'Accenture Australia'

28th February 2011

Holly removal from the gardens of the historical "Hermitage" Guest House on the Black Spur at Narbethong.

Thirteen employees from Accenture joined Phil and Janet from Landcare for a peaceful day of 'cutting and painting' wild holly with loppers and herbicide.

The original gardens at 'The Hermitage' were laid out by Baron Von Mueller in 1893. There are now many magnificent exotic trees mixed with the native mountain ash and tree ferns . I am not sure if he introduced the hollys but he did bring the first blackberries to Australia ! Thousands of wild holly plants are now invading the surrounding bushland.

Many of the trees were too large for loppers and handsaws , Chris has organised a contractor to do the major chainsaw work , then more teams of volunteers can be recruited to cut out the smaller plants . This would be an overwhelming project for the owner and his wife to complete without assistance.

Thanks Accenture volunteers.

Five of the volunteers were heading off for a long Australia Day weekend after helping us , bushwalking to Lake Tarli Karn and down the Macalister River , what beautiful weather they had for this adventure .

Mount Waverly Legends Ron and Bevis Ellis grow Bottlebrushes

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I had the privilege of meeting a wonderfully active retired couple in Glen Waverly last week . Ron and Bevis Ellis have been growing plants in their backyard for the Landcare Bushfire Recovery Project for over 18months . Ron specializes in growing bottlebrushes from cuttings and he had 700 more ready for me to collect this week .(One more ute load left to collect next week ) He now needs the space to grow plants for the QLD flood victims . Over a cuppa Ron chatted about his cobbers in the scouts and the plant growing he had done for them over the years. All the plants are grown in recycled milk cartons collected by neighbours and he requested a special thanks be given to Bunnings for donating his potting mixes. Their whole backyard is dedicated to this plant growing project but Bevis has reserved a small plot for the clothes line ! Growing the plants is a team effort , Bevis does the weeding and watering , Ron does the propagation and potting . They say it keeps them young and active although many of their friends think they are crazy

On Australia Day Janet & Justus made a quick trip to Melbourne to collect the last load of bottlebrushes and flowering gums from Mt Waverly . We missed Ron & Bevis but the plants were laid out for us in the backyard. We left them a thank you note and must remember to send a proper card from the bushfire recovery project in appreciation of their work .

Thanks very much for your beautiful plants , I 'm sure they will all go to good homes in the hills.

Fire Recovery Fencing Blitz

The last few months of 2010 was a fencing blitz for the fire affected people of Glenburn, Kinglake, Flowerdale and Pheasant Creek.

The volunteers kept coming. We had individual volunteers from Reservoir, Wallan and Belgrave; the Uniting Church boys from Shepparton and Benalla, Green Corps from Seymour, 4WD club from Melbourne, a corporate group from Earnst and Young and even a team of Rotarians from SA.

We're all having a well earned rest over January but will be back into it in February. This time helping those patient residents of Clonbinane and Wandong who have had their names down on my list since early 2010.

Photo's include the Shep boys being well fed by Des and De Cash of Kinglake West, the SA Rotarians at a Kinglake property and E & Y at Flowerdale.

Seed collecting for Lorax Project

Seed collecting activities began on the 20th of December and have been intensive over the past 10 days. Sarah Roberts and Janet have been working together to collect seeds in the Marysville, Eildon , Cathedral Range , Lake Mountain and Strathbogie Ranges areas.
Cath Olive is collecting around Taggery , Yea and the Black Range . We have bumped into her twice while collecting last week at Locksely and Gooram plus I think I spotted her 'stockings' tried onto pea bushes this morning at Strathbogie !
David Wakefield is collecting around Flowerdale and Strath Creek .
Tim Stewart from Treeproject is collecting from Glenburn to Kinglake back towards Melbourne.
Chris Cobern collects around Kinglake when he gets a chance .
We are building a comprehensive collection of understorey seed from the fire areas to be used
in future community and volunteer revegetation projects from peas and wattles to wetland plants , creepers ,wildflowers & grasses.