White Cedar – Dick's Creek Bush Regeneration

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.

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 – 17.11.2024

I was in the mood to tackle some lantana today but as always, priorities changed. As I walked past ‘site A’ I was disturbed by the density of privet. Lantana contributes but it is the privet that has taken hold at this location. I had previously cleared this area and for this reason, there is numerous young natives popping up. Sandpaper fig, bleeding heart, pittosporum and others are there but their life is hard when they are amongst this:

So I started removing the privet with the weed puller which I had luckily brought with me. While the privet is a big problem, I found it easier to deal with than in the past because most of it was still young and had not fully established itself. Another twelve months and it will be notably harder, I believe.

This is the first patch I cleared:

After lunch I moved along the track and tackled any privet I noticed. I finally got to the bank on the south side of Second fall… it was mostly just small privet.

Most of the privet gone but there is still a large privet tree which requires some climbing to get to

Past ‘Site A’, I found some natives amongst the fishbone fern so it was worth while to deal with that directly.

Young elderberry panax and pittosporum now free from fishbone fern

I decided it would be more efficient to move downhill and clear the privet from underneath. However, I found the ol’ fallen sandpaper fig to still be being harassed by privet and lantana so I spent the rest of the day at that spot. There is three or four poison peach trees in that location as well so I did my best to help those out.