Landcare SJ Inc
Annual General Meeting 

End of an Era

R U OK? Day
Planting and Morning Tea

2021 National Tree Day

Soldiers Road, Byford

Schools National Tree Day

Wildflower Society - Armadale Branch 

At a public meeting held in the Armadale Hall on 28^th of March 1961, Mr E Watts moved and Mr C Rodgers seconded a motion that a Wildflower Society be formed and be named “The Armadale-Kelmscott Wildflower Society”.
Sixty years later, in the same hall, the Armadale-Kelmscott Wildflower Society (now known as the Wildflower Society of WA – Armadale Branch) is celebrating its 60^th anniversary.
From Friday 10^th to Sunday 12^th of September, the Society will be celebrating with an exhibition of wildflowers, botanical art and photography, entertainment, talks and guided wildflower walks to local reserves. Kids activities, face painters and fairies will entertain the kids on Sunday.
In the new Kim Fletcher Gallery, local artists and photographers will be displaying their skills with a brush and lens, alongside a display of named Western Australian wildflowers.  In the Lesser Hall, the Bedfordale CWA will be providing refreshments while in the main hall Ian Simpson, a local who has been a multiple winner in the Australian National Banjo Championships, will entertain visitors.
On Saturday evening, The Giovanni Consort, Western Australia’s professional chamber choir, will take the audience through a musical journey through flowers and nature. Their sublime voices will bring to life enchanting and stirring music from throughout history, as well as premiere an exciting new composition on the theme of Western Australian wildflowers.
Over the weekend there will be talks by Vivienne Hanson on bush medicine, Steve McCabe on bush tucker. Guided bus trips from the hall to local reserves will be led by Kim Fletcher, our branch member and long-time resident of Armadale.

Where 

• Armadale District Hall  (90 Jull Street, Armadale)

• September Friday 10^th        1pm - 4pm
• September Saturday 11^th    10am - 5pm
• September Sunday 12^th      10am .- 5pm

Jarrahdale Walks 

SJ Garden Competition

Calling all green thumbs – the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale is searching for SJ’s best gardens!

Show off your blooming garden in the 2021 SJ Garden Competition.
This year there are six categories:

• Native Garden
• Waterwise Garden
• Traditional Garden
• Edible Garden
• Rural Garden
• Commercial Garden

Winners of each category will receive a $200 gardening voucher.  

For more information about the categories, competition terms and conditions and to enter, visit: https://www.sjshire.wa.gov.au/sjgardencompetition

Entries close 5:00pm, Friday 3 September 2021.

 Native Vegetation Policy

Pretty and Weedy

Djilba is well and truly here, and with it so is the wildflower season across the Southwest of WA. A range of species have begun to bloom in full force already. Most notably, the wattles (Acacias). A canopy with an abundance of yellow flowers has often been noted as an indicative sign of the arrival of Djilba, the Noongar season of conception. However, many of the full blooms of yellow we now see on throughout the Southwest are from Eastern State Acacia species. Many of which were brought to WA as ornamental plant specimens, early revegetation species and windbreak species. Due to their ability to reproduce with ease and adaptability, these introduced species have spread into bushlands, wetlands, road reserves and parklands. ultimately out-competing the endemic species. 

Common introduced species of Acacias that are often seen around the Southwest include:
Acacia longifolia (Sydney Golden Wattle)
Acacia baileyana (Cootamundra Wattle)
Acacia itephylla (Flinders Range Wattle)
Acacia podalyrifolia (Queensland Silver Wattle)
Acacia decurrens (Black Wattle)

These introduced Acacias capitalise on disturbance within the environment. Disturbance events such as intense fire, logging or land clearing can provide prime areas of bare soil, with little competition from endemic species. Due to their fast-growing nature, they are able to quickly outcompete local species. This can result in thriving monocultures of introduced Acacias. 

If introduced Acacias are an issue on your property, they can be easily controlled by hand pulling juvenile plants and/or by cutting the plant down at ground level. Some Acacia species do require further treatments to control an infestation. For further information on how to control these Acacias and other woody weed species, please click here.

Pictures below: Acacia podalyrifolia, Acacia itephylla, Acacia longifolia, Acacia baileyana

Nyoongar Calendar
 

Djilba season is a time to look for the yellow and cream flowers starting en mass.

Djilba is a transitional time of the year, with some very cold and clear days combining with warmer, rainy and windy days mixing with the occasional sunny day or two.

This is the start of the massive flowering explosion that happens in the South West. This starts with the yellow flowering plants such as the Acacias. Also, colours that are around at this time of year are creams, combined with some vivid and striking blues.

Traditionally, the main food sources included many of the land-based grazing animals as in the season before. These included the Yongar (kangaroo), the Waitj (emu) and the Koomal (possum).

As the days start to warm up, we start to see and hear the first of the newborns with their proud parent out and about providing them food, guiding them through foraging tasks and protecting their family units from much bigger animals, including people.

The woodland birds will still be nest bound, hence the swooping protective behaviour of the Koolbardi (Magpie) starts to ramp up and if watched closely, so to do the Djidi Djidi (Willy Wag Tails) and the Chuck-a-luck (Wattle Birds) to name a couple of others.

As the season progresses and the temperatures continue to rise, we'll start to see the flower stalks of the Balgas (Grass Trees) emerging in preparation for the coming Kambarang season.

- South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council

Species: Acacia extensa