The Illawarra Grevillea Park in Bulli, New South Wales | Non-profit organisation

The Illawarra Grevillea Park

Locality: Bulli, New South Wales

Address: Grevillea Park Rd 2516 Bulli, NSW, Australia

Website: https://illawarragrevilleapark.com.au

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• Sport & recreation
• Non-profit organisation

25.01.2022 The Effect of Drought and Flood. A small group of us went on a day trip to the Blue Mountains of NSW to look at Grevilleas rosmarinifolia and sericea. We went to several spots in Hartley, Lawson and Glenbrook and there was evidence of both drought and flood affecting populations at each place. Hartley was the first stop to find Grevillea rosmarinifolia. This is the original collected type form found here and it was thought to be extinct but was rediscovered in 1999. It grows ...along river banks in the area in what looks like pure sand. After a bit of searching plants were found, further observation revealed a number of plants had died, all at about the same distance from the river. Plants closer to the river and water were healthy. One can only assume that the dead plants succumbed to the long term drought of the last couple of years. Hopefully there might be enough seed in the surrouding areas to resprout when conditions are suitable. On to Lawson to look for Grevillea sericea, the form here has a larger flower and is a nice pink colour. There were plants around but not much flower on them, again due to the effects of longterm drought, The final stop was Glenbrook, looking for the G. sericea subspecies riparia. This grows along riverbanks in sand as well. There was evidence here that a fairly substantial flood had gone through the area (Autumn) with erosion evident approx 10 to 15m above the normal river level. Known locations of specimens were found to be empty with all vegetation gone, showing how powerful the floodwaters must have been. A search along the ridgetop revealed a few plants, again with very little in the way of flowers on them. We only made a cursory examination at each site, further proper surveys may be needed to establish whether plant populations are declining or not. It was a sobering day, seeing how vulnerble our flora is to the vagaries of climate, let alone various forms of human intervention. Of course I took my camera along and there were quite a few other plants that also caught my eye. And I'm not happy on an excursion into the bush if I don't see orchids, this time lots of yellow Donkey orchids and a lone Bearded orchid. See more

18.01.2022 It was an exciting day here at the park today with new plantings going in, the site for our planned bush food garden receiving an substantial cleanup and the discovery of a previously unrecorded species here at the park. We are in the process of preparing a new picnic area and today more plants were placed in the garden beds around this area. There is a mass planting of Backhousia myrtlfolia beneath the standards already here with Eremophilas and several wattle species plant...ed along the eastern bank of this area. An area which used to be the works storage depot is in the process of being cleared in readiness for a bush food garden showcasing edible plants from around Australia. This is somethng that has been planned for some years now and it's great to see it finally geting underway. A new plant discovery is always exciting and today it was Lobelia dentata coming up in an area which had been cleared for a pathway. It hasn't been noticed here before and now the path will be rerouted to skirt these plants. It's quite an attractive little thing with tall spikes of sky blue flowers and would look nice planted in groups. A range of species photographed today, many of the grevilleas have tapered off or been pruned and other plants are now beginning to flower. See more

11.01.2022 A lovely video by one of our regular visitors.

11.01.2022 Back at the park today after rain over the last week or so and what a difference it's made. New growth on everything and recently pruned Grevilleas bouncing back from the annual haircut we give them. Even new plantings put in two weeks ago are showing signs of growth already. Speaking of annual pruning much of that has been completed today with the Grevilleas on Brickyard Hill getting their turn this week. It also gives us an opportunity to look at each garden bed and make d...ecisions about whether plants will be added or removed. The rain has been welcome as it had got very dry again over the last few months. With a La Nina weather pattern forecast for coming months we expect there will be more rain here. This can be both a blessing and a curse as soil moisture levels are still quite low but a lot of rain all at once can lead to sudden death of some Grevilleas. We are planning to do a lot of planting in coming months so hopefully they should all get away to a good start. New growth on plants caught my eye today with bright flashes of red, pink, bronze and lime green around the park. All pics this week taken on my Nokia as being without a laptop at the moment I can't download pics from the big camera. See more

09.01.2022 Our last open days for the year went extremely well with lots of visitors, some coming for the first time and some who have visited us many times before. The weather was perfect throughout the four days apart from a brief rainy and windy southerly change late on last Sunday afternoon. It was great to walk around and see so many people enjoying the park and to chat and get feedback on what we are doing. Our next open days will be in May next year and we have several new projec...ts on the go hopefully to be completed by then including turfing of a new picnic area, a sensory walk, and perhaps finally the bushfood garden will be started. We always get inquiries asking 'what plant is this one?' this time it was the Tall Riceflower (Pimelea ligustrina subsp. ligustrina). This is planted in a few places around the park in particular by the chapel and to be honest I'd never looked at it that closely. With balls of white flowers that look like little snowballs it is lovely and is also commonly used as a rootstock for grafting other pimeleas onto. Another one that was enquired about was Muttonwood (Myrsine variabilis) This is a local native that comes up all over the park but I'd never got around to researching what it was, now done! A few Grevillea species and hybrids are doing particularly well at the moment catching the eye on a wander round the park today for this week's collection of photos. Also a big thank you to Woolworths Bulli for their continued support in providing paper bags for our visitors to take their plants home in. We very much appreciate any support from the local community whether it be sharing our posts far and wide or donating products and materials for use here at the park. See more

07.01.2022 It never fails to surprise me that however many times I have walked around the park in the last eight years or so I still come across plants I haven't noticed before. This time it was Stenocarpus salignus, a locally occuring rainforest tree. While not as spectacular as its relative the Firewheel Tree, S. sinuatus it is still rather pretty in its own right. Along with much of NSW we had two days of very hot temperatures and strong winds over the weekend. Damage appears to be f...airly minimal at this stage but we do expect to see evidence of scorching over the next few weeks. It was very hot, 41'C on Saturday and 40'C again on Sunday, we can only hope we don't get too many days of these sort of temperatures over the coming summer months. Apart from the Stenocarpus there are a few grevilleas flowering at the moment and I've managed to find a Hyacinth orchid that hasn't been eaten by the resident wallabies today as well. See more

04.01.2022 Spring has well and truly sprung here at the park with flowers everywhere, birds and bees out in full force and the weather getting warmer. Grevilleas eriobotrys and intricata are filling the air with a light honey scent and the park is full of colour, perhaps the best it has been. Pruning of the large flowered tropical grevilleas will be carried out over the next few weeks, this becomes a bigger job each year as we plant out more and garden beds. They are already past their best flowering phase and the birds and bees that visit them for nectar will move on to other grevillea species in coming weeks. Native bees are out in numbers now with Metallic Green Carpenter Bees, Stinglees Bees Reed Bees and Green and Gold Nomia Bees all spotted today.

03.01.2022 Our next Public Open Days are the first two weekends in May 1, 2, 8 and 9 in 2021. Note that we only open to the public over six weekends through the year in Autumn, Winter and Spring to coincide with peak flowering times. Check with this page and our website https://illawarragrevilleapark.com.au for more details closer to the dates.

02.01.2022 I wasn't planning on doing a post today but sometimes you get something happening that you have to share. Excitement today as other volunteers spotted a Kookaburra family with food, in this case, mum, dad and baby (we presume) with what looked like a huge worm or legless lizard. They are also taking advantage of the abundance of cicadas around at the moment. We have quite a few Kookaburras here at the park and they take a great interest in any work we are doing, observing us ...from nearby trees, we all regard them with great affection. Many of our flowering trees are beginning to bloom here at the park, with the Blueberry Ash, Davidson's Plum and Qld Tree Waratah standing out at the moment. Buds are appearing on the Coachwoods, hybrid Brachychitons and some of the taller growing Grevilleas. Hyacinth Orchids are also starting to appear, although I went back to photograph a couple I saw last week and they had been eaten, presumably by our resident wallabies. Quite a range of plants photographed this week in a range of mostly pinks and reds. See more