Bad luck

This year the last Wednesday of April falls on Anzac Day so we are unlikely to have any takers for a gathering at Franke Scrub. We will be meeting again on May 30th, but the place is always open for a visit.

A large caterpillar

The large caterpillar we found on open day has been identified for us by Don Herbison-Evans. It is the "common anthelid moth", Anthelida canescens.
Like so much of Australian wildlife, it is not completely studied, with the only known host plant being Cadarghi, Corymbia torreliana. In Franke Scrub, it probably breeds on the gum-topped box, Eucalyptus moluccana -
the only Eucalyptus in the scrub.
The caterpillars turn into large moths, with the females having a 7cm wingspan.
http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/anth/canesc.html
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_moths/ANTHELIDAE.htm

Open Day

It is nearly six years since we formed the Friends of Franke Scrub and we proved ourselves a vibrant group with our second open day on Sunday. The team set up from 8 am with visitors turning up from before 9 until after midday - estimated at over 80 people. The plant sale was very popular and people also took the opportunity to join a tour through the scrub and around our new signs on the perimeter. With a lovely morning and the scrub looking so lush after recent rain, we put on a great show.

 
 Legless lizard

Open Day at Franke Scrub Sunday 25 March

To celebrate the installation of our new signs, we are having an open day from 9-12 on Sunday morning 25th March. We will be setting up from 8 am if you would like to come and help with this, then manning a display, answering questions and showing people around. Bring along a chair and smoko and we can have a chat in the shade or check on progress.
We will have trees, which are represented in our scrub, for sale from Crows Nest Nursery - $2.50 and $5.00 [some larger ones]. This is a chance to obtain very good quality local natives which are ideal for our local gardens, being most attractive to birds and butterflies as well as to us.
See also Open Day at Franke Scrub at Toowoomba Plants

Free Tree Day

We are closely associated with Peacehaven Botanic Park in nearby Highfields. They are having a free tree day in early March. At Peacehaven, you can see specimens of many of the trees which used to cover this area and are now reduced to small remnants of vegetation, such as our road reserve in Franke Road.
We now have a greater appreciation of the value of the diversity of species that occurs in rainforests and their drier related vine scrubs. Unfortunately many remnant patches of original vegetation have become smothered by invasive weeds such as lantana, privet, prickly pear, asparagus fern and cats claw creeper. We are fortunate at Franke Scrub that this weed invasion has been minimal and that our efforts over recent years have reduced the impact so that we can enjoy this accessible sample of  how things once were.

New signs are up

It was a lovely morning in the scrub for our first meeting for 2012. We now have 8 new signs around the perimeter to provide a pleasant informative stroll. With all the rain, the vegetation is looking fresh and lush. We picked up pink flowers which had fallen from Pandorea vines which are climbing happily through the canopy. They are a vivid reminder of how suitable many of our local native plants are for home gardens.

See also New Sign Trail at Toowoomba Plants

Bower Vine flowering in our canopy

We were pleased to find pink flowers on the ground while wandering in our reserve at our February meeting.

Bower Vine or Pandorea jasminoides is a popular and attractive garden plant and it is native to our area. A root-climbing woody twiner, it flowers from spring to summer. It is common in the rainforests and wet Eucalypt forests along the Dividing Range. They also grow naturally in the drier environment of Gowrie Junction.

They have shiny green foliage and their large, trumpet-shaped flowers are light pink with a ruby red throat.

As the name suggests, they are substantial vines with woody stems,suitable for training over an arch or pergola to make a lovely shady bower. Alternatively, they are popular on fences and trellises.

More information on growing these local natives in your own garden can be found at Toowoomba Plants