Wild Peach-Quandong
The yummiest of the Australian native foods is the Quandong, or Wild Peach, fruit of Santalum acuminatum. These make great pies, served with cream, icecream or custard. As the fruit is quite tart, extra sugar is required but they are certainly a treat.
Years ago we had a tree when we were living in the north of South Australia. Being parasitic we were sure that its roots were attached to a very old grape vine which grew nearby. I remember many feasts when we could beat the birds to the fruit.
Friends in the mallee often had enough fruit from their tree to freeze it. Before Quandong Pie made its appearance in restaurants, Bev was supplying frozen fruit to a private concern in Adelaide. How they heard about the supply, I don’t know.
I was given a Sunshine Milk tin of dried fruit which had come from the upper north of the state. I thought that all my Christmases had come at once!
This a widespread large shrub or tree. It has small insignificant greenish flowers followed by large shiny red fruits. It grows widely in drier areas of the country. A host plant is needed when the plants are about twelve months old. Perennial grasses are often used.
It is not easy to propagate. Some say put the seed in a hessian bag with some peat and throw it behind the back shed and check it a few months later! Various methods are used. One that is supposed to work is to soak the kernal which has been removed from the hard shell, in a solution of household bleach for half an hour. Place the kernels in a plastic bag with moist wood shavings and keep cool and dark until germination takes place. Remove the sprouted kernels as soon as possible to individual pots.
Seeds are Germinating
Some Paper Daisies (Everlasting Daisies) have begun to germinate. These are Rhodanthe chlorocephala, sub species rosea. It is always an exciting event when I see the first green shoots that signal germinating seeds.
I also noticed the first shoots of Anigozanthos humilis (Cat’s Paw), one of the Kangaroo Paw family. I can’t let myself get excited yet. Germinating is one thing. Getting them to grow on is another matter. That is when you will hear the cheering.
A friend’s mum had a wonderful yellow form of Anigozanthos flavidus from which I collected seed. That is always a reliable plant to propagate, and quite hardy in this area. The flower stalks are often over two metres tall. They look good planted in groups. They should be showing in the seed pots soon.
My great desire at the moment is to be able to germinate Anigozanthos rufus (Red Kangaroo Paw). I fell in love with this plant when I saw it growing on the side of the road near Esperence in Western Australia.
These are plants that are popular at the Australian Plants Society Plant Sale in Adelaide. The next sale is this Saturday and Sunday 29th and 30th April 2006. There is another sale at Geranium the following Sunday, 7th May.
Sowing Grass Seed
I have been putting in seed this week. I’m only a few weeks behind! I like to have the seed in by the end of March, so I have lost some critical propagation time.
Anyway, where I have been working, I have a view of the yard and all the activities of the birds. We are very fortunate here in that we have a large population of resident species and we get to see many species which are seasonal visitors. The exception is the water birds as we are a bit far from the river.
I found a supply of native grass seed which I had missed earlier and now is a good time to put the seed in. I am still learning about the optimum time for various species. We have Austrostipa species which flower from late winter to summer. There are also the summer growing species, like Chloris truncata (Windmill grass) which gives nice patches of green in an otherwise brown landscape, apart from the trees and shrubs. I probably haven’t got the sowing times correct.
Anyway, for better or worse I planted
- Austrostipa nitida, (Spear Grass)
- Austrodanthonia setacea (Wallaby Grass)
- Cymbopogon ambiguus (Lemon Grass)(Not the one used in Asian cooking!)
- Chloris truncata (Windmill Grass)
- Enneapogon nigricans
All of these are local species.
Germinating Everlasting Daisies
I made a point of sowing a lot of seed of some Xerochrysms and others last season thinking that it was a few years old and therefore the germination would be poor. However I also made the decision to smoke all the older seed to see if germination rates would improve. Unfortunately I wasn’t very scientific about it as I did not sow any unsmoked for comparison. I had little lawns sprouting in the seed containers, much to my delight and then consternation when I realised the work involved in potting on!Â
I tried a smoked vermiculite product called Regen 2000. It must be kept perfectly dry once the pack is open. As only a small amount of vermiculite is used on top of the seed you need to be using a lot of it considering the size of the pack. Smoke for this purpose can be bought in various forms, as a liquid which is diluted, or smoke primers which are soaked in a little water, to which the seed is added. Or of course you try lighting smoky fires and doing your own!
Daisy Seeds
I own my own small scale nursery and there always seems to be too much to do. I decided that I had had enough one day and thought I would just propagate for myself. Trouble is I can’t walk past a plant with cutting material on it and one packet of seed provides many more plants than I can use. I propagate for the major Plant Sales organised by the Australian Plant Society in Adelaide, and the occasional country market.
Hence the mad flurry of activity at the moment. No cuttings and seed in means no plants later. You cannot decide to go to a sale and not have worked months before to have the plants available. Raising seed is quite successful at this time of the year.
So I was really pleased to see that the seed of two Olearias (daisies) have begun to germinate. One that I prize greatly is a lovely mauve daisy, Olearia ciliata native to the mallee areas and in particular this seed came from Eyre Peninsular, SA. It has germinated within 2 weeks of sowing and I used Regen smoked vermiculite sprinkled over the seed.
There is some evidence that natural rainfall will stimulate germination in native daisies, particularly Brachyscomes. Our recent rains may have helped in this case, but whatever, I am pleased to see it.