joybells2's Blog

Spring has well & truly sprung!!!!
Oct 14, 2007 | 6:41 PM PST
Tag: Wollemi Pine & friends

The sky is clear blue without a cloud to be seen. No smoke either. There hasn't been any plane or chopper sounds for 2 or 3 days. Fantastic. School started back today & many of the tourists have gone. This signals the return of the "grey nomads", the name given to retirees who travel around the country in caravans & motorhomes, spending the kids' inheritance.

Many of my plants are sprouting furiously, great to see. The Wollemi Pine continues to send out new shoots. The dracaena surculosa punctulata "Sierra Leone" (magnificent name) has new leaves on spindly branches popping out everywhere (it is similar to but not the same as Gold Dust &/or Spotted dracaenas). This was another of my potted plants that was woefully neglected (to my shame), for many years. Amazing how a little TLC pays dividends. Have found out since that it is a fairly rare plant & to think we were actually going to throw it away. Just goes to show, you never know what gems may be hiding in your collections of plants!!! The maidenhair fern, which was self-sown & made itself very much at home in a zygo (holiday, etc) cactus's pot, is flourishing madly. Loves its new spot out on the front patio, great place for it. Since we moved to our new home several mths ago, our older plants have certainly gained a new vitality. Must like it here. Oh yes, the zygo still inhabits its pot & occasionally pokes out from under this mass of maidenhair fern fronds. Need a wide-angled lens to photograph the fern!!! It's hummungous!!!!

Bushfires (day 10) & Hailstorms
Oct 10, 2007 | 6:35 PM PST
Tag: Wollemi Pine

Cannot believe it!!! The fires are still alive after three days of rainstorm activity, must have missed the main fires. Choppers are still dropping H2O on it. Just like there is no such thing as a dead shark, there's no such thing as a dead fire, not in the Australian bush, anyway. Further inland our major regional centre was devastated by a severe hail, wind & rainstorm. All spring plant growth was completely destroyed, not to mention property damage. The streets were thickly covered with leaves stripped from trees, as well as large hailstones. Must be heart-breaking to have such destruction & be helpless to do anyrthing about it. Must have been terrifying. Can't say how thankful I am. We only had  a 5 minute torrential downpour & that was it.

Still smell smoke in the calm air of the a.m & our Wollemi Pine continues to sprout new growth.Perhaps the smoke has stimulated some growing mechanism or somesuch. You never know!!  

Our bushfire crisis nearly over
Oct 7, 2007 | 9:31 PM PST
Tag: Wollemi Pine

Day eight of our bushfires & they seem to be almost over. It rained for a short while this a.m. after a great deal of bluff & bluster of yesterday  afternoon's electrical storms which amounted to nothing. Typical, a lot of threats & bullying but no action. Today's rain certainly did some good, cleared the smoke from the air & no planes flying overhead, apart from a NPWS chopper. All in all, over 11000 acres of the National Park was burnt, more than a quarter of its total area. There was a total of 7 aircraft & 100 RFS volunteers, all working relentlessly. We owe them all a huge debt. Still, I know this is insignificant compared to the terribly destructive fires in Greece but it all matters, doesn't it & there was the potential for disaster.

Our Wollemi Pine may have benefitted from the smoke-laden air. Do not know whether it was because it is now used to its new pot & environment or it was the smoke (probably a bit of both) but it is now shooting out new growth, both at the top & at the tip of  a branch. Yippee, means it is happy. Fingers & toes crossed. It is our pride & joy & want it to thrive.

PS According to the TV news tonight, the fires are still alive & kicking. 85 firefighters are still in action!! Just goes to show, these fires have a mind of their own.

Bushfire & Grasstrees
Oct 4, 2007 | 5:57 PM PST
Tag: Grass trees

The fires are still burning. Two boys were caught (CCTV did it) trying to light a fire in the town, as if there wasn't enough to contend with!!! The hard-working volunteers - men & women - did a controlled burn on the southern part of town, to protect the houses that abut the National Park. Trouble is the southerly that arrived yesterday was strong & very blustery, which would have made it harder for them. Went to the airfield which is presently a hive of activity, planes lining up to be filled with H20, real assembly line it was. Land, taxi, line-up, fill-up, taxi, take off. Over & over. The 'copters land with their huge H2O baskets carefully laid on the ground, amazing how they do it. They come in to refuel & they pick up their water from the ocean. They & the fixed wing pilots, are real seat-of-the-pants flyers. It was great seeing just how professional the whole operation is, especially when most are RFS& SES volunteers. They are all true heroes.

There is some good news though, most of the Australian bush needs fire for seeding etc, but the one that truly benefits are the grass trees -xanthorrhoea -which is an uniquely Aussie plant. Like many of the native plants here, it is rather weird in appearance, has no leaves as such, but sprouts thin, bright green reed-like "leaves" from the top of a dark-brown "trunk", which is made up of burnt leaves, surrounding its central stem. When it flowers it sends up a tall spear-like ,beautiful, white flower, beloved by the honey-eaters, especially the rainbow lorikeets, followed by the seed-eaters. The flowering season after a fire is more spectacular than usual. It's due in January, hope the ones that were affected by the fire will have recovered enough by then. There are thousands of them in the National Parks around our town. Another tip for getting Australian native plant seeds to sprout, soak them in smoke "flavoured" water, gives them that " bushfire" nudge they need. 

 

The Bushfire still burns!!!
Oct 2, 2007 | 10:49 PM PST
Keep thinking that the fire has been contained but the skies are still a-buzz with the sounds of crop-duster planes carting water to be dumped on the blazes. The surf lifesaving rescue helicopter has joined them now. This is now day three, with not much sleep for the volunteers that fight these fires. The sky was bright red last night. Hope there have not been too many nesting birds affected it is the middle of the breeding season. There are some eucalypts in flower now & if too many of them burn it will affect the honeyeaters & possums. The roll-on affect of these type of events are many. Hope it will improve tomorrow at the moment it just keeps travelling. Rain would help but the temps are in the 30sC (90+F). Fingers crossed. It has been determined that the fires are the result of arson. Thought so.