Sunshine Coast Hinterland Times

In the Wild with Spencer Shaw: Heap on that Habitat !

Spring has sprung and it’s a great time to think about increasing the habitat on your land for our local flora and fauna. From the smallest of backyards in town to working farms there’s something we can all do improve our own quality of life and ensure the survival of the animals and plants that [...]

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Lantana … nationally significant

IT IS A WEED OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE, a WONS, and much has been written about its control. Both a detailed Control Manual which can be downloaded, and a CD, are available. However, experienced revegetators on an average 4-5 hectares of land where rainforest is being re-established will often admit that it isn’t their main concern. Therefore, [...]

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In the Wild with Spencer Shaw

Walk on the weed side …! I’VE HAD A FEW PEOPLE pick me up on my last article, in which it appears to me, that it appears to them, that I was extolling the virtues of the Declared Class 3 weed Broad- Leaf Privet. Whilst acknowledging my own personal weedy heritage – having sprung forth [...]

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The National Perspective…

In March, the Australian Government released its draft National Wildlife Corridors Plan. Some corridors (ecological connections) such as Gondwanalink in Western Australia are already established with multiple partners, and a potential or prospective corridor runs from Noosa to Ballina. Now, the community is usually a step ahead of government and Barung’s Hinterland Bush Links, written [...]

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What’s Flowering Now?

Hibiscus Mutabilis Common name: Cotton Rose, Rose of Sharon or Confederate Rose. The large hibiscus family includes medium-sized trees to small shrubs. Rosella, Okra and Cotton are close relatives. Of course the most colourful and well known cultivars come from the Hawaiian Hibiscus (Rosa Sinensis). The Rose of Sharon is a large shrub that grows [...]

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Mark Healy’s magical paths & gardens

THERE’S something about Mark Healy’s labyrinth and beehive gardens that instantly draws you in. The patterns, shapes and lines seem to register somewhere deep in the psyche, creating a different relationship than we would normally have with a standard garden. Mark launched his company Kitscape in Sydney last year. Now living in Conondale after years [...]

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Soils Matter

ANY experienced tree planter, gardener, horticulturalist, willadviseyouto“gettoknowyoursoil”.Thisreally applies up here on the Blackall Range where the underlying geology is endlessly variable and fascinating. We know that our continent is old with generally poor soils but on the Sunshine Coast, recent volcanic history dates back only around 31 million years. It is well worth reading “Rocks [...]

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In the Wild with Spencer Shaw

Inspirational LAST Saturday, Karen and I went for a walk in a great patch of rainforest at Flaxton. The amazing thing about this rainforest is that most of it was planted or regenerated over the last 5-15 years! Surprisingly, this isn’t a national park or undertaken by a large organisation or community group. This is [...]

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August …What’s Flowering Now?

Magnolia soulangiana Magnolias are native to America, East asia and the Himalayas. The plant was named after pierre Magnol, a famous director of the Mont Pellier botanical gardens two centuries ago. Early gardeners fell in love with this tree that bloomed profusely with such flamboyant flowers on bare branches. It wasnt long before magnolias found [...]

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Valuable Forests

ARECENT study published in the journal Science provides the most accurate measure so far of the amount of greenhouse gases absorbed from the atmosphere by forests. The planet’s wooded areas soak up a third of the fossil fuel emissions released into the atmosphere each year and if deforestation were stopped tomorrow, the world’s established and [...]

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