Member benefit – discounted Neutrog products, Bush Tucker
APS NSW is pleased to announce a new member benefit. We have entered into an arrangement with Neutrog, producers of Bush Tucker, for members to buy Neutrog products at a discounted price online.
Thanks to Jan Williamson, assisting with board minutes
Jan joined APS when she was keen to develop a native garden to encourage native animals and birds to their home.
Thank you Jeff Howes, contributing to plant profiles
Over the years, Jeff Howes has contributed hundreds of stories and plant profiles to our website for members and visitors to learn more about native plants.
Welcome to the APS Board – Dorothy Luther
Dorothy Luther from East Hills Group has joined the APS NSW Board. Dorothy was born on a farm near Oberon so grew up in The Bush.
Lloyd Hedges thanked by NSW govt
Congratulations to Lloyd Hedges and Menai Group for their wonderful contribution to the Feed the Birds and Glossies in the Mist Project.
APS NSW direction for the next five years
Over the last 6 months, the board with district groups and members have been developing our direction for the coming 5 years. Here is a summary of where we are headed.
Central Coast District Online Plant Sale – safe and successful
In 2020, when contact was restricted due to Covid, a small working party of Central Coast got together and planned how to do our plant sale online instead…
Conservation Officer’s report – Dan Clarke
I volunteered to be the primary editor to expand the plant profile database on the APS NSW website. These profiles are the most visited pages on our website! This year, various authors, primarily Jeff Howes, Heather Miles and Rhonda Daniels drafted approximately 200 native plant profiles, with a focus on how to grow the plants in the garden…
Community contacts – answers from our experts group
Members of the community contact the APS NSW office email with a wide variety of questions. Glenda Browne summarises recent queries.
APS NSW Quarterly at Kurnell
Anne from Northern Beaches Group reports on the APS NSW Quarterly Gathering at Kurnell in May including the Banks/Solander walk in Kamay Botany Bay National Park.
APS NSW strategy draft
Over the last 6 months, the board has been developing a new five year strategy for APS NSW. Our last strategy went from 2017 – 2020, so it is timely to rethink where we are headed, as the world keeps changing!
Congratulations to life member Leonie Hogue
Congratulations to life member Leonie Hogue from Sutherland Group.
Congratulations to life member Kris Gow
Congratulations to new life member Kris Gow from Southern Highlands Group.
Congratulations to John Arney for APS Conservation Award
Congratulations to John Arney from Sutherland Group, who received the APS NSW Conservation Award at our AGM in May 2021.
Remembering life member Betty Rymer
One of Betty’s garden design messages was – don’t interfere with nature. Betty will be remembered as a passionate scientist, researcher, gardener, teacher, writer, and supporter of native plants. She was ever so wise, ever so polite. She was an inspiration, and will be fondly remembered and greatly missed!
ANPSA Conservation report, April 2021, Dr Eddy Wajon
The ANPSA national Conservation Officer, Dr Eddy Wajon, reports on myrtle rust, bushfires and other conservation matters at April 2021.
APS NSW Strategy update
Here is an update on the opportunities and challenges ahead for us, as a society, and what our next three-year strategy needs to deliver for us. Your feedback as always is very welcome.
Meet a member – Jennifer McLean, Northern Beaches
Northern Beaches member Jennifer McLean shares how she became interested in Australian native plants, her life on a bush block and volunteering at Stony Range Botanic Garden.
Event posters from the 1980s
Enjoy several posters promoting our large public events in the late 1980s. The spectacular flower displays attracted much public interest.
Summer 2020/21 issue of Australian Plants
The Summer 2020/21 issue of Australian Plants is the second issue commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Endeavour voyage: 1770–2020. Titled ‘Along the east coast of Australia’, it was produced by Lawrie Smith AM of Native Plants Queensland.
Have your say – APS direction for the next 3 years
There’s an old saying that if you don’t know where you’re going, you won’t know when you get there! And so it goes with setting a strategy for APS NSW.
ANPSA reports from Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, November 2020
Recently, ANPSA held its annual meeting, at which the different state bodies reported. Some provided written reports on activities during the year – Queensland, Victoria and SA. These reports are included here.
Who am I?
• Enjoys holidays on sleeper trains
• Volunteers with the Pyjama Foundation, where she reads and plays with children in foster care
• Born in South Africa
• Trained as a librarian
• Gets paid to read books
• Won a prize for determining how to alphabetise index entries starting with the word ‘The’
Helping members and the public with their queries – the Experts Group
Australian Plant Society members and non-members from around Australia come to APS NSW as a source of expert knowledge about Australian plants. Questions arrive mainly via email, and occasionally through our Facebook and Instagram pages. I receive the questions and redirect them to our Experts Group. The group has eleven members who were recommended to me as being knowledgeable about Australian plants, and happy to share their knowledge.
Remembering Robin Davies
Life member Robin Davies provided friendship and support to all those she met. Her commitment to the environment and willingness to work hard to preserve it was an inspiration, as was her tenacity through a long illness. She was the mainstay of Macarthur Group, a small but dedicated group, and her perseverance has been a major factor in its survival.
Congratulations to Frank Howarth AM
Frank Howarth PSM was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2020 for significant services to the visual arts through the museums and galleries sector. Frank, a long time member of APS NSW, was the Chief Executive and Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Trust, then director of the Australian Museum 2004–2014.
Congratulations to Peter Olde OAM
APS NSW Life member Peter Olde was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to Australian native flora in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Congratulations to Life Member Ian Cox
Congratulations to Ian Cox from Parramatta Hills Group who was awarded Life Membership at the APS NSW AGM, held by Zoom on 16 May 2020. This summary is based on the nomination from Parramatta Hills Group, with added detail.
Congratulations to Life Members Chris and Leigh Cousins
Congratulations to Chris and Leigh Cousins from Hunter Valley Group who were awarded Life Membership at the APS NSW AGM, held by Zoom on 16 May 2020.
Member in the media – bushwalking during coronavirus
Ralph Cartwright explains how it happened:
“I was contacted by the SMH Urban Affairs reporter, Angus Thompson, who got my contact details from the Friends of Royal page who wanted to talk to someone still bushwalking in the Royal in the time of coronavirus. We had a brief chat for quotes and he sent a veteran photographer, Peter Rae, to meet me.
Watch Menai Group on Gardening Australia
Life member and Menai driving force Lloyd Hedges gave host Clarence Slockee a tour of the Illawong Fire Station garden maintained by the group and demonstrated how to create smoke water to germinate flannel flowers while nursery volunteer Pam Forbes highlighted the group’s project to propagate casuarinas to provide food and habitat for glossy black cockatoos in the Southern Highlands.
Celebrating 60 years of Australian Plants journal
The Summer 2019/20 issue of Australian Plants posted to members and subscribers in mid March 2020 is a very special issue celebrating 60 years of the journal. In the Editorial and tributes, co-editor Merle Thompson OAM explains the significance: “For an organisation or its publications to survive for 60 years must be regarded as a major achievement. This issue of Australian Plants marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of Volume 1, Number 1 in December 1959”.
Margaret Baker – Environmental Citizen of the Year, Blue Mountains Council
Congratulations to Margaret Baker who was awarded Environmental Citizen of the Year at Blue Mountains Council’s Australia Day Awards in January 2020.
APS members in the media in January 2020
Three APS NSW members were featured in the media in January 2020 – Conny Harris, Greg Bourke and Rhonda Daniels. See their stories
Spring 2019 issue of Australian Plants journal
The Spring 2019 issue of Australian Plants was mailed to members and subscribers in late November. Members of the Australian Plants Society NSW receive Australian Plants four times a year as part of their membership.
Brian Roach appears on Gardening Australia – twice
Brian Roach, a member of APS North Shore Group, runs Westleigh nursery from his home and has an open garden and plant sales twice a year. Brian wrote this article after the Gardening Australia team visited and filmed in 2018. The segment aired on 1 November 2019.
