MoM and Chronicle THANKS!

Mother-of-Millions Muster

Our sincere thanks to all those who walked through Gurranba Reserve during May and took the trouble to toss a stem or two of this persistent, noxious weed into "the coffin".

Removing Mother-of-millions has been one of our greatest challenges over the years. You have made a real difference. We may not know your name, but we know you care.

A big THANK YOU from your Coal Point Landcare team!
(P.S. May is now over and the container will disappear for a few months)

Expanding the Chronicle distribution

Once again thank you to the locals who have been chipping in to continue the expanded distribution of the Chronicle into Kilaben Bay and parts of Toronto. At $116.61 per edition, the $648.54 received has kept the local news in our community’s letterboxes this year.

The hope was that there would be an increase in membership to either the CPPA or TASNG to support the expanded distribution, and there’s still time.

You can drop by the Progress Hall on Sunday 26 June between 11am and 2pm to join up, peruse some local art, have a cuppa and a chat and if you’re really keen hang around for the AGM at 2pm.

The option to donate online is still available .

Landcare Longings

National Tree Day was Tree-mendous

On the last Saturday before lockdown (31/7/21) 23 locals, visitors and Mayor Kay Fraser, spent a glorious morning planting for National Tree Day and the sharing BBQ lunch on the grass at Gurranba Reserve.

The month-long preparations to get the 2m strip bordering the path relatively weed free meant the 200 Lomandras and Dianellas could be planted and watered with a tender touch. The aim of this planting was to provide a protective edge to the unique foreshore vegetation, to hopefully stop the encroachment of the exotic grasses into the native vegetation and reduce the need for mowing.

It was a very happy day for one and all thanks to the wonderful organisation and collaboration between CPPA and TASNG as we celebrated Our Tree City status and wallowed in the spectacular outlook from Gurranba in the company of like-minded mortals.

(Lois sharing her landcaring wisdom with the Tree Day crew)

Beating about the Bush- Lois Simpson

Has Australia ever been so physically fit!?! So many people out and about walking!

And then you realise just how lucky we are, living in our bushland suburb, where, even unconsciously, our souls are soothed, our well-being is enhanced and we are armed to return to our more isolated existences.

Take opportunities to move slowly through the bush in our reserves. Nearby, a couple of grey butcherbirds are nesting (photo John Sharples). Their song begins early and finishes at sunset. How can you not admire their musical talents? Next, a flash of emerald as a king parrot swoops by. For them, habitat hollow real estate is at a premium.

Did you know that 75% of Australian birds need hollows to nest in...and that trees take decades, or even centuries to form those hollows? Every tree is precious, even a dead one, for our feathered friends and meandering marsupials.

After fire, flood and drought, nature has given us its best this spring. The vegetation is lush and alive as each species takes its turn to parade its colours - and when the vegetation is healthy, it underpins the health of the whole web of life.

Now is the time to breathe in the bush, to listen to its music and to admire its display. Covid has wreaked havoc, and yet has provided us with this one good chance.

Mother-of-millions on the March

Whilst the community effort at Gurranba has greatly reduced the number of Mother-of-millions, this prolific spreader is increasing in abundance outside of reserves, along the verges and footpaths in our community.

It has been growing prolifically over this last year because of the rain but can thrive in the harshest of environments. It is a constant battle, as every tiny branchlet will grow into a new plant...and the little branchlets will fall to the ground unnoticed and colonise immediately. It is spreading from yards and roadsides faster than we can spread the word, but fight on we must, as this poisonous plant has no known enemies in our country.

It is high on the government weed list and it is illegal to sell it in many parts of Australia.If you clean some up from your yard or verge, please bag it and place in your landfill bin. Every little bit helps...and our city's natural places will be ever so grateful, along with the landcaring locals who spend many an hour mindfully removing Mother-of-millions so that our local plants can continue to thrive.

Photo by John Sharples with landcarer Rod and a mega Mother-of-millions, (Bryophyllum delagoense) 

Hansard Hero from 8th June 2021

Recognition of a community champion went into Hansards earlier this year. Whilst Lois' (left in above pic) kept it quiet, CPPA and TASNG felt a bit of local recognition was merited.

From Hansards

Mr GREG PIPER (Lake Macquarie)—Lois Simpson from Toronto has worked tirelessly to protect flora and fauna throughout Lake Macquarie for more than two decades. She has volunteered with numerous environmental projects and organisations over that time, and her dedication to bush regeneration has been relentless.

Lois says she always feels comfortable in the bush and has long recognised that looking after our bushland is not about aesthetics but about maintaining a stable web of life.

As Lake Macquarie Landcare Volunteer Network's deputy chairperson, she worked hard to make sure Landcare continued to operate during COVID-19 and personally replanted much of Toronto Lions Park.

She is passionate about educating the next generation on delicate ecosystems and has worked with Fire and Rescue NSW to build a model fire retardant garden at their Toronto station.

Lois has also been involved with the Coal Point Endangered Species Project where she worked to save valuable habitat. She is also secretary of Toronto Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group, a member of Toronto Lions Auxiliary and spent nearly 20 years volunteering with Toronto Scouts as a cub leader.

I congratulate Lois and thank her for all she has done for our local community.

Beyond Our Backyard

Early August was Landcare Week and our local team celebrated with the completion of a little video, Beyond Our Backyard. It highlights our landcaring efforts, showcases the wrap technique for treating large quantities of weeds and celebrates our local bushland. The video was created by Suzanne Pritchard on behalf of the CPPA as part of a Digital Storytelling course sponsored by the Sustainable Neighbourhood Alliance.

What we’ve been weeding

Landcarers spend a lot of time weeding because that releases the natives from the

grip of super tough, vigorously growing, abundantly seedy weeds that can easily gain an upper hand and outcompete the locals for light and water.

We have a list of over 100 common weeds that we deal with in our local reserves. They flower and seed at different times of the year and each have a particular extraction technique.

The weeds we’ve been dealing with lately include; 

Mother of Millions aka Bryophyllum delagoens - removed by carefully plucking them out of their camouflaging hidey-holes and bagging them up for a trip to the tip.

Thunbergia alata

Black-eye Susan aka Thunbergia alata,not the threatened species but the orange petalled-black centred weed with dainty fragile stems that need to be traced back to the ground and carefully dug out by the roots.

We’re constantly dealing with exotic grasses that escape from under the fence of neighbours, or are brought in on equipment and vehicles of maintenance crews. Buffalo grass gets chipped out with a mini mattock, Guinea grass can be chipped out or cut with a gyprock knife in a circular sweep around the roots.

Turkey rhubarb tuber...mmmm

Another favourite that puts some variety in our landcare session is Turkey Rhubarb-Acetosa sagittata. This rambling, arrow-leaved, vigorous vine smothers anything in its path, produces a mass of wind borne seeds and grows an amazing chain of underground tubers, which provide quite a bit of enjoyment whilst digging them out.

Magical MoM Moments

Landcaring resumed on 4th June with social distancing and enthusiasm. The moist soil is providing great upper body workout as we enthusiastically release the natives that have been getting overrun.

We’ve been welcoming new members to the landcare team, saying farewell to others and enjoying the company of all.

Whilst Landcare hours for January-March were an impressive 399, the April-June tally was 150, and it doesn’t take long turn the weedy tide though.

A current project at Gurranba Reserve is reducing the Mother of Millions (MoM) motherlode. The Lake Mac Landcare Resource Centre has provided our group with a tip pass to deal with this non-compostable camouflaging conqueror. Last week on a beautiful

Thursday morning the landcare crew bagged up 180kg of MoM.The slow paced methodical removal was mentally soothing, the sheltered lakeside location allowing the warming sun to work its mood enhancing magic, making the morning a blissful experience. When we thought it couldn’t get any better ‘The Goods’ morning tea, sponsored by Matt Cook of Excelsior Plumbing, made for a memorable and magical session.

Anyone can get a taste of the MoM magic moments, all you need is a bag and a few spare minutes to collect the leggy succulent. Tied-off bags can be left near the black plastic on the Gurranba headland as we’ll be making another trip to the tip while we still have the pass. Please only MoMs in the bag.

Thank you to John Sharples for capturing the camouflaging capacity of this worrying weed.

Mother of Millions…more like mother of all nightmares!

By Lois Simpson - Chair Lake Mac Landcare Volunteer's Network

It seems like this devil can sniff out bushland, lake’s edge or road-side verge a mile away. The pinkish-brown to grey mottled stems can be over 60cm high, successfully camouflaged amongst other plants, or, in winter and spring, hailing their presence with tubular, bell-shaped, red to orange flower heads. Look out especially for the sneaky little young ones, hidden and un-noticed, but proliferating like crazy, to surprise us one day as a mini-forest.

It has every survival strategy mastered. Readily spread by plant fragments and seed, even the tiniest piece will take root. Its succulent nature allows it to adapt to prolonged dry conditions and it is unperturbed in saline ground. So it is no surprise that it so rapidly and successfully invades bushland and disturbed sites. It is also highly toxic to stock and poisonous to humans and household pets.

Preventing the spread of mother of millions is the best control measure. Learn to identify mother of millions and regularly check for it in winter when the plants are in flower and are easier to see. If found, remove immediately using a combination of control methods including hand removal, herbicide application and rehabilitation. Herbicides meet with mixed success only.

For small infestations, mother of millions is best removed by pulling up individual plants by hand. Once the plants have been removed they should be stored in black plastic bags until completely decayed, placed in your red bin or buried. Care needs to be taken when using this method of control as plantlets may detach from the leaves during removal and establish as new plants. Regrowth will therefore occur and follow-up treatment is a must.

Once removal of the infestation is complete the infested area should be revegetated with more desirable plants to provide competition to future mother of millions seedlings and plantlets.

For more information on bushland gardening check out the Bonza Bushland Gardening Guide.

Meaningful mounds emerging

Local Landcarers have been rounding up weed menaces, making mounds of Mothers of Millions (MoM) and turning fields of Fishbone Fern into hummocks of would be humus.

Gurranba Reserve has the mother of a patch of MoM (Bryophyllum delagoense).This pesky persistent succulent is coming into bright red flower now and is an easy to pull out plant. If you visit Gurranba Reserve with your canine companion (it’s leash free) you could easily fill a bag of MoMs whilst Fido frolics. It’s a great kids pull-out-plant too because it has camouflage capability. Just when you think you’ve got them all, there’s always another one lurking in the shrubbery, a great holiday Treasure Hunt activity. If you want to add some MoMs to the pile at the park the landcare group will happily keep an eye on them.

The West Ridge Reserve, just up the hill from the School, is another spot Landcarers have been making efforts removing Fishbone Fern. This garden escape has a tendency to run rampant and the amount of fishbone fern plant material is formidable. It is being kept contained on site and will be watched.

Fishbone Fern is a native of Queensland and does well in its state of origin, we have some local supporters that could well give it the heave-ho if given the chance such as Rasp Fern (Doodia aspera) and Maidenhair fern (Adiantum hispidulum.

Would you like to know what local plants are in the area? The updated flora list from the 2017 Flora surveys is now available
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What weed is that?

The Pick Up and Pull it out weed of the Month is Mother of Millions, Bryophyllum delagoense. This easily spread, raging red weed is a huge problem on many of our foreshore reserves and around the roadside. It can be viewed in all its glory at Gurranba and Ambrose Street reserves.
 
It likes full sun and infertile soils, almost rock, and it described as a succulent (fleshy leaves), erect herb up to 1m high. It has salmon/scarlet/orange tubular flowers at the end of the stem. It produces many seeds, some say millions, and can also grow from any bits of the plant that are broken off.
 
If you ever feel the urge to add some bending and stretching to your morning walk , bagging up some Mother of Millions is an easy and extremely satisfying endeavor. Any part of the plant can resprout so getting it all out is tricky, seed heads are always a good target to prevent more seeds spreading.