The latest news seems to be that clearing of trees from the Highway is to start on Monday, despite the best efforts of the SAVE group, which sought to have at least some of them retained.
This group is one which has to earn our respect. Far from being the somewhat imaginary idiot-type “greenies” that some of the froth-at-the-mouth anti-environment types have accused them of being, they have been trying to achieve a compromise which would give greatly increased road safety without losing quite such a shocking and unnecessary number of old-growth roadside trees.
REAL greenies, of course, like to be safe on the roads just like everyone else!
The SAVE group includes some intelligent and rational "greenies", as well as people who have been working very hard for the economy of their local district by developing its tourist potential.
Their suggestions, which have all been ignored by our minister for transport, included:
* seal the road shoulders
* remove the overhanging dead branches and commit to a rigorous ongoing maintenance program, undertaken by qualified arborists
* install wire rope barriers, or other forms of guard rail where necessary (something CONSPICUOUSLY lacking from some very dangerous sections of the new piece of highway between Hampton and Crows Nest. That appalling road has been subjected to recent road “improvements”, designed by the people who have also designed the Hampton “upgrade”)
* add audible line marking
* improve reflectors on each side of the road
* upgrade the Geham Dump turnoff (including a textural surface at dump entry to remove mud from vehicle tyres)
* upgrade the Merritts Creek Road / Aberdeen Rd intersection
* reduce the speed limit (to 70 km/hr through Hampton village and 80 km/hr for the remainder, which would add less than 90 seconds drive-time.)
* install wildlife signage
* totally re-design the Hampton village upgrade, especially the Esk-Hampton Rd intersection - the present scheme will turn Hampton into nothing more than a cross-road and eradicate its village character
* find an alternative location (i.e. where there are no existing trees) to locate the truck inspection zones
And I’m sure you’ll agree that the last point, where the government is insisting on clearing extra trees to create a truck inspection zone just there, when there are plenty of already-cleared sections on other portions of that particular highway where the facility could be built, does demonstrate that no serious attention was ever really given to the concerns of this particular group of voters.
It even looks rather as though our government is thumbing its nose at them, doesn't it?
Those who’d like to know more could look at SAVE’s website - http://cathedraldrive.wordpress.com/take-action/
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The Vets’ Grasstree
Xanthorrhoea glauca (Xanthorrhoea australis)
Family: XANTHORRHOEACEAE
This lovely tree is one of the glories of Toowoomba, particularly in September when it attracts birds and a throbbing mob of insects with this incredible display of flowers.
You can see it on the corner of West and Herries Streets, opposite Laurel Bank Park.
I was delighted to have been able to hear the true story of the planting of this tree in 2011, from the man who planted it, Mr Ray Lamb.
The house, which is now a veterinary surgery,
was built in 1924 by Herbert William (Bert) Lamb. Bert was a prominent Toowoomba businessman, and he and his wife Muriel had a strong interest in natural history. His son Ray was born there in 1926.
Ray found the grasstree during a visit home to his parents' house, very soon after the second world war. It originally grew near the beginning of the walking track to Tabletop. In those days the track would have started near the top of the Range, at the end of South Street. The grasstree was then only quite small. (Mr Lamb estimates that it was about 18 inches high.)
He dug it up and transplanted it into an old asparagus bed near the back gate of the house. The soil was extremely well prepared. His father had dug a hole about 3 feet square and 3 feet deep, and filled it with soil enriched with a large quantity of manure.
The plant obviously thrived in its new home, giving the lie to all those tales of grasstrees being extremely slow-growing. These tales are apparently based on measurements of the growth of an Australian grasstree taken back to Britain, and planted in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden - hardly the optimum environment for this largely sub-tropical species!
The plants were once common on the blacksoil of the Darling Downs. Ludwig Leichhardt commented on them, in the Journal he wrote in 1844. He found them remarkable as they grew on rich, heavy, clay soil, whereas most of Australia’s grasstrees (including other X. glauca subspecies) will only grow very well-drained hillsides where the soil is rather infertile. The trees he saw were growing out on the plains, often near creeks. There are still a very few of these original trees left, but as the flat land where they grew is also some of our richest agricultural land, most of them have gone to clearing.
The tree does also grow on our red and black basalt soil slopes, but it is worth knowing that this species is a hardy, drought and frost tolerant species which will happily grow on in the heavy black soil of our plains, tolerating occasional severe flooding.
The story of the planting in a heavily manured pit reinforces the fact that this grasstree subspecies responds well to rich soil and will tolerate poor drainage. I suspect the treatment would be just the way to kill most kinds of Xanthorrhoea!
Grasstrees are more closely related to lilies than to “proper” trees, and share the lily tendency to have the leaves and flowers all coming from a central point. They can take up to ten years to begin to develop a trunk, sitting on the ground like a giant pom-pom meanwhile. Even at this stage, they are ornamental in gardens, their elegant leaves stirring gently with every breeze. This movement is a significant part of their beauty.
As the trees gets older they a dry “grass skirt”, and people have varying opinions as to whether this looks good or not. Some of us think that the blackened stem of burned trees is a more natural and authentic look. In their original environment they would always have been subject to burning every few years.
People who feel they can safely do so might like to burn their trees every so often. There is a rumour that this practice hastens the growth of the trunk, but local experiments haven’t supported the theory. It may, however, promote flowering once the tree is old enough.
It is a pity that nurseries have a tendency to sell grasstrees without stating what species they are.
Our local species can be bought, but you might have to do a bit of work to source the right thing.
Family: XANTHORRHOEACEAE
This lovely tree is one of the glories of Toowoomba, particularly in September when it attracts birds and a throbbing mob of insects with this incredible display of flowers.
You can see it on the corner of West and Herries Streets, opposite Laurel Bank Park.
I was delighted to have been able to hear the true story of the planting of this tree in 2011, from the man who planted it, Mr Ray Lamb.
The house, which is now a veterinary surgery,
was built in 1924 by Herbert William (Bert) Lamb. Bert was a prominent Toowoomba businessman, and he and his wife Muriel had a strong interest in natural history. His son Ray was born there in 1926.
Ray found the grasstree during a visit home to his parents' house, very soon after the second world war. It originally grew near the beginning of the walking track to Tabletop. In those days the track would have started near the top of the Range, at the end of South Street. The grasstree was then only quite small. (Mr Lamb estimates that it was about 18 inches high.)
He dug it up and transplanted it into an old asparagus bed near the back gate of the house. The soil was extremely well prepared. His father had dug a hole about 3 feet square and 3 feet deep, and filled it with soil enriched with a large quantity of manure.
The plant obviously thrived in its new home, giving the lie to all those tales of grasstrees being extremely slow-growing. These tales are apparently based on measurements of the growth of an Australian grasstree taken back to Britain, and planted in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden - hardly the optimum environment for this largely sub-tropical species!
The plants were once common on the blacksoil of the Darling Downs. Ludwig Leichhardt commented on them, in the Journal he wrote in 1844. He found them remarkable as they grew on rich, heavy, clay soil, whereas most of Australia’s grasstrees (including other X. glauca subspecies) will only grow very well-drained hillsides where the soil is rather infertile. The trees he saw were growing out on the plains, often near creeks. There are still a very few of these original trees left, but as the flat land where they grew is also some of our richest agricultural land, most of them have gone to clearing.
The tree does also grow on our red and black basalt soil slopes, but it is worth knowing that this species is a hardy, drought and frost tolerant species which will happily grow on in the heavy black soil of our plains, tolerating occasional severe flooding.
The story of the planting in a heavily manured pit reinforces the fact that this grasstree subspecies responds well to rich soil and will tolerate poor drainage. I suspect the treatment would be just the way to kill most kinds of Xanthorrhoea!
Grasstrees are more closely related to lilies than to “proper” trees, and share the lily tendency to have the leaves and flowers all coming from a central point. They can take up to ten years to begin to develop a trunk, sitting on the ground like a giant pom-pom meanwhile. Even at this stage, they are ornamental in gardens, their elegant leaves stirring gently with every breeze. This movement is a significant part of their beauty.
As the trees gets older they a dry “grass skirt”, and people have varying opinions as to whether this looks good or not. Some of us think that the blackened stem of burned trees is a more natural and authentic look. In their original environment they would always have been subject to burning every few years.
People who feel they can safely do so might like to burn their trees every so often. There is a rumour that this practice hastens the growth of the trunk, but local experiments haven’t supported the theory. It may, however, promote flowering once the tree is old enough.
It is a pity that nurseries have a tendency to sell grasstrees without stating what species they are.
Our local species can be bought, but you might have to do a bit of work to source the right thing.
Australian Dogwood
Jacksonia scoparia
Family: FABACEAE
This elegant little tree is so obviously suitable for suburban gardens that it’s surprising we don’t see more of it, here.
This is about as tall as it grows. As it gets older it fills out a little and gets a sturdier trunk, but always remains a rather slender plant.
It’s very hardy, and highly ornamental in spring when it gets smothered in these fragrant pea-flowers.
The common name is said to come from the highly unattractive smell of the timber, if used as firewood. It is a fire-retardant species, so presumably makes poor firewood anyway!
It is drought and frost hardy, and prefers to grow on hillsides or in well-drained soil. It likes to be pruned after flowering, but doesn’t really need it. You can plant this one, and leave it alone forever.
Family: FABACEAE
This elegant little tree is so obviously suitable for suburban gardens that it’s surprising we don’t see more of it, here.
This is about as tall as it grows. As it gets older it fills out a little and gets a sturdier trunk, but always remains a rather slender plant.
It’s very hardy, and highly ornamental in spring when it gets smothered in these fragrant pea-flowers.
The common name is said to come from the highly unattractive smell of the timber, if used as firewood. It is a fire-retardant species, so presumably makes poor firewood anyway!
It is drought and frost hardy, and prefers to grow on hillsides or in well-drained soil. It likes to be pruned after flowering, but doesn’t really need it. You can plant this one, and leave it alone forever.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Australian Buttercup
Ranunculus lappaceus
Family: RANUNCULACEAE
“Ranunculus” means “tadpole”, and refers to the damp habitat preferred by buttercups generally - so we can be surprised to find our tough little native buttercup growing on a sunny, grassy hillside.
This is its native habitat, however, and the plants would have been much more common in this sort of site before Europeans arrived with their buttercup-munching stock.
Australia has 30 species of native buttercups, most of them restricting themselves, in typical buttercup fashion, to wet soil or very shallow water. They are all suitable for garden planting but the flower quality varies. The flowers of R. lappaceus have broad petals which form a full cup, making them perhaps the prettiest of Australian buttercup flowers.
They are very similar in size (15 - 40mm diameter) and appearance to the flowers of the introduced European buttercup, Ranunculus repens, which we sometimes see in Australian gardens and weed books. (The latter is a spreading, invasive plant in damp places, but is less seen here nowadays as it can’t cope with drought.)
The pretty flowers of our local, combined with its hardiness to drought and frost, and its long flowering season (spring to autumn), make it a very suitable plant for use in our local gardens. Where conditions are good it self-seeds readily, but as it lacks the spreading habit it is not invasive.
Once established, this little perennial is a tough plant which will even regrow from its roots after a fire.
Seeds of the species can be bought on the internet, but it would be better to get plants of local provenance, as these would be hardier to drought.
Buttercup flowers are very shiny, and a child’s game consists of holding a flower under someone’s chin to tell whether they like eating butter. If they do, their skin will show yellow when the flower comes near it. (The sheen of a healthy child’s skin will always ensure that the yellow reflection of the flower shows up, especially if the game is played in the sunshine.)
Family: RANUNCULACEAE
“Ranunculus” means “tadpole”, and refers to the damp habitat preferred by buttercups generally - so we can be surprised to find our tough little native buttercup growing on a sunny, grassy hillside.This is its native habitat, however, and the plants would have been much more common in this sort of site before Europeans arrived with their buttercup-munching stock.
Australia has 30 species of native buttercups, most of them restricting themselves, in typical buttercup fashion, to wet soil or very shallow water. They are all suitable for garden planting but the flower quality varies. The flowers of R. lappaceus have broad petals which form a full cup, making them perhaps the prettiest of Australian buttercup flowers.
They are very similar in size (15 - 40mm diameter) and appearance to the flowers of the introduced European buttercup, Ranunculus repens, which we sometimes see in Australian gardens and weed books. (The latter is a spreading, invasive plant in damp places, but is less seen here nowadays as it can’t cope with drought.)
The pretty flowers of our local, combined with its hardiness to drought and frost, and its long flowering season (spring to autumn), make it a very suitable plant for use in our local gardens. Where conditions are good it self-seeds readily, but as it lacks the spreading habit it is not invasive.Once established, this little perennial is a tough plant which will even regrow from its roots after a fire.
Seeds of the species can be bought on the internet, but it would be better to get plants of local provenance, as these would be hardier to drought.
Buttercup flowers are very shiny, and a child’s game consists of holding a flower under someone’s chin to tell whether they like eating butter. If they do, their skin will show yellow when the flower comes near it. (The sheen of a healthy child’s skin will always ensure that the yellow reflection of the flower shows up, especially if the game is played in the sunshine.)
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Most Beautiful Bush Fragrance
Pittosporum undulatum
Family: PITTOSPORACEAE
Sweet Pittosporum is a shrub or small tree native to the dry rainforest and scrubs on our red soils. It is just coming into flower now - a little early, as most things are this year - and the scent carries for many metres.
It’s a popular garden plant. In America they call it "Mock Orange". Fragrant oil extracted from the flowers has been used in perfumes.
When the flowers have finished, they are followed by pretty fruits which look like little oranges, but split in two to reveal bright red, bird-attracting seeds inside.
Although it comes up naturally in Toowoomba gardens, it is, sadly, not grown here as much as it should be.
Part of the reason is that, outside its own territory, it has the potential to become just as much of a weed as privet does here. (Yes, Australian natives CAN be environmental weeds!) I find it depressing, though, that in a country which learns more about its native plants from books and television than from going out into the bush and seeing what’s there, local “experts” parrot what they’ve learned from Sydney and Melbourne sources and advise Toowoomba people against this local native plant because it is “weedy”!
It is nothing of the sort, here in its home territory.
Yes, it does self-seed. This is what native plants SHOULD do.
No, it doesn’t self-seed to an extreme or nuisance extent.
Meanwhile, considering its rainforesty appearance, it is astonishingly tough, surviving in open paddocks where it is fully exposed to all that the climate can toss at it. Stock find it a very edible plant, so tends to survive there only along fence-lines or tucked up against posts, where it has some defence against being munched to the ground. Like most woody fodder species, it will respond to pruning by growing as a dense bushy shrub - a useful garden quality.
Sweet Pittosporum is a perfect plant for a waterwise suburban garden, where it can be left to grow as a little tree, or kept shrub-size for a screen or bird-shelter, or to fit into your plans for a garden picture. Its deep roots are happy to share with others, so it grows well under existing trees.
It is used in some parts of Toowoomba as a street tree, something for which it is very well suited, as it has the toughness requirement but never gets too tall for the power lines. (Heights of rainforest trees are very variable. In dense rainforest, this tree can reach 12 metres, but grown in the open it would be doing well to get to a third of this height.)
This is one of the many dry rainforest shrubs that can be purchased for $2.00 from the Crows Nest Community Nursery.
Family: PITTOSPORACEAE
Sweet Pittosporum is a shrub or small tree native to the dry rainforest and scrubs on our red soils. It is just coming into flower now - a little early, as most things are this year - and the scent carries for many metres.It’s a popular garden plant. In America they call it "Mock Orange". Fragrant oil extracted from the flowers has been used in perfumes.
When the flowers have finished, they are followed by pretty fruits which look like little oranges, but split in two to reveal bright red, bird-attracting seeds inside.
Although it comes up naturally in Toowoomba gardens, it is, sadly, not grown here as much as it should be.
Part of the reason is that, outside its own territory, it has the potential to become just as much of a weed as privet does here. (Yes, Australian natives CAN be environmental weeds!) I find it depressing, though, that in a country which learns more about its native plants from books and television than from going out into the bush and seeing what’s there, local “experts” parrot what they’ve learned from Sydney and Melbourne sources and advise Toowoomba people against this local native plant because it is “weedy”!
It is nothing of the sort, here in its home territory.
Yes, it does self-seed. This is what native plants SHOULD do.
No, it doesn’t self-seed to an extreme or nuisance extent.
Meanwhile, considering its rainforesty appearance, it is astonishingly tough, surviving in open paddocks where it is fully exposed to all that the climate can toss at it. Stock find it a very edible plant, so tends to survive there only along fence-lines or tucked up against posts, where it has some defence against being munched to the ground. Like most woody fodder species, it will respond to pruning by growing as a dense bushy shrub - a useful garden quality.
Sweet Pittosporum is a perfect plant for a waterwise suburban garden, where it can be left to grow as a little tree, or kept shrub-size for a screen or bird-shelter, or to fit into your plans for a garden picture. Its deep roots are happy to share with others, so it grows well under existing trees.
It is used in some parts of Toowoomba as a street tree, something for which it is very well suited, as it has the toughness requirement but never gets too tall for the power lines. (Heights of rainforest trees are very variable. In dense rainforest, this tree can reach 12 metres, but grown in the open it would be doing well to get to a third of this height.)
This is one of the many dry rainforest shrubs that can be purchased for $2.00 from the Crows Nest Community Nursery.
Planting in a Drought
Isn’t this weather miserable! It’s the hottest, driest August I can remember.
But yes, you can plant trees and shrubs now.
Get them in before the summer’s heat, look after them well, and they’ll reward you with a season’s growth before winter.
First, choose plants with drought-resisting potential - and it’s amazing how many of them there are. The local native plant species of our dry rainforests and scrubs are among the best, cheerfully putting out lush green shady foliage despite years of drought. They have evolved to do this by developing roots which can grow rapidly downwards, to a depth far exceeding the height of the tree’s canopy.
To create a drought hardy plant, you need to get your juvenile plant away from the "lolly shop” - that top layer of soil where "spoiled" plants develop shallow root systems. Don't mollycoddle your plants with surface watering. They grow roots where the water is, then suffer badly when the topsoil dries out.
Toughen your little plants up by teaching them, young, that life wasn’t meant to be easy! You can do this with a watering technique which gets the water down to the root zone and below it, skipping the top layer of soil. Young plants then learn to reach deep, and eventually they’ll find the natural groundwater, becoming quite independent of what is going on in the top metre of soil.
Planted straight from little tubes, these species can survive if you simply dig a deep hole, fill it with water and let it drain away, put well-soaked water crystals in the bottom then arrange the plant with its roots reaching down as far as they’ll go, their tips just touching the top of the crystals.
The roots must be straight. If you think they might have curled around in the bottom of their pots, de-pot them, soak them in a bucket of water( in the shade), and wash the soil off. This treatment will kill Australian plants such as Grevilleas, but rainforest-type plants are perfectly happy to be treated this way, so long as they’re kept wet in the process and the hole is filled with wet soil.
Arrange the soil surface in a bit of a dish so any rainwater will run inwards to the plant, or with a run-off-catching crescent mound, if it’s on a slope.
Mulch well with organic materials. Think about keeping the soil cool. If temporary shade for part of the day is easy to arrange, do it. Do you have leftover firewood that you can stack to the north and west of the plant?
This may be all you ever need to do.
However, if the weather - particularly this warm dry wind - continues, the plant should be watched for signs of wilting. If no rains come after a month or six weeks, an extra dose or two of water may be needed to keep it alive while the roots are still small. A good soak, leaving water to sit in the dish, will re-charge the crystals so that as the soil dries out again, the plant will once again find itself in dry topsoil but with water deep down where it counts.
Plants treated like this will survive, and grow when rains give them the opportunity.
However, all plants grow much faster if given generous amounts of water at an early age.
For maximum growth on minimum water, a good planting technique is to use a large plastic bottle with a hole in the bottom. Bury it beside the plant as you put it in. Water can be poured into the bottle, where it will soak in below the little plant’s roots, leading them downwards.
If you have heavy clay where the bottle takes a week or more to empty, bless your luck in having such water-saving soil, and put the lid on the bottle to stop mosquitos from breeding in it.
With this technique, nothing whatever is wasted to evaporation. Even mulch becomes unnecessary once the plant’s roots get below the top foot or so of soil. This top soil layer then becomes the mulch.
Rainforest species appreciate a little fertiliser every now and again. Ordinary fertiliser will do. Unlike Grevilleas and some other Australian plants originating in naturally low-phosphorus soils, rainforest plants don’t need special “native” fertiliser.
But yes, you can plant trees and shrubs now.
Get them in before the summer’s heat, look after them well, and they’ll reward you with a season’s growth before winter.
First, choose plants with drought-resisting potential - and it’s amazing how many of them there are. The local native plant species of our dry rainforests and scrubs are among the best, cheerfully putting out lush green shady foliage despite years of drought. They have evolved to do this by developing roots which can grow rapidly downwards, to a depth far exceeding the height of the tree’s canopy.
To create a drought hardy plant, you need to get your juvenile plant away from the "lolly shop” - that top layer of soil where "spoiled" plants develop shallow root systems. Don't mollycoddle your plants with surface watering. They grow roots where the water is, then suffer badly when the topsoil dries out.
Toughen your little plants up by teaching them, young, that life wasn’t meant to be easy! You can do this with a watering technique which gets the water down to the root zone and below it, skipping the top layer of soil. Young plants then learn to reach deep, and eventually they’ll find the natural groundwater, becoming quite independent of what is going on in the top metre of soil.
Planted straight from little tubes, these species can survive if you simply dig a deep hole, fill it with water and let it drain away, put well-soaked water crystals in the bottom then arrange the plant with its roots reaching down as far as they’ll go, their tips just touching the top of the crystals.
The roots must be straight. If you think they might have curled around in the bottom of their pots, de-pot them, soak them in a bucket of water( in the shade), and wash the soil off. This treatment will kill Australian plants such as Grevilleas, but rainforest-type plants are perfectly happy to be treated this way, so long as they’re kept wet in the process and the hole is filled with wet soil.
Arrange the soil surface in a bit of a dish so any rainwater will run inwards to the plant, or with a run-off-catching crescent mound, if it’s on a slope.
Mulch well with organic materials. Think about keeping the soil cool. If temporary shade for part of the day is easy to arrange, do it. Do you have leftover firewood that you can stack to the north and west of the plant?
This may be all you ever need to do.
However, if the weather - particularly this warm dry wind - continues, the plant should be watched for signs of wilting. If no rains come after a month or six weeks, an extra dose or two of water may be needed to keep it alive while the roots are still small. A good soak, leaving water to sit in the dish, will re-charge the crystals so that as the soil dries out again, the plant will once again find itself in dry topsoil but with water deep down where it counts.
Plants treated like this will survive, and grow when rains give them the opportunity.
However, all plants grow much faster if given generous amounts of water at an early age.
For maximum growth on minimum water, a good planting technique is to use a large plastic bottle with a hole in the bottom. Bury it beside the plant as you put it in. Water can be poured into the bottle, where it will soak in below the little plant’s roots, leading them downwards.
If you have heavy clay where the bottle takes a week or more to empty, bless your luck in having such water-saving soil, and put the lid on the bottle to stop mosquitos from breeding in it.
With this technique, nothing whatever is wasted to evaporation. Even mulch becomes unnecessary once the plant’s roots get below the top foot or so of soil. This top soil layer then becomes the mulch.
Rainforest species appreciate a little fertiliser every now and again. Ordinary fertiliser will do. Unlike Grevilleas and some other Australian plants originating in naturally low-phosphorus soils, rainforest plants don’t need special “native” fertiliser.
Friday, August 21, 2009
King Orchid
Dendrobium speciosum subsp. hillii
(Dendrobium tarberi, Thelychiton tarberi)
Family: ORCHIDACEAE
These popular orchids are flowering all around the district at present, with many to be seen in Toowoomba gardens, typically planted in the hollow centres of old tree stumps. The sturdy stems (pseudobulbs) are usually about 40cm long, and at this time of year the plants put out magnificent drooping spikes of as many as a hundred small, creamy yellow, and very fragrant flowers.
There are about half a dozen subspecies of Dendrobium speciosum. Some of them get called “Rock Lily” or “Rock Orchid”. The name never took off in our part of Queensland, as our local subspecies prefers to live on trees, often in rather high, exposed situations. A favourite habitat in the wild is on the Hoop pines which tower above the canopy of our local dry rainforests and scrubs.
This plant is so easy to grow that it could fairly be described as a “beginner’s orchid”. All it needs is a well-drained, sheltered site (where it gets direct sunlight for part of the day), and a bit of water while it’s getting established. After that, it will survive neglect, drought, and all but the worst bushfires.
It likes being watered, of course, but plants which find themselves in damp sites have the rather weird habit of sending their little fresh roots straight upwards, seeking drier air.
(Dendrobium tarberi, Thelychiton tarberi)
Family: ORCHIDACEAE
These popular orchids are flowering all around the district at present, with many to be seen in Toowoomba gardens, typically planted in the hollow centres of old tree stumps. The sturdy stems (pseudobulbs) are usually about 40cm long, and at this time of year the plants put out magnificent drooping spikes of as many as a hundred small, creamy yellow, and very fragrant flowers.There are about half a dozen subspecies of Dendrobium speciosum. Some of them get called “Rock Lily” or “Rock Orchid”. The name never took off in our part of Queensland, as our local subspecies prefers to live on trees, often in rather high, exposed situations. A favourite habitat in the wild is on the Hoop pines which tower above the canopy of our local dry rainforests and scrubs.
This plant is so easy to grow that it could fairly be described as a “beginner’s orchid”. All it needs is a well-drained, sheltered site (where it gets direct sunlight for part of the day), and a bit of water while it’s getting established. After that, it will survive neglect, drought, and all but the worst bushfires.
It likes being watered, of course, but plants which find themselves in damp sites have the rather weird habit of sending their little fresh roots straight upwards, seeking drier air.
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