Working Bee – 02.03.2025

Weather forecast was for a warm one so an earlier start to usual was the smart move. Apart from the heat, it was a perfect day to get some bush regeneration done.

I was strolling to the planned location when I walked past this section I had cleared previously at the big ol’ sandpaper fig.

‘Cleared’ area just above the ol’ sandpaper fig

What clearing right? Latana was already diving for that empty space. Natives were still doing well but it was clear they would be in battle soon. So slight detour, maintenance was in order.

Maintenance finished

I pushed back against the upper wall of lantana and cleared more privet at the entrance. There are small birds that use the lantana for nesting near this location so I could not push too far.

There was multiple poison peach and sandpaper saplings at this location so I feel it has been worth the effort so far.

After this short detour, I kept onto with the original plan of extending the clearing of invasives at the recent planting site.

As far as how the new plants are going… just great. I think it is 100% survival rate at present.

The only concern is the amount of invasive plants that have also popped up. Hence the benefits of surrounding the plantings with mulch but at this location, trying to get mulch into place would be a mammoth job.

I spent another few hours at this location and made good progress. I had brought the weed puller down to handle the larger privet that could still be pulled out. It really paid off. I think this photo shows the idea. There was also Cassia, Lantana, Ochna, Camphor laurel which had to come out.

Some of the trees remove via the weed puller
Another chunk of bush cleared of invasives

I was happy with the results.  There is about half a dozen poison peach trees of varying maturity in this section. Apart from the other usual suspects, I also noticed some white cedar here. It seems to be all paying off. Just need to put a stop to that regrowth around the new plants.

I expect next week to be more of the same…

 

 

 

 

Working Bee – 08.12.2024

Another productive working bee today. I was originally thinking of removing the lantana in  a linear fashion but I noticed the bower bird fly off when I arrived at the site so I decided to keep a distance from it’s bower (the structure on the ground). Strangely, it was a female that flew off while I would of expected it to be a male considering it has no notable decorations around the bower. After googling, I have now discovered that the bower birds bower is not a  nest like I thought it was. Shows how much I know!

I had barely started when I noticed this tree poking out from the lantana along the creek:

A Bolwarra tree (Eupomatia Laurina) I believe…

A good place to start. If I see a native being crowded out, it makes sense to free it up. Upon clearing the lantana away from this Bolwarra tree I found multiple other natives in the same spot. It’s hard to spot but the after photo shows bleeding hearts and sandpaper figs amongst others…

Bolwarra tree without lantana draped over it.

Unfortunately, the privet behind the Bolwarra tree was too big to deal with today. Those have been put on the to-do list.

With that done, I returned my attention to the edge of the clearing we made last week. It was not like I expected it. There was numerous natives hidden underneath the lantana. It was great to see but it did make progress a fair bit slower. Amongst the usual natives of bleeding heart and sandpaper figs was some poison peach, lilly pilly and also what I believe is murrogun, even though I have never had it definitely identified. It is well worth removing the lantana but it also makes it clear that this area needs more attention fairly urgently to ensure the natives survive.

Results from my efforts:

Lantana free

It doesn’t look like much but the rafts of lantana show I was doing something…

There is a lot more to do. I believe I will be doing similar work for at least a month or so…

Poison peach tree (Trema tomentosa) vs Lantana (Lantana camara)

While trekking through the bush in Dudley, Lake Macquarie, I noticed a young poison peach tree (Trema tomentosa) near some lantana (Lantana camara). I took advantage of the situation by comparing the two for future reference.

Leaf wise, they are quite alike but with poison peach leaves being more elongated. They main notable difference when they are growing upright from the ground (not that common for lantana) is the leaf arrangement. Opposite for lantana and alternate for poison peach.