OCTOBER
Australian Native Plant Job List
•Climbers such as the wonga wonga vine (Pandorea pandorana) and happy wanderer (Hardenbergia violacea) have finished flowering and will benefit from a vigorous trim to keep them in shape but avoid cutting into older wood. A handful of general purpose fertiliser will be the only feeding required for such plants.
•Many native daisies such as brachyscomes will repeat flower if given a light trim to dead head them at this time of year. Water with a general purpose liquid fertiliser to really encourage extra flowering through the summer and autumn.
•This is a fantastic time to plant a waratah. There are lots of fantastic new cultivars becoming available. If you do not have well drained soil then a large container is a very feasible alternative, particularly for smaller gardens.
•Gymea lilies are finishing their flowering period now and will benefit from the removal of the spent flower stalks (unless you wish to save them for their seed). It is also a great time to divide large clumps if you wish to increase your numbers. Cut the foliage back by about a half and tease the clumps apart by hand to avoid excessive damage to the crowns. Remove damaged foliage completely.
•Many of the wax flowers (Philotheca, Eriostemon and Chamelaucium species) are finishing their annual flowering period at this time and will benefit greatly if you prune back a few centimetres behind the spent flowers.
•Waratahs are flowering now in cooler climates and can be cut for indoor decoration which also serves to prune the plant at the same time. Wait until they have finished flowering to cut back the rest of the plant to a height of 1 to 1.5 metres and give it a handful of low phosphorus native plant fertiliser at the same time.
•If you have a big garden and an interest in bush tucker plant a plum pine (Podocarpus elatus) for its interesting edible fruits that are particularly good for jam making. It also has lovely foliage and a beautiful trunk.
•Borers tend to be active at this time of year so keep an eye out for new holes (watch for sawdust or frass on the stem as an early warning sign) in the stems of woody native plants such as wattles. Use a piece of wire to jam into the hole to squash the offending insect larvae.
•Ground covering herbaceous plants such as fan flowers (Scaevola species) and native daisies (Brachyscome species) are putting on lots of new growth now. If you look underneath the mat of stems you can often find ones that have rooted into the soil and can be cut off and replanted to increase your plant numbers free of charge.
•Lilly pilly hedges and feature plantings are vulnerable to attack by pimple psyllid in the soft new growth. This shows up as unsightly ‘bubbles’ in the foliage where the psyllids have attacked the undersurface of the leaves. The organic solution to this problem is to prune off the affected shoot tips and destroy them whenever you notice an attack.
•Most species of melaleuca can be pruned at this time of year. If the plant has been pruned regularly it the best option is to cut back to just behind the old flower heads. If the bush has been neglected and is looking leggy then it is OK to cut it back hard to thumb thickness stems and remove the unsightly old seed capsules.