Flush with the success of my various rainforest plantings to date (i.e. they are still alive), I am about to embark on another bed. Wanting to highlight the beauty of natives interplanted with their exotic counterparts, I am planning to go with something like this:

Native Frangipani (Hymenosporum flavum)
Native Ixora (Ixora Queenslandica)
Native Gardenia (Randia Fitzalani)
Native Rhododendron (Rhododendron lochiae)

I am aware of a few gaps in my plan:

- at best, its a collection of flowering/fragrant plants with nice foliage

- at worst, its a hodge-podge of plants whose sole claim to fame is that they were given the title 'native X', where 'X' is a species they may not even be related to.

- it is in direct contrast to my sermons re limiting one's palette and avoiding the 'collections for their own sake' approach to gardening. In my defence, I do see the grouping of these rainforest plants as a valuable addition to the existing theme of the garden, not merely a botanical outpost amid a sea of Crotons, Cordylines and the aforementioned exotic namesakes.

I rationalise all of this by pointing to the main aim of most gardeners : to create beauty, shade and food/habitat where none previously existed. Somewhere amidst the lillipillies, red cedar, pendas and other trees which will eventually dominate the garden, I think I can spare a few metres for 'beauty'.

Here's hoping :)

Cheers,

Artie

PS MM - I am going to break my 'silence' and post a photo of the bed when it is complete - if nothing else, it should bring a smile to the face of more experienced gardeners :)

Your new planting sounds interesting.

May I suggest another you might try? There is an Aussie Crepe myrtle (L. fraseranum) that looks really nice and might be talking point. I believe it is availble from some Qld nurseries.

regards

Dennis Mc

Cheers,
Dee.

Trish

I have one growing, it's healthy, but its growth has been very slow and much more open than the exotic version - part of the reason is its location, where it has to compete with other plants.

Frank

You've opened Pandora's box on this. I assume by 'Native Murraya', you mean Murraya Koenigii (Curry Tree) ? My understanding is that this is an understory species, and would probably need the rainforest microclimate to do well. Corrections most welcome, but its the other Murraya which I'd like to discuss here.

Murraya Paniculata is a species which annoys me greatly, as you will often see the appendage 'exotic form' when looking at websites which list it as an environmental weed. I believe that there *may be* a native M. Paniculata, a remnant of the Indo-Australian land bridge, but I have absolutely no idea how one distinguishes the native from the exotic eco-terrorist. The site below has this explanation :

It was first recorded as naturalised in Sandgate, southern Queensland, in 1963. It is invasive and naturalising in South-east and Central Queensland and has the potential to become a serious weed in North Queensland.

What say you, GardenWebbers - is it just an exotic weed which has become naturalised, or is there a native form of M Paniculata ?

From your own previous post at:

http://www.au.gardenweb.com/forums/load/oznative/msg0902481532604.html?14

"* Murrayas - OK, I believe that there *is* a native Murraya somewhere in North Queensland, but the plant that most gardeners will encounter is Murraya Paniculata (Orange Jessamine/Mock Orange), and it comes from Central and Southeast Asia."

The one I have planted is Murraya ovatifoliolata. Some old references classify it as a subspecies of M. paniculata (Murraya paniculata var. ovatifoliolata). However more recent references have it as a species in its own right.

The following wikipedia link classifies it as a separate species:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murraya

as does Cas Liber at his web site:

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~casliber/nativealternative.html

From a 2005 Men of the Trees reference:

http://www.menofthetrees.org.au/docs/newsltr/nov2005/Twahamwe%20November-05.doc

"As part of the Greening Main Roads Corridors Program – a joint venture with the Queensland Government Department of Main Roads – Greening Australia Queensland (GAQ) will be trailing the use of a closely-related native species. Murraya ovatifoliolata, as an alternative to the exotic mock orange.
Previously know as Murraya paniculate var. ovatifoliolata, the native mock orange is found in drier rainforest communities in central and northern Queensland where it grows as an understorey or midstorey shrub, particularly along forest edges. It looks very similar to the exotic mock orange, and is distinguished by rounder, more olive-coloured foliage. Although slower growing than the exotic mock orange, the native mock-orange is hardy, drought tolerant and adaptable to both full sun and partial shade.

Mine is definitely slower growing than the exotic type, as I mentioned in my previous post.

Cheers,
Frank

Curry tree is notorious for suckering in cQ anyway. Someone placed one in my mother's tiny reveg planting (it wasn't me!) and I sprayed approx 30 x 6" high suckers and applied neat G to the parent's cut stump last week. Bet I get to spray again, and again. I haven't yet heard of bird/ wind transmission.

Cheers
Rose

I tried to find Plumbago zeylanica back in the 1980s without success. Since then I think I got some seeds from Nindethana but left it too long to plant them and none sprouted. Are you aware of any sources of plants?

Cheers,
Frank

From Calliope Landcare's Native Plants for Curtis Region Gardens (the best few dollars I ever spent): flowers white or pale blue, propagation by cutting.

Your list is interesting, Trish.

Chilly down there last night? SO and I are going to Ravensbourne next week, hope the woolies are woolly enough.

Thanks, Artie!

Cheers
Rose

Also there: native and exotic murraya planted side by side.

Plumbago in foreground, Graptophyllum ilicifolium behind @ Mackay Botanical Gardens

Native murraya

Leaf detail, native murraya.

Rose

I have a couple of Graptophyllum ilicifolium right next to the house on its south side but those in your photo look huge - I did not realise they would get that big. I might have to think about controlling them by pruning in future. Mine are less than 2m at present though a few years old.

Cheers,
Frank

Whats a 3.5 hour drive at $1.33 a litre compared to such native treasures ? :)

I should probably tell you that the murraya in the pic was the best in a line of about 8 plants, one of which had carked it. But you know, the exotic one gets a disease of some kind. All those my mother planted years ago at the acreage have gone to heaven, lack of water may have had something to do with it :).....they have extremely hard wood and are so difficult to pull out. And now her short hedge of them near The Caves has just about gone after 12 years, aided by the chainsaw.

She has 3 x G. ilicifoliums in that spot now doing well, they were just about giveaways at Fitzroy Nurseries. 14 in 8" pots, easily negotiated down to $3, shared with some neighbours. Not popular with the plant buying public apparently.

Frank, the grapto hedge blends in rather with the background, unknown spp. The staff keep it at about 1.5m by clipping 4 times yearly. It's in full sun and in good soil and gets plenty of water in this spot. Got your PM!

Cheers
Rose

I see now that the Graptophyllum is a lower hedge in front of another taller bush in your photo. I had thought the tall bush at the back of the photo was the Graptophyllum.

Trish - good to know the Plumbago is indigenous. We had the exotic blue form in our front garden but I took it out because my daughter hated getting the sticky seeds on her when she brushed past it. I will choose a less prominent spot for the native plant, if I succeed with the seeds Rose sent me. Let us know on the forum if you do locate a plant at Franke's Road, and a photo would be good too if you can manage it.

Cheers,
Frank

The seeds that I was sent by a generous forum member unfortunately did not germinate. We moved from the Toowoomba area three years ago, and are now living in Brisbane. The good news is that I found and bought a plant recently (a big surprise) at Nielsen's nursery at Loganholme. It started flowering shortly after I planted it. It's a bit straggly but has to deal with difficult conditions - poor ground, dry, near a tree.

Now we're on the move again to another part of Brisbane, and I have taken some cuttings in the hope of striking it.

Update on red-flowering Hymenosporum flavum

Probably four or five years ago, when we were still living in the Toowoomba area, a gentleman on this forum offered seeds for a red-flowering Native Frangipani (Hymenosporum flavum). He sent me six, from memory. From those, I succeeded in growing four plants. Unfortunately, when we moved I left three of them behind (in the garden). I managed to bring one here and it is growing in our front garden. It is flowering for the first time now.

The flowers are a very interesting blend of colours. Like the species plant, they start off white and go to yellow, and then get some red in them. They do not turn pure red. In fact I prefer them the way they are, rather than pure red. I am trying to strike some cuttings now.

If anyone has some fool-proof advice on striking them, please let me know, because when I tried striking cuttings of Hymenosporum before, I was not successful. (Unfortunately I am rather poor at this essential skill.)

I hope to be able to harvest some seeds from this tree before we move house, but am not sure how long they take to ripen. It would be interesting to see how the flowers would vary from the seeds.

Cheers,
Frank

How big is your red flowering Hymenosporum? Would you contemplate moving it?

All the best for the new place,
Rose

This forum does seem to be little used these days. I am as guilty as the next person for that. But it was nice to hear from you. Thanks for the good wishes.

The Hymenosporum is far too big to move now. It's probably 5m or more tall now, although it is fairly narrow (what they call an "upright habit" I believe). I have put plastic bags around some of the seed pods. These are still green and since we haven't sold the house yet, I'm hoping they will be ripe before we leave.

If the exotic plumbago suckers, that gives me an idea. I will try burying one or more of the branches of the native plant and see if it roots. They are fairly spindly branches and fall onto the ground anyway so that might happen a bit in nature.

Best wishes,
Frank