Cooloola City Farm
Plant of the month is Daviesia umbellulata, a shrub to 2m+ that enjoys dry conditions and has small yellow pea flowers, often with red markings, in spring.
(Photograph: Mary Boyce)
City Farm, opposite the Community Centre, on Tin Can Bay Road, is open to the public for plant sales on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 8am-3pm, 07 54862304, ccfni09@gmail.com, www.cooloolacityfarm.org
It will be spring by the time you read this edition and with the weather warming, the topic this month must be wildflowers. Some of our wildflowers bloom for only a short while, so now is the time to see them.
Check for glimpses of colour as you drive locally and, if you can, pull over and walk around to see what is there. There are many tracks just off the roads where you will find wildflowers in profusion.
Here are a few plants you may see in flower, arranged according to colour:
Yellow/orange
Pultenaea villosa (Hairy Pea Bush) – shrub to 3m, hairy stems and leaves, yellow pea-shaped flowers; Persoonia virgata (Small Leaf Geebung) – tubular flowers, followed by green fruit with a touch of purple on this 2-4m shrub; Acacia suaveolens (Sweet Wattle)- has a sweet smell, cream ball flowers and translucent seed pods with a purple edging.
White
Austromyrtus dulcis (Midyim) – small shrub, flowers followed by delicate, edible white fruit with purple spots; Pimelea linifolia (Rice Flower) – erect shrub to 1m with flowers at the tips of the branches; Ricinocarpos pinifolius (Wedding Bush) – very visible from the road, this shrub to 3m has masses of white flowers; Phebalium Woombye (Woombye Bush) – lovely shrub to 2m, with masses of white to pale pink flowers.
Pink
Boronia rosmarinifolia (Forest Boronia) – attractive flowers in an open shrub to 1m; Eriostemon australasius (Pink Wax Flower) – my favourite – a bushy shrub with very pretty flowers.
Purple
Hovea acutifolia (Purple Pea Bush) – a very eye-catching shrub when pea flowers are in bloom; Melaleuca thymifolia (Thyme Honey Myrtle) – small shrub with attractive lacy flowers.
These are just a few of the flowering plants around at the moment, so enjoy!
