JUNE 2012 EDITION.pdf(6.5mB) - The Monthly Chronicle

14 — Monthly Chronicle, June/July 2012
TREATING TREES
WITH PRIDE
Lawn Mowing Subsidy
Community Assist Lawn Mowing
We give $20 back to you,
to help with your lawn
mowing Contractor visits,
up to 12 cuts per year,
totalling $240.
If you are a pensioner, call
Phone: 9488 8390
Creative
Solutions To Your
Outdoor Living
Requirements
FREE DESIGN ADVICE
& LOCAL SITE
INSPECTION
Free Local Delivery
THOMSONS
OUTDOOR PINE
• Decks • Pergolas • Lattice • Gates
• External Federation Decor
• Easy to Erect
Pergola and Deck Kits
• Stainless Steel Handrail
NOW AVAILABLE
NOW AT 5 CHILVERS ROAD
THORNLEIGH 9980 7611
www.thomsonsoutdoorpine.com.au
There’s a chill in
the air!
Come and garden with
Easy Care Gardening Inc
call us on 9983 1644
New volunteers are
always needed!
volunteering@
easycaregardening.
org.au
OPEN
7 DAYS
KEN COLES
EXCAVATIONS P/L
9484 0268
All earthmoving machinery
available
FOR HIRE
AT SHORT NOTICE
Back Hoes, Loaders, 4 W. D. & Crawler,
Skid Steer (Bobcat etc...), Excavators,
Tip Trucks - Large and Small
FREE ADVICE
GOOD OPERATORS
NOW AT: 96 BOUNDARY ROAD
PENNANT HILLS
Fax: 9980 7144
Thornleigh-based Arbor
Pride specialises in all
types of tree removal, tree
pruning, consultation,
pest/disease diagnosis
and Level 5 Arborist
reports.
As Arbor Pride deals
with councils regularly,
they can assist with
council applications for
desired tree work and
provide high quality and
efficient teams to carry out
that work.
The company caters to
both commercial and
residential clients in the
Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai and
Hills Shire areas and has
extensive knowledge of
Tree Preservation Orders
and their interpretation.
For instance, many may
not be aware that Hornsby
Shire Council made a
significant change to its
Tree Preservation Order on
September 6, 2011 with
focus on preserving
species indigenous to
NATURE NOTES
THORNLEIGH BIRDS
A week or two ago I
was taking my regular
bushwalk from
Cherrybrook to
Hornsby Shire areas. This
means many trees that
were previously protected
by the council are no
longer, making removals
and pruning much easier.
As the name implies,
Arbor Pride recognises
the importance of trees to
both the natural and built
environments and while
they will legally remove
trees at an owner’s
request, if pruning is all
that is required that will
be their recommendation.
With the Level 5
qualification in
Arboriculture, Arbor Pride
can offer expert tree
consultations that fulfil all
qualification requirements
by any council or court of
law. There is no higher
qualification in Australia
for consulting arborists.
The custodian of Arbor
Pride, Julian Parry has
spent over 17 years
honing the company’s
management, business
With Nick Hodges
Thornleigh when a jogger
panted to a halt.
Noticing my binoculars
(they always give the game
away) he waved at the
trees and said, “You don’t
see much in here, I
suppose?”
I’m often asked if I’ve
seen anything interesting
and am just as frequently
unsure how to reply.
To a knowledgeable
‘birder’ my answer is
ABC PRESENTER
TO OPEN SHOW
ABC Gardening
Australia presenter,
author, hybridiser and
propagator of Australian
native plants, Angus
development and onsite
performance in Australia
and overseas and this
gives you the benefit of
broad- ranging and
extensive experience
working with trees in
internationally-respected
locations such as: the
Royal Horticultural Society
Garden Wisley; the Sir
Harold Hillier Arboretum in
Britain and Taronga Zoo in
Sydney.
Presently, Arbor Pride
has two exceptional offers
for July – see advert page
3 and call Arbor Pride on
1300 887 417.
Arbor Pride is a
member of the Tree
Contractors Association
of Australia; a member of
the International Society of
Arboriculture and a
member of the Australian
Association of Arboriculture
(AA) and is committed to
their high standards of tree
care.
HAPPENINGS
AIR
The Sydney Hills
Branch of the Association
of Independent Retirees
will meet at Pennant Hills
Bowling Club Yarrara
Road, Pennant Hills on
Friday, July 6 at 10am. At
this meeting Sadhama
Kuman from Centrelink
will speak on the Budget
Changes. If you’re recently
retired, call in and be
informed of any impending
changes Find out more at
www. hillsair.com
President: Lauris Rennie.
9634 -1186
Stewart will open the
NSW Camellia Research
Society’s 43rd Annual
Camellia Show, in the
wheelchair friendly hall at
SUPPORT GROUP
The next meeting of
Hornsby Kur-ing-ai
Parkinsons Support
Group will be held on
Friday July 6 at
Turramurra Uniting
Church, Turramurra Ave.
Turramurra between 10.am
and 12.00 noon.
This will be the AGM
and it will be followed by
the guest speaker who will
be a Continence Advisor
from North Sydney Home
Nursing Service
different from the one I
give to a lessknowledgeable
passer-by.
But how do I know into
which category the
enquirer falls?
On this occasion I was
fairly sure so I tried an
experiment. Ignoring the
better-known rosellas,
lorikeets and cockatoos, I
mentioned some of the
other common species I’d
seen and would nearly
always see on this walk:
White-cheeked
Ravenswood School for
Girls, Henry St, Gordon
at 2.30pm on Saturday,
July 14.
The Show will be open
to the public from 1.30 to
4.30pm on Saturday, and
10am to 4pm on Sunday,
July 15. Admission is $5,
afternoon tea and lunch
are available, and plants
DIAL-A-MUM
Dial-A-Mum, is a not for
profit volunteer telephone
support organisation that
has been operating for 33
years. For potential
volunteers, a comprehensive
training program
will commence on Monday
August 6. An information
session will also be held on
July 16. To find out more
phone 9477 6777 email:
dial_a_mum@hotmail.com
or go to website: dial-amum.org.au
If your trees need treating call the experts,
Arbor Pride on 1300 887 417
Honeyeaters, Whitethroated
Treecreepers,
Brown Gerygones, Brown
Thornbills, Grey Fantails,
Eastern Spinebills.
“Really?” The jogger
looked doubtful.
It occurred to me later
that many of the people
living at the end of the
path, where it leaves the
bush in Thornleigh, may
not have heard of - or seen
- their avian neighbours
either. And yet there they
are, just into the bush: vey
common and, with just a
little effort, easy to observe.
With a pair of binoculars
will be for sale.
More than a thousand
beautiful specimen
blooms will be on display
and members of the NSW
Camellia Research Society
will be on hand to help
with information about
camellias and their culture,
and with brochures and
booklets on camellias.
OMNi
Epping OMNi (Older
Men’s Network
Incorporated) is a
discussion group for retired
men 55plus. Meetings are
from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm
on the 2nd and 4th
Wednesdays of each month
at Epping Leisure and
Learning Centre, below
Epping Library. The first
meeting of alternate
months is followed by a
lunch. New members
welcome. Contact Jock
9484 7041
and only a hint of patience
you will almost certainly
see the above mentioned
species. You will need a
field guide to aid
identification and even
then you could have
trouble with thornbills and
gerygones but practice
makes perfect and, whether
or not you put a name to
the birds you’ll still see
them. And when, through
your binoculars, you light
upon a Spotted Pardalote -
a tiny, jewel-like bird of
dazzling reds and yellows -
you’ll be glad you did.
Bring your blooms for
identification, or help with
problems.
This year, there is also a
Photography Competition,
and there will be displays
of Sogetsu Ikebana.
Anyone is welcome to
exhibit, and the Show
Schedule and Photography
Competition details can be
downloaded from
www.camelliasnsw.org
or posted.
PROBUS
Pennant Hills Men’s
Probus Club meets on the
fourth Friday of each
month at Pennant Hills
Bowling Club at 10.30am.
There is a guest a Speaker
followed by a meeting and
lunch. A mixed outing is
planned on each second
Friday with partners and
friends. On July 27 Paul
Barclay will discuss The
History of the Calendar.
For further information
contact John Crane on
9487 1385.
As I write this in mid
June, I’ve just returned
from taking two ‘backto-back’
tours for Ross
Garden Tours. First
was 3 weeks in China
exploring that
fascinating country
and visiting the
incredible Peony Festival in Luoyang – a first for
Ross Tours and an unbelievable experience. A
few days at home and then it was the France tour
– great gardens, food and glorious countryside! It’s
good to be back for a while though!
So…what to do in the garden though these rather
dreary winter days:
• Ornamental weeping maples are bare of leaves
The Garden Edge by Peter Whitehead CNP
and it is a great opportunity to look at the
structure of the plant – a little trim here and there
might be necessary to create that perfect shape.
• Similarly, many deciduous trees and shrubs can
be inspected closely for borer damage and given a
trim to shape. Collect all the fallen leaves and
either compost them or lay on garden beds as
mulch.
• Check out your local garden centre for different
coloured varieties of Hellebore – the Winter Rose
and one of my favourite perennials. These are
ideally suited to growing beneath those weeping
maples I was talking about and they are very easy
to grow – plant and forget (apart from obvious
watering etc!)
• My Lots a Lemon is hanging heavy with masses
of fruit. It grows in a large terracotta pot and I
feed it regularly through the warm months with
Yates Dynamic Lifter for Citrus and alternate
with Manutec Fruit and Citrus Food.
Remember that this is a Meyer Lemon variety, so
once the fruit is picked it won’t keep as long as
the common old thick skinned Eureka Lemon.
The fruit keep better on the bush until you need
them – but not for too long. Make up some
preserved lemons, which is so easy to do or
concentrated lemon juice cordial.
• I know last month I wrote about all the fruit
and veggies to plant. Do it now! These are:
Potatoes, Strawberries, Rhubarb, Asparagus and in
the flower garden get those Lilium corms planted
as soon as possible as they can dry out in the
packaging.
• And now to the world’s most popular flower –
the Rose! It’s pruning time at the end of the
month. Firstly…don’t fret about it. It’s easy and
remember that Roses are very forgiving plants and
can cope with any sort of pruning!
• So….arm yourself with a pair of sharp secateurs
and loppers or saw for thicker stems. Also diluted
lime sulphur spray. And of course some protective
gloves!
• Cut out all weak twiggy growth to the base,
remove old stems and retain 3-4 stronger and
younger stems. Cut these back to about 30-50cms
from the ground depending on the age of the
plant. If possible cut on an angle above an
outward facing bud. Discard all the old stems and
leaves on the ground. Spray the entire plant and
ground with lime sulphur. Mulch with cow
manure. This is ample nutrition for the time
being. Proper feeding will begin in spring. You’re
done – well done!