified in some areas as a noxious weed.  Read what I have say about these trees and please add your comments.

The Willow tree originated in China and spread via the Silk Road to Egypt and through Europe to reach England.

The Weeping Willow is a beautiful tree to use for large yards and has a number of interesting aspects. You might be surprised to learn it is a medicinal tree as well.

The Weeping Willow tree is a member of a family of trees and scrubs that contains over three hundred and fifty different varieties. The varieties of willows have many widely different characteristics, but they are all remarkably alike in many ways. Most of them occur in moist soil in cooler climates and mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. Willows are remarkably fertile trees and easily cross fertilize between species. These occur naturally or as the result of deliberate cultivation. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Australia, China, Climates, Egypt, Europe, Family Trees, Favoured, Foliage, Google, granite belt, Innerhtml, Leaves, Moist Soil, Northern Hemisphere, Noxious Weed, Scrubs, Silk Road, stanthorpe, trees, Weeping Willow, Weeping Willow Tree, Weeping Willows, wildflowers

GOOD TREES – BAD TREES? 1

To some people any tree is a good tree. They know that trees take carbon dioxide from the air and return fresh oxygen. For this reason they call trees the ‘lungs of the world’. They know that through evaporation trees add moisture to the air, which in turn leads to rainfall. Trees also green our view.

In years gone by the forester of Europe was a highly regarded man for it was his duty to ensure that forests were replanted and managed in such a way that there would always be a supply of timber and firewood. However, in Australia in the past twenty years the Forestry departments appear to have lost out following a propaganda campaign instigated by urban people who believe that no tree should be culled. State governments have created more forests and National Parks, but not provided more money for the management of these areas, thus allowing weeds and feral animals to flourish. State governments have created new laws pertaining to land clearing and under such acts as the Remnant Vegetation Act stopped people like Eberhard and me from management of land that we had purchased in 1992. Although we own our land and pay rates on the whole area, we must now be unpaid caretakers of this portion of our property. Many other country people were similarly affected and none of us were ever offered any compensation for this land grab.

This map shows our property, but two thirds of it is shaded. That two thirds supposedly represents remnant vegetation. We can not remove any trees from this area which means we can not use it for agricultural purposes. We put our 14 hectare property up for sale last year and held a widely advertised auction sale in October, but received no bids.

Why? Probably because this land is no longer available for agricultural purposes.

But what are these wonderful trees that must be preserved? Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Agricultural Purposes, Auction Sale, Carbon Dioxide, Caretakers, Eberhard, Eucalyptus Trees, Evaporation, Feral Animals, Forester, Forestry Departments, granite belt, Hectare Property, Lungs, National Parks, New Laws, Propaganda Campaign, Propaganda War, Rainfall, Remnant Vegetation, Salination, Soils, State Governments, Weeds

GARDEN FAVOURITES

It appears to me that there are a number of reasons why so many garden favourites have become flowering weeds of the Granite Belt. One of these reasons is that we have so many fruit eating birds. These are the birds of the rainforest of the Great Dividing Range like the Satin bower bird. These birds build their bowers for courtship and next in the rainforests to rear their young, but they overwinter in the gardens of the Granite Belt. Every year flocks of these birds arrive in my garden in March and will not depart until September or October.

Bower of the male satin bower bird

I photographed the bower with blue treasures near the main picnic area at Girraween National Park.

The adult male has striking glossy blue-black plumage, a pale bluish white bill and a violet-blue iris. Younger males and females are similar in colour to each other, and are collectively referred to as ‘green’ birds. They are olive-green above, off-white with dark scalloping below and have brown wings and tail. The bill is browner in colour. Young males may begin to acquire their adult plumage in their fifth year and are not fully ‘attired’ until they are seven.

Male Satin bower bird

When these birds arrive in my garden they quickly eat any remaining fruit on fig and persimmon trees. During the winter they feast on the red berries of the cotoneaster shrub which means I then have seedling weeds of the cotoneaster appearing elsewhere in my garden, but I haven’t yet seen the cotoneaster become a district weed on the Granite Belt. I have seen the cotoneaster spreading along the escarpment of the Great Dividing Range at Toowoomba, where no doubt the birds spread the seeds from the gardens to the forest range. The nurseries of Australia no longer sell cotoneaster plants. These birds and other fruit eating birds also eat any other form of berry fruit. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Adult Male, Adult Plumage, Birds Of The Rainforest, Bower Bird, Brown Wings, Cotoneaster Plants, Cotoneaster Shrub, Courtship, Escarpment, Flocks, Forest Range, girraween national Park, granite belt, Great Dividing Range, Males And Females, No Doubt, Persimmon Trees, Picnic Area, Rainforests, Red Berries, Toowoomba, Violet Blue

RED OR ORANGE BERRIES

Cotoneasters (pronounced co-tony-asters) or Firethorn. These two shrubs are spectacular in cooler climates during the winter months when their bright bunches of red and orange berries catch the eye. These bushes are unnoticed other than as green hedges until the cooler months arrive. Suddenly their berries ripen and bring colour to our winter views here in the cool mountain highlands of the Granite Belt of southern Queensland.

I was unfamiliar with these plants until November 1979 when I visited friends on the east coast of the USA. Al and Martha Lager owned a home at Saratoga in the hills overlooking Silicon Valley south of San Francisco. What an eye-opener that visit was for me as their region was in full flush with deciduous trees showing the glory of autumn colour. Their home was set into a hillside and the whole steep slope at the rear of their home was covered by Pyracantha – the Firethorn plant.

Californian firethorn

I was so impressed by the sight of this colourful, sprawling plant totally covering the hillside that I decided to grow two plants in my then garden at Dalby. The shrubs thrived, but I quickly realized they were thorny monsters unsuitable for a home where children might hit a cricket ball under their foliage. I dug them out!

In 1987 when Eberhard and I were living in Toowoomba and he was manager of the Club Restaurant at the University of Southern Queensland, we often went walking on the outskirts of the city and again I discovered some beautiful specimens of Pyracantha. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Arthur Chapman, Asters, Autumn Colour, Bunches, Cool Mountain, Cricket Ball, Deciduous Trees, England Tableland, Eye Opener, Firethorn Plant, granite belt, Green Hedges, High Plateau, Mountain Highlands, New South Wales, Red Berries, Silicon Valley, Steep Slope, Toowoomba, University Of Southern Queensland, Winter Views

INTRODUCED GRASSES

These grasses are hardly wildflowers but I found them in the booklet Wildflowers of the Granite Belt under the section of introduced weeds.

Wildflowers of the Granite Belt

When you look at a photograph like this, what do you see?

Storm brewing on the Granite Belt

Do you see a storm brewing?

Do you see a restless horse pacing the fence?

Do you see the thick blanket of eucalyptus trees on the hills.

Do you see the grass and recognise the variety?

Or do you just see a tranquil country view?

I can look at a view like this and see many things. In particular I see that there are no cattle grazing on this green grass and I ask myself the question, “Why?Why do people grow grass if not to feed it to grazing animals. Is it possible that this particular grass is a variety that animals will not eat?”

Did you ever think that grazing animals my be choosy about what grasses they are willing to eat? Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Aggressive Invader, Capetown, Contaminant, East Africa, Eucalyptus Trees, Genetic Variability, granite belt, Grasses, Grazing Animals, Green Grass, Herd Of Cattle, Horse Fence, Management Practices, Palatability, Pasture Seed, Soils, South East Queensland, Storm Brewing, Thick Blanket, Tranquil Country, Weeds, Weeping Lovegrass

WEED SHRUBS WITH BERRY SEEDS

During these autumn and winter months many of the introduced shrubs growing wild along the banks of the Severn River provide berries now for Australian birds who have multiplied largely due to the weedy nature of these shrubs. Birds like the Satin Bower birds now have a winter source of food.

May view of the Severn River

It is only possible for me to access the river bank at this one place where we cleared the rubbish many years ago to allow family, guests and friends to go fishing. Now farmers are prevented from clearing trees on their river frontages by the Queensland Native Vegetation Act. What this means is that plants like blackberries, Willow trees, honeysuckle, brier roses and and Privets now flourish in these regions providing cover for wild pigs, foxes and rabbits. No one manages these areas to prevent their degradation. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Australian Birds, Autumn And Winter, Boundary Fence, Bower Birds, Bushy Shrub, Family Guests, Garden Shrubs, granite belt, Hardy Weeds, Heady Fragrance, Native Vegetation Act, Privet, River Frontage, severn river, Southern Boundary, stanthorpe, What This Means, White Flowers, Wild Pigs, Willow Trees

COREOPSIS – WEED OR WILDFLOWER?

Golden Coreopsis

It was largely due to the spread of this perennial plant, a native of the prairie grasslands of the USA, that farmers feared the introduction of the Flanders poppy into the Granite Belt district and opposed my proposal for a Memorial Drive linking Amiens, Messines, Bapaume, Passchendaele, Bullecourt, Pozieres and Fleurbaix where people along this route could grow the poppies to bloom for 11th November.

The farmers said, “We have enough flowering weeds in this district!” They pressured the Stanthorpe Shire Council  to veto my proposal. I took the heat out of the issue by establishing a field of Flanders poppies on our land as a Remembrance Field to prove that the poppies were unlikely to spread in the same manner as the Coreopsis.

I knew that the Eastern Rosella parrots ate the seed of these flowers and then via their droppings, spread that seed across the district. I knew that the Coreopsis was a perennial plant of the prairie grasslands of the USA and was therefore adapted to grow in grass country.

Farmers can easily cultivate out Coreopsis seedlings from any agricultural field, but the Coreopsis is a perennial plant that has adapted to grassland. Therefore the roots will remain alive after the leaves have been eaten by livestock or burned during annual burning of grassland. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Agricultural Field, Blue Skies, Blue Sky, Bush Fire Brigade, coreopsis, Dry Grassland, Early September, Eastern Rosella, Flanders Poppies, flanders poppy, granite belt, Grass Country, Green Grass, Messines, Perennial Plant, Prairie Grasslands, Rosella Parrots, Seedlings, Spring Storms, Stanthorpe Shire Council, Weeds

ALL ABOARD!!

Eberhard and I purchased our property at Glen Aplin in the cool mountain district of southern Queensland known as the Granite Belt in 1992. At the time we established Das Helwig Haus B&B there were only 12 accommodation providers and 12 wineries. Now there are more than 60 wineries and hundreds of accommodation houses – B&Bs, motels, cottages, chalets and cabins. The latest addition to our competition takes the form of the Harrington Glen Rattler, a distinctive, refurbished 75ft Melbourne Train Carriage.

In my book- Wildflowers, wilderness and wine – I recount the arrival in the district of Harry and Glen Ireland and their establishment of the Harrington Glen Wines amongst the vineyards of the Glen Aplin valley.

Glen Aplin valley vineyards

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: autumn, cool mountain district, Das Helwig Haus B&B, Glen Aplin, Harrington Glen Wines, Queensland, the granite belt, vineyards, Wildflowers wilderness and wine

OCTOBERFEST in the SPRING

During the past 10 days I have had the help of two young Korean men and more recently a young German woman as Wwoofers – Willing Workers on my Organic Farm. The men have worked industriously to weed and thin the Flanders poppies in the Remembrance Field while Anika has assisted me in the household vegetable garden.

Anika with the first Flanders Poppy to bloom in 2008

I must have both the Remembrance Field and the garden ready for presentation by 19th October when I have about 150 visitors expected to view these attractions.

Korean wwoofer Joe

After the coldest August for 17 years we are now having a warm spring with the bees buzzing in the lavender bushes lining our paths. Potatoes are sprouting from the warm earth, sweet corn shoots have appeared, climbing beans are developing leaves and all the other seeds of lettuce, beets, carrots, radish, cucumbers, melons and pumpkins have germinated and are breaking through the surface of my friable soil.

Did you know that stinging nettles are a herb used in Europe as a strong tonic at the end of winter when made into a fresh tea by infusing the leaves in hot water? They are one of the first weeds to grow vigorously in my garden with the onset of warmer weather.

Before Anika could begin picking the peas this morning we had firstly to pull out all the stinging nettles growing amongst them. I explained to her that their growth was a compliment to the quality of my soil, as they thrive in fertile soil and are frequently introduced into gardens by the use of animal manures.

Anika picking peas

Spring is a busy time for everyone here on the Granite Belt as the wineries are holding a spring festival named Primavera throughout the spring months. Amongst the functions to be held this weekend is the Octoberfest at Thunderbolt Farm. Keith and Claudia Beverley have Thunderbolt Farm listed as a host property in The Australian Wwoof Book, and like me rely heavily on wwoofers to assist them during their busy seasons. What good fortune for them this year that they too have two German wwoofers, David and Sonya, presently with them. Now, Anika has been invited to join the festivities at Thunderbolt Farm this weekend.

Octoberfest at Thunderbolt Farm

For a German style Bed Breakfast this weekend, book your room now at Das Helwig Haus B&B by emailing helwig@halenet.com.au or phoning Fay on 07-4683 4227