Australian Plants online - Subscribers' NewsletterNumber 1 - December 1997Published by The Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants CONTENTS
1. What's this all about?
This newsletter is being distributed to all subscribers to the "Australian Plants online" electronic magazine as well as to SGAP members and other (hopefully) interested parties.
The main aim is to advise of the publication of the December 1997 issue of "Australian Plants online". However, I thought it might be useful to distribute an irregular newsletter which could also cover other matters such as advice of plant sales, wildflower displays, updating of the ASGAP web site and anything else which might be of interest.
Anyway....let me know what you think.
2. New Issue - "Australian Plants online"
The December 1997 issue was uploaded on December 7. I find it difficult to believe that 8 issues have now been successfully published. The response from readers continues to be favourable and the registered subscribers list is now approaching 600. Not exactly taking the web by storm....but not too bad for a niche publication!
In the December issue you'll find:
You can reach the December issue through the SGAP Home Page: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~sgap/
or you can go straight to it at: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~sgap/ac97-4.html
3. Some Dates for Your Diary
Three Regions of the Society have Autumn Plant Sales planned for March/April 1998. These will provide a great opportunity to purchase quality plants at reasonable prices and to find species not readily available elsewhere:
Saturday 28 to Sunday 29, March 1998
To be held at "Uranagong", 25 Melaleuca Road, Leopold (Geelong region), this annual event will feature 1000s of Australian native plants for sale at very reasonable prices. There will also be book sales, display garden, light refreshments and a BBQ. Adults $2.00; children free.
Saturday 18 to Sunday 19 April 1998
To be held at the Mt Annan Botanic Garden. A wide range of displays and activities is being arranged including:
The Botanic Garden entrance is signposted on Narellan Road, about 1 km north of the Camden exit from the South Western Freeway.
Grovely, Queensland - Plant Sale Sunday 19 April 1998
An annual sale with many species not commonly available and including native daisies, grevilleas, bush tucker plants, etc. The sale will be held at the Grovely TAFE college.
4. New or Updated on the Web (plus a preview of what's coming)
New
Because of space problems on the server, there have been no new sections added to the ASGAP web site since August when the "Treasure Chest" appeared. This is an archive of articles from earlier editions of Australian Plants online. The articles can be downloaded (in ZIP format) from:
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~sgap/chest.html
Updated
The Photo Gallery was updated in September and now features 122 photographs with links to distribution maps and species descriptions.
Other relatively minor updating has been provided to:
Real Soon Now!
A page about emu bushes (Eremophila species) has been prepared and will be put on line as soon as the move to our new home has been completed (see below). Other features in various stages of planning include:
5. Moving to a New Home
Baring unforeseen circumstances, the ASGAP web site will be moving shortly. For the last 6 months space on the Ozemail system has become critical. The site exceeded the 5MB allocation (which is part of the standard account) in late 1996 and additional space has been purchased on two occasions to make a total of 9MB currently available. However, this space is now inadequate and all but 1 back issue of APOL have been removed from the site to enable the December issue to be published.
While we have been very happy with the Ozemail service, it is obvious that an organisation like ASGAP with limited availability of funds cannot continue to purchase extra space. To overcome the problems we have been negotiating with Charles Sturt University (Wagga Wagga) to move the ASGAP site to its SILO server. The move should occur early in 1998 and we will then have access to much more space which will allow expansion of the site considerably.
The Ozemail system will be retained for the immediate future to provide redirection for those using the old URL and for email.
Details of the new URL will be advised in a future newsletter.
6. Eremophila Book Published
The South Australian Region of SGAP has just published a great little book on emu bushes. Called "Eremophilas for the Garden", it covers around 70 species with a colour photo of each and a short description. At $8.50 ($10.50 posted within Australia), it is a bargain. Overseas customers should add an appropriate amount to cover postage.
Copies can be obtained from:
Colin Jennings, 4 Kinnaird Cres, Highbury, South Australia, 5089 (Colin is the leader of the Eremophila Study Group).
7. Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants - Vol. 7
The latest volume of this monumental work has been recently published by Lothian Books. The Encyclopaedia commenced in 1980 and is a credit to the authors, Rodger Elliot and David Jones and to the illustrator, Trevor Blake. Vol.7 covers genera from N to Po.
At $130 per volume ($90 for Vol.1), this is not cheap but the content in the publications is staggering. Vol.1, a general introductory volume, is worth having even if you have no real need of the subsequent volumes as it includes detailed information on propagation, pests and diseases, history of cultivation, plant selection/cultivation and lists of plants for special applications.
8. Research Projects - Can you help??
From time to time I receive requests from people carrying out research into aspects of the Australian flora and requesting assistance from Society members and other enthusiasts. Often it's difficult to respond to these requests in sufficient time to be of much help, because of the infrequency of issue of most of the Society's newsletters.
This email newsletter might be one way of overcoming this problem.
The following two request were recently received - if anyone can help, please contact the researchers direct.
Finally.......
A Happy Holiday Season to all and may 1998 bring lots of enjoyment with the Australian flora.
Best wishes Brian
Brian Walters, |