Mistletoe - friend or foe?

One of the most fascinating group of plants growing in the Australian bush is mistletoe, and they are often found growing on native trees throughout the country. These plants are sometimes perceived as worthless parasites that weaken trees prior to their death. While this is partially true their value to our environment has been underestimated. Recent research on these highly evolved native plants has led to a reappraisal of their importance to the ecosystem.

The nectar from this mistletoe flower attracts 
a diverse range of birds, bees and butterfly's

Mistletoe's are a world-wide group of plants which are found in many different habitats. Most early settlers would have known the European Mistletoe (Viscum album), a commonly seen plant culturally associated with pagan fertility rights.

Australia has 85 species of mistletoe, mostly from the Loranthaceae plant family. Most mistletoes are found growing on open forest and woodland trees such as eucalyptus, wattles and she-oaks. While most mistletoes photosynthesise from their own leaves they are usually dependent on the hosts sap for water and nutrients.

Mistletoes are often seen growing on trees near the edge of woodland along roads or near cleared land. A 2004 study by ecologist David M Watson near Albury in New South Wales found that 80% of trees growing along habitat edges carried mistletoe compared with fewer than 5% in the interior.The reason for their preference for habitat edges was, according to Watson, related to increased light, decreased fire frequency, increased run off from roads and decreasing numbers of mistletoe eating animals such as possums and gliders at habitat edges. These environment factors have subsequently led to these plants being abundant on the edges of woodland.

While the presence of mistletoe can have a negative affect on the health of the host tree these plants certainly attract a wide range of animals. Associate Professor Watson found that the presence of mistletoe increased the abundance of bird species by 20% or more when compared to similar bush where the mistletoe had been removed. Watson is of the view that the presence of these well adapted plants is 'one of the key factors allowing our woodland-based animals to survive in what's left of their habitat.'

A drooping mistletoe growing on eucalypt

Many birds, animals and insects feed on the flowers, fruit and leaves of mistletoe. Birds birds found feeding on mistletoe include parrots, Eastern-Spinebills and of course the tiny Mistletoebird which feeds on the sticky fruit of the plant. The spreading of the sticky seed by the Mistletoebird is the principal way that new mistletoe plants grow on other host trees. These plants are also important food plants for bees, butterflies and Christmas beetles and are a popular nesting site.


References and further reading

Misunderstood Mistletoe by David M Watson, published in the March 2004 issue of Wingspan magazine


Mistletoes of Southern Australia by David M Watson, CSIRO publishing 2001 (highly recommended)

The Australian National Botanic Garden in Canberra has a fascinating mistletoe web site which will be of interest. http://www.anbg.gov.au/mistletoe/

Garden Craftsmanship in Yew and Box

One of the treasures of my library is a 1925 book on hedge making originally owned by my maternal grandfather. Garden Craftsmanship in Yew and Box by Nathaniel Lloyd (1867-1933) is a how-to manual for the construction and maintainence of formal hedges and topiary. Formal hedges made of european yew (Taxus baccata) and Box (Buxus spp) became fashionable in late 19th century grand British gardens and Lloyd's book reflects their popularity in the following century. While the text is minimal the book includes a series of instructive photographic images showing how to maintain the formality of the planting.

An instrument for determining the batter of a hedge
photo from Garden Craftsmanship in Yew and Box 

Nathanial Lloyd based his garden advise on the hedges he laid out at his Great Dixter home in East Sussex, England, after he purchased the Tudor-era property in 1910. Many years later Great Dixter became world famous as the stunning garden of Nathaniel's youngest son, the provocative garden writer, Christopher Lloyd (1921-2006). While the gardens originally laid out by Lloyd senior have evolved into a landscape dominated by flowering plants, many of the original hedge and topiary plantings from his time survive giving the current garden structure.

Testing level of old hedge top with a short batten and spirit level
photo from Garden Craftsmanship in Yew and Box 

Not everyone appreciated Lloyd's book at the time of its publication. One harsh critic was the garden writer William Robinson (1838-1935) who described the work as 'the poorest book that so far has disgraced the garden'. Robinson, a vocal advocate of wild or natural looking gardens despised the geometric formality that Lloyd's monograph advocated. Despite this criticism, Garden Craftsmanship in Yew and Box gives valuable textbook advice to gardeners keen to have neat well grown hedges.

The Great Dixter house and garden as it is today
photo courtesy Great Dixter Charitable Trust

Whether we like it or not hedges can be important elements in gardens. They can help delineate a landscape, provide privacy, and protect the house and garden from wild weather. The happy balance of Nathanial Lloyd's design formality and the looseness and spontaneity of his son Christopher has made Great Dixter one of the worlds great gardens. http://www.greatdixter.co.uk/

In future posts I hope to write more about hedges, topiary, Christopher Lloyd and the garden at Great Dixter.



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In search of wild mushrooms

I love cooking with fresh mushrooms but it has only been in recent years that have I taken up foraging for my own. Autumn, after a period of rain, is the best time to search for them as this is the peak time for the fruiting bodies (the caps) to appear above the ground. Best to pick in the morning, that way you get fresh mushrooms and you avoid damage by slugs.

Care should always be taken when picking wild mushrooms 
This poisonous Fly Agaric is often found growing in pine plantations 

Apparently in France pharmacists are trained in identifying edible mushrooms and hesitant customers often bring in their finds to chemist shops for a second opinion on their culinary suitability  In Australia there is no such service and we have to rely on reference books and the knowledge of experienced pickers.

Well aware that many fungi are poisonous I decided to get some books out of the library for identification purposes before I began my search. One of the best books on Australian mushrooms is A Field Guide to Australian Fungi by Bruce Fuhrer (Bloomings Books). This well illustrated reference work describes over 500 fungus species, many of which are endemic to Australia. These vary from slime moulds to giant 1 metre wide caps.

While most Australian species are known to botanists little is known of their culinary qualities. While Aboriginal people would have been aware of the individual merits of local fungi most of this knowledge has been lost since European colonisation. While Bruce Fuhrer is probably aware of the chemical make up of his listed fungi he is reluctant to give the green light to safe caps apart from a handful of species. These are mainly Northern Hemisphere species which have arrived with the importation of conifers trees and other exotics.

The undersides of two common edible mushrooms
Saffron Milk Cap (left) and Slippery Jack

My research has taught me me that it is best to search for mushrooms that are growing in large pine tree plantations as the fungi found there is well documented in specialist reference books. My first foraging exhibition was to the Sunny Corner State Forest in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. This large conifer plantation consisted of thousands of acres of pine trees.

Soon after entering the plantation I was aware of the presence of a large number of mushrooms on the forest floor. Referring to my reference book I soon noticed two edible species growing there. These included the Saffron Milk Cap (Lactarius deliciosus) and the Slippery Jack (Suillus luteus). But as well as these caps there were many red coloured mushrooms appearing in the area. According to my guide this was the posionous Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria).

Before eating, make sure you have picked a safe species. Use all your senses when doing your examination and make sure you take along a suitable reference book. Of the two edible mushrooms shown above, I prefer the Saffron Milk Cap. Although not having a strong taste this mushroom as a meaty texture and works well with dishes that need a long cook. It makes a good seasonal alternative to the common field mushroom found in supermarkets.

Happy foraging.

On the naming of plants (part 1)

Like many students before me, I had to learn to identify a large and diverse range of plants during my formal horticulture training. As well as identifying the plants in tests, I had to write down the genus, species, variety and family for formal assessment by our lecturers. Marks were given for correct identification and likewise deducted for spelling and other stylistic mistakes. Although I didn't appreciate it at the time, these exercises taught me to be aware of botanical variations as well as learning the scientific language of botany. Now, many years later, I have learnt to enjoy repeating the many tongue-twisting names invented by scientists from the time of the late 18th century. Two personal favourites are Parthenocissus tricuspidata (Boston Ivy) and Ceratostigma willmottianum (Chinese Plumbago).

Many gardeners are bamboozled
by the scientific names of plants

While botanists and many horticulturists are happy to use scientific names this is not so with most home gardeners who find this elitist technical language as incomprehensible as the artificially constructed 19^th century European language Esperanto. So why do we persist in using scientific names?

The standard response given by horticultural educators is that there is only one scientific descriptor given to a plant while there are many different common names given to the same specimen; this, according to the educators, often leads to confusion. This is indeed the case with the east Asian climber Parthenocissus tricuspidata, which as well as being known in English as Boston Ivy is also called Japanese Creeper, Japanese Ivy and Grape Ivy. On a personal note, my parents once had this plant growing on the front of their home for many years and erroneously called it Virginia Creeper, an epithet given to another member of the genus.

While it is true there is only one official botanical name given to a plant at one time it may have had many other scientifically sanctioned names in the past. Many of these were published in floras and in nursery catalogues and therefore persist to the present day. Many in the nursery world fall in love with a particular name and refuse to change labels whatever the scientists pronounce as correct. One of the few local botanists who have tried to unite the disciplines of botany and horticulture is Roger Spencer of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. Spencer regularly writes articles for the trade press where he updates changes in the botanical names  given to plants.

One organisation that has tried to inform the public of historic changes in scientific names is the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales (HHT). A free access website managed by HHT is the Colonial Plant Database. Keying in the name of a modern plant name supplies a list of variant plant names and the time of introduction to Australia (if the plant was first introduced in the 19th century). http://collection.hht.net.au/firsthht/searchColonialPlants.jsp?linkN=1.3

While most horticultural educators prefer the naming of plants by the binomial name method (genus and species name) there have been some dissident opinions. The Irish-born garden writer William Robinson (1838-1933) had strong views on the naming of plants. While recognising the need for botanists to use scientific descriptors he found little reason to use them in the home garden. Robinson, writing in The English Flower Garden vented his views on the subject:

It is best to speak of things growing about our doors in our own tongue, and the practice of using in conversation long Latin names, a growth of our own century, has done infinite harm to gardening in shutting out people who have a heart for a garden, but none for the Latin of the gardener. There is no more need to speak of the plants in our gardens by their Latin names than to speak of the dove or the rabbit by Latin names, and where we introduce plants that have no good English names we must  make them as well as we may.

While Robinson’s views are thought prevoking, his romantic perspective is somewhat naive. Whether we like it or not the persistent use of scientific naming in the horticultural world will continue well into the future. While it is important for botanists to inform horticulturists and gardeners of changes it is onus on the nursery trade to respond to these changes. If they don’t we might as well follow Robinson’s view and rely on using common names.

In a future post I will write about the good and bad ways to  label plants in the garden.

Worsleya procera - a miricle in mauve

On the day of the news of the election of Francis as the new Roman Catholic pope a minor miracle took place place in my garden. For the first time in its ten year life my Worsleya decided to bloom. Worsleya procera is one of the rarest bulbs in the world and is notorious for its intermittent and unreliable flowering. Yesterday morning several mauve flower buds began to open on top of this long necked pot plant. Like a proud first-time father I have been telling all my happy news.

Worsleya procera in bloom

I first became aware of this plant in the 1990s during a visit to the wonderful Bronte House garden of Leo Schofield in Sydney. Schofield had been given two thirty year old specimens from a friend and had placed them in pots at the front door of his beautiful 19th century home. In his 2002 book The Garden at Bronte   Schofield goes into rapture on the joy he got from these rare plants: 'Everything about it is sensational, from the form and the ribbed leaves, to the glorious flowers in a colour best described as fluorescent mauve.'

Amarylis Rayneri (an early name for Worsleya procera)
W. Fitch illustration from Curtis' Botanical Magazine (1871)

This rare South American bulb is known around the world by several common names, including the Empress of Brazil, the Blue Hippeastrum and Rooster Tail. While once known in the past by several scientific names, this distinctive member of the Amaryllidaceae family is now formally known as Worsleya procera. The genus is named in honour of the English botanist Arthington Worsley, while the specific latin epithet refers to the unusually large neck of the bulb.

Botanists from around the world come to worship
the miraculous blooming of the Sydney Worsleya

The natural habitat of Worsleya is a 2 km wide area near the town of Petropolis in the Organ Mountains north of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It grows in narrow basalt rich crevices 750 metres above sea level. In cultivation these plants are slow growing but long lived. They are best grown in large pots, an environment that allows for good drainage and portability around the garden. While I purchased my plant from a plant fair, specimins can also be purchased from specialist bulb growers.

When to water

One of the most frequent questions I get asked as a gardener is when am I allowed to water? As rules about such matters change from time to time I thought it opportune to review the current restrictions for Sydney and Melbourne home gardeners as we move into Autumn.

In most areas watering by sprinklers is forbiddon

Sydney

Watering, including with sprinklers and irrigation systems, is allowed any day before 10 am and after 4 pm to avoid the heat of the day.

All hand held hoses must have a drigger nozzle.

No hosing of hard surfaces such as paths and driveways. Washing vechicles is allowed.

More info at http://www.sydneywater.com.au/Water4Life/WaterWise/

Melbourne

Hand held hoses with a trigger nozzle can be used at any time.

Sprinklers and other irrigation systems can only be used between 6 pm and 10 am

More info at  http://www.water.vic.gov.au/saving/restrictions/rules

I will update this page when rules change.

Showy Sedums

From low maintenance, sun-drenched, inner-city balconies to rural plants-man's gardens the hardy Sedum genus is a group of Northern Hemisphere succulent plants that should be included in every Australian garden. Tough as old boots these plants - commonly known as stonecrops - can withstand frost, strong winds, and intense heat. Last month my Sedum's survived 45 degree plus conditions in Sydney, while last winter, in my mountain garden, they managed -10c without complaint.

An early advocate of the low growing sedum's was the influential 19th century Irish garden writer William Robinson who recommended them for use in rock gardens or grown under roses. While Robinson chose to ignore their use in Victorian carpet bedding schemes, these plants have maintained their popularity despite changing fashions in garden design. 

Sedum 'Bertram Anderson'

Thoughtful selection will find cultivars that will flower at different times of the year. My winter  flowering yellow Sedum (pictured at foot of page) reliably flowers from mid-winter until early spring. One of my favourite stonecrops is 'Ruby Glow'. In late summer this attractive low growing plant produces lovely reddish-purple flowers which last until early Autumn. A similar variety is  'Bertram Anderson'. This cultivar also flowers in late summer but has darker foliage. Both plants look great in large pots.

Sedum 'Ruby Glow'

Apart from a sunny position and good drainage stonecrops need little care, and there are few pest or disease problems. Propagation is done by dividing the plant during dormancy in late winter.

Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

For those looking for more drama in their planting schemes, consider the taller growing stonecrops such as 'Autumn Joy', a plant much admired by the late garden writer Christopher Lloyd who found it 'arresting at every stage from bud to seed'. This is a plant best grown in garden beds rather than in containers.

Does anyone know the botanical name 
of this winter flowering Sedum

Sedums can be purchased from most nurseries, but the tall growing varieties are harder to find. One nursery which sells them is Lambley nursery in Ascot, Victoria. http://lambley.com.au/

There are many books on succulents that make passing mention to sedums. Specialist book mostly approach the subject from a botanical perspective. Readers besotted by this hardy genus may be interested in viewing the website of the UK based Sedum Society http://www.cactus-mall.com/sedum/

Can you recommend some other Sedum varieties? If so what time of year do they flower?