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.

Another reason we have so many introduced flowering weeds is that there is many patches of overgrown country along the Severn River which flows through the Granite Belt, plus all the gully tributaries. I was delighted when we arrived on the Granite Belt 18 years ago to discover so many ornamental garden plants growing wild along our frontage to the Severn River.

I promptly headed out with a mattock to dig up rooted portions of a beautiful little pink rambling rose.

Wild rambling rose

I planted a whole edging of these roses, but within a few years I had dug out all but one of these plants, as they quickly became a thorny nuisance. Also, they only flower for a short time and are then prone to mildew on the foliage. Like all roses they produce rose hips which are eaten by the birds. Once established along the river or amongst the hills of the Granite Belt these roses spread to become a tangled heap of briers.

Wild blackberries

A similar thorny pest are the fruiting blackberries. We immediately poisoned all the blackberry clumps on our land as they provide covers for the burrows of wild rabbits, also prolific in this district. Yet each year I must be vigilant as I will always find more thorny seedlings.

From the river I brought back to our garden another wild flowering weed – the sweet smelling  Japanese honeysuckle.

This is an extremely vigorous, twining vine. Introduced from Eastern Asia and Japan as an ornamental species, its invasive tendencies lead to widespread infestation of forest edges and disturbed sites. It grows as a thick ground cover or a dense shroud over supporting structure, including other plants. The fruits produced are attractive to many birds.

Japanese Honeysuckle

I planted several of these rooted pieces along a southern veranda to green my winter view from our kitchen. It thrived and the perfume each year gives me great pleasure. However it must be cut back regularly as its long branching tendrils would soon spread over a much greater area.

Another wild plant appeared as three seedlings in my garden, which I recognised in their infancy as the Virginia Creeper. It is a North American climber called Parthenocissus tricuspidata.

Virginia Creeper

It is a vigorous climber with glossy green foliage in the summer months and scarlet leaves in the autumn. I transplanted these volunteer seedlings to an eastern veranda where they have thrived. They have insignificant greenish yellow flowers, followed by bunches of blue black berries resembling tiny grapes.  The vines look spectacular at the moment but will quickly drop their leaves after the frosts arrive.

Autumn foliage

When the stems of the plant are pulled off a wall or fence, the sucker discs remain. They permanently mark the surface and look ugly. The plant is vigorous and must be kept under control. It is especially important not to let it climb up under the eaves of houses. I cut mine back before these photos were taken as they had reached the roof guttering. Pruning is not necessary except to control size. Although my plants grew from seed left by birds, plants can be grown from semi-hardwood cuttings in summer and autumn, or hardwood cuttings in winter.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

One of the things I did when writing Wildflowers, wilderness and wine was give details of name and planting requirements of the plants mentioned. To read more about this book about a year of our lives on the Granite Belt go to http://www.australia-book.com.au

If you enjoy my non-fiction writing style you can follow me on http://fayhelwigauthor.com as I reveal the story of Eberhard’s youth as he told it to me while we were holidaying in Germany.