The hidden variety of plants growing in Goldfields | Australian native plants

The hidden variety of plants growing in Goldfields | Australian native plants | Gardening Australia

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Millie catches up with ecologist Dr Cassia Read near Chewton, on part of the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park, a valuable slice of the Box-Ironbark Forest that once stretched from central Victoria up to south-east Queensland. Subscribe 🔔 ab.co/GA-subscribe
Superficially it looks like remnant bush, but 120-150 years ago, the area was completely cleared of trees. If you look closely, you can see the upturned earth from that era.
Box-Ironbark Forest is found on low-nutrient, low-rainfall sedimentary-rock slopes - exactly the same geology that made the area prime gold-mining country, so in the Victorian gold rush (1851-1870) it was extensively cleared and dug up, the trees used for infrastructure and firewood for the booming population. On the more fertile plains, the cleared land was used for farming, so regrowth patches of Box-Ironbark like this are quite rare.
“People look at what was destroyed in gold mining times and just see a degraded landscape, but it recovers well when it’s allowed to,” Cassia says.
Despite the tough conditions, the landscape is incredibly diverse - within what we call ‘box ironbark’ are 17 distinct types of vegetation, and each one supports a different range of birds, mammals, reptiles, frogs and more invertebrates than we know about, but more than 200 species of ants, just for starters.
In some areas you can see how big the original trees were by looking at the clumps of coppiced regrowth that regrew around their trunks; some show trees less than 2m wide at base. As slow-growing hardwoods, these would have been centuries old. In low-nutrient soils, being slow-growing is a good adaptation; it conserves energy. “Trees here don’t have the luxury of quick growth.”
Cassia says dryland gardeners can benefit from observing the plants in box-ironbark forests: “We’re on the fringe of the dry arid landscape further west so we can learn here how plants build resilience.” Many plants have leaves that are small, leathery or furry; this reduces water loss and protects against high temperatures. “Another adaptation is being able to resprout from rhizomes under the ground after a bad year, as dianellas can,” she says.
“Many local plants are Geophytes - orchids and lilies that grow from tubers,” Cassia says. “That’s how they cope with dry summers - they die back and exist as bulbs. With spring rain, they come up and start flowering.” We should see some small flowering bulbs or orchids, incl chocolate lilies, early nancy.
Many larger plants are also supported by tiny mosses and the biocrust - a complex community of tiny plants, lichens, fungi and algae that form a minute mosaic on the woodland floor. These may look insignificant, but they are vital in a dry landscape, says Cassia, whose PhD was on biocrusts in the Wimmera. They are found in drylands around the world, including Box Ironbark forests.
“In the desert, where there is barely enough water to support trees and shrubs, mosses and lichens protect the ground; they bind the soil together and stop it blowing away and stop water from moving too fast across the land.” Water hits the mosses and slows, feeding into nearby trees and shrubs; it also stops erosion. “You end up with fertile, moist islands in an otherwise dry landscape.”
Featured Plants:
LEOPARD ORCHID - Diuris pardina
MURNONG - Microseris walteri
PINK FINGERS - Caladenia carnea
GORSE BITTER-PEA - Daviesia ulicifolia
PINK BELLS - Tetratheca ciliata
SCENTED SUNDEW - Drosera aberrans
CLIMBING SUNDEW - Drosera macrantha
DOWNY GREVILLEA - Grevillea alpina
BILLY BUTTONS - Craspedia variabilis
Barbula calycina
Filmed on Dja Dja Wurrung Country | Castlemaine, Vic
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Пікірлер: 23

@patrickkavanagh9312 2 жыл бұрын

Cassia does such a beautiful job of conveying her amazing knowledge and inspiring us about the tiny treasures at our feet. Beautifully photographed and a great interview. A joy to see.

@JulianFoley 3 жыл бұрын

I love that Cassia Read has opened up this jewellery box of fine little plants for us to gaze on, and I wonder at the hundreds of generations of First Nations' gardeners who tended it and made it flourish.

@rachaelprince4549 2 жыл бұрын

It would be so nice to have local native flower seed mixes to use in the home garden

@BelleJane5 3 жыл бұрын

Loving the native content 💕

@GardeningAustralia 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Belinda! We'll keep it coming :)

@sarah3796 2 жыл бұрын

Same!!! 🥰✨

@timread6925 3 жыл бұрын

What a beautiful piece, it is exciting what diversity there is at a small scale, I imagine even very small city/urban gardens could be a haven for many of these stunning plants and imagine the native bees, butterflies and other small wild creatures that might be attracted to this habitat, providing deep nature connection and joy. Thank you!

@nevaehdoesstuff1092 3 жыл бұрын

Beautiful!!!

@LA-jq3ur 3 жыл бұрын

Love this content during lockdown. Thank you

@GardeningAustralia 2 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear! Thanks for watching :)

@sarah3796 2 жыл бұрын

I loved that.

@susaniacuone5758 3 жыл бұрын

I live on the opposite side of Castlemaine on acreage that closely resembles the country pictured. I have all of the species pictured other than the greenhood orchid briefly seen in the footage. Once the pink bells are in full flower the whole place glows.