I’ve been along to a couple of the regular working bees at the Southern Tablelands Ecosystems Park (‘STEP’) a.k.a. Forest 20 at the National Arboretum Canberra. It’s a wonderful place, kind of a regional botanic garden, established and maintained by volunteers under the auspices of the Arboretum, and designed to showcase the great diversity of plants found in our corner of the world.
After the lockdown and all of the rain and warm weather that we’ve had in recent months, it’s looking really good – but there’s a LOT of weeding to be done!
With another volunteer I’ve been working in the area set aside for the genus Bulbine – Bulbine bulbosa (Bulbine lily), Bulbine glauca (Rock lily) and Bulbine semibarbata (Leek lily). We’ve weeded areas for new beds, planted dozens of seedlings and given them a generous mulching.
Rather pleased with the outcome. All going well, there’ll be a great display of blooms for next spring.
