wet feet.

 I,ve lost about  40  Grevillia  shrubs  and  tree's  due to the constant wet
weather,  Even the good old  Ned Kellie's  are looking a bit  sad.  So  does
anyone  know  of any  varieties  that do well in  wet  weather.  With  heavy
frosts in  winter..

There's a load of Banksia's  that haven't  noticed  it's  raining,  One old
man Banksia, about 5 meters high, has been in three inches of  water  for
about a week,  and  is  still showing  new  flowers.

Mind you the bonus  is the bottlebrush and  the  melaleuca's  are  going
great  guns,  as are a couple of  Waratah's ,
  But it looks  like the  grevillea's will need  to be  dug  out ,  some
have  gone distinctly  "sticky"  with only green foliage  at  the  top ,
and all dead  wood below.

                                                                            
      bassett

 

Dear Bassett,

I would leave them if they had any green on them, wait till they die
completely

Saw an article on TV the other week on the rainforest in your area and the
cedar cutters
Good show.
I recall visiting Jack Thompson for a few days many years ago and his house
was entirely of wood
wood walls, wooden ceiling, wooden rocking horse on the verandah
He didn't have any spare beds that he wanted to share, but we slept in the
kitchen beside the wood stove which was kept going all night
It was April and bloody wet and cold

 

Yes Jack's  right down the  end of the Upper Bobo Road, Brooklana, he's got
a huge  block, few hundred acres, it   goes  right over  the top of the
escarpment.  most of the timber  was  cut off the block to  build the place.

Most of this  country  was  cabinet  timbers, of  many  different  sorts,
Ceder, Sallywattle, Blackbutt, Coachwood,
Tallowwood,  Red Mahogany, etc,  then  when the  timber  ran out,  they
used  the land  for  dairy  cattle, and  spuds.
 There are  still ruminants  of the old  giant  timber  forests,  Jack  has
a huge amount on his place,  and a greater part  has been  turned into
National parks.  Most of the villages in the area, where  simply  there
because  of the saw mills, many  died  and  where abandoned,  when the
timber  ran out.  places  like  Briggsvale, Cascade, Frog Hollow. Platypus
Flat,  Timmsvale are  simply  names on a map, with little  left to tell the
tale of  what  was.

                                                                            
                                     bassett
 

 Join the club - our grevillias have been going great guns over the last few
years, but have lost 3 in the last 6 months - fortunately we planted most of
ours in a raised bed we built up to about 60cm above normal ground level.
Although the soil is mostly clay, the grevillias in there have coped well
with the endless wet weather we have had in Newcastle.  If only the ground
would dry out enough for me to get the lawnmower out :-)

Cheers,
Geoff