Year in review
Travel
Great year in botanical travel terms. Visited Fiji's Taveuni and saw some interesting remnant vegetation, alas mostly invaded by weeds introduced by the Americans in war time. Much of the island has been deforested or is in a very poor state. Also visited Perth and Rottnest Island, both very interesting. I hope to return to WA in the future. Visited the US and took at look at a lot of Californian scrub, saw wild deer as well as some of the Redwood forests and a wild elk preserve. Visited the California Academy of Science museums in San Diego and San Francisco, plus Chicago's amazing Lincoln Park Conservatory and the small but stylish Atlanta Botanic Garden (the only such garden I've seen with a wine stand at the entrance - those people know how to enjoy botany!). I feel very lucky to have the chance to enjoy such pleasures.
Socials
Socially, visited our native plant society fern group and the local native plant society plant propagation group. Easily the youngest participant in both cases. Attended an iNaturalist bioblitz event (not the youngest) and performed admirably despite only being active for one of the three days. I think I placed fifth in the city, which is more than I could have hoped for.
Gardening
It has been fantastic to see the garden begin to pay back my sustained efforts. Many native plants are flowering for the first time, and many have gone to seed which I have been collecting for further propagation. A dry spell during which I was away unfortunately killed off a feature tree fern I'd painstakingly relocated despite it having successfully sprouted six large fronds. I put this down to the combination of relocation and frequency of surface watering negating the otherwise anticipated depth of the plant's root system which would otherwise have been present and allowed it to survive a dry spell. All is not lost though as it has become host to some Asplenium epiphytes and unseasonably warm and wet weather has generally benefited most plantings. Despite a smattering of other losses, most plants are beginning to accelerate growth. I look forward to enhanced privacy and a further temperature drop and moisture increase once dense peripheral plantings reach relative maturity.
Weed-wise I am still fighting a persistent Nandina domestica colony (really need to remove this at the subsurface level), and a large amount of dispersed Tradescantia fluminensis which is without doubt the most persistent of all weeds but is slowly being tamed. Other difficult ones which are now coming under control are Ochna serrulata ("mickey mouse bush"), Ligustrum lucidum (broad-leaved privet), Nephrolepis cordifolia (fishbone fern), Asparagus aethiopicus (ground asparagus fern) and Jasminum polyanthum (jasmine). Simiarly, Tillandsia usneoides which was very prevalent has been largely removed except where out of reach.
Propagation efforts have begun to yield results, with a large number of acacias and a few other species germinating from seed. I have given away many native plants already and look forward to duplicating some of the numerous existing plants for which I would like to have additional specimens.
Expansion out on to the verge has apparently upset some anonymous member of the public who complained to the council. The council said the garden was 'dangerous' on account of (1) stakes and (2) wooden edging. Ignorant foolery, obviously. I asked them to clarify how this was so, and why in fact the council stakes its own verge plantings in residential areas (within eyesight) but they seem to be implying we cannot. In response to this they have been so far silent. Hopefully logic prevails. If not, I will be taking the matter up with the mayor's office and subsequently meeting the mayor in person with the support of a local councilor who assures me they will not allow idiocy to triumph. Pleasant remarks and positive reinforcement from most passing locals are meanwhile appreciated.
More recently beds are being established for edibles, which is a new frontier for me. Research seems to suggest wildly disparate views exist on treated timber in proximity to veggies, however after conducting a cursory literature review I concluded it's nothing to worry about.
Tools
Microscopy has once again become possible with the acquisition of a new monocular microscope. This version is higher resolution and has USB so it is now possible to easily capture stills and I have already obtained results with various software for focus stacking and the automatic addition of an in-image scale. This is pleasant because it is infinitely more useful to analyze a fixed image on a screen than try to do so squatting down outside, and it is great to be able to keep an accurate record of all of the fascinating seeds, flowers, creatures and so forth obtained from the garden. Recently I have sometimes begun to feel that I could simply document things living here all day every day and never get bored...
