Pittwater Holiday

Currawong Beach Cottages are part of the paradise that is Pittwater NSW.

Currawong Beach
(photo by Gwen)

 

It is beautiful at any time of year and a week spent there in summer is fantastic. The beach is accessible only by water and is serviced by a ferry. It sits below West Head and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. A walk up onto the headland puts you among coastal sandstone flora.

Pittwater viewed through Angophora costata

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both the flannel flowers are out at this time of year.

Actinotus minor

Actinotus helianthi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sandstone flora of the Upper mountains and Pittwater do have a great deal in common but there are some species that differ. The grey spider flower is not found in the Upper Mountains. I think the small flowering tree is Synoum gladulosum, I didn’t take quite the right photos for full identification. The Australian native sundew is Drosera spatulata.

Synoum gladulosum

Grevillia buxifolia

Drosera spatulata

Sea wrack leaves and angophora leaf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sea wrack Halophia sp.  is a beautiful intertidal/subtidal seagrass. The leaves are transparent green and pink. It is always floating on the surface of the water and can be seen growing in the sand. There are three similar looking species of Halophila in Pittwater and a number of other seagrasses making up sea meadows. Sea meadows are considered a pivotal marine habitat.

Utricularia bisquamata

Utricularia bisquamata

I photographed the Cape sundew Drosera capensis  for the previous post and after a comment from Fiona realised that the flowers in the photo were not that of the sundew but of a bladderwort called Utricularia bisquamata.

Utricularia bisquamata leaves interspersed with moss and a Drosera capensis leaf at the bottom of the photo

I have corrected the previous post and have used a flower lens to get a few shots of the Utricularia. The flower is only 5mm across.

Bladderworts are carnivorous plants which trap microscopic animals in  bladders attached to their roots. This Utricularia is from South Africa.

The confusing plant combination in the Drosera pot

In the fern house

We have a little old structure at the back of our garden shed where we keep our replacement indoor plants, try and strike cuttings and germinate seedlings. It is not ideal as either a greenhouse or fern house but we make it work for us. One of our helpers there is the Australian semi-slug Helicarion mastersi which is called a herbivore but eats biofilm and sooty mould. If there is any plant damage in the area we can usually find a pest slug or snail also in residence.

We have a few plants of general interest in there from time to time. Two South African plants are flowering at the moment, Utricularia bisquamata flowers with Drosera capensis (also South African) and moss and Stapelia asterias.

Helicarion mastersi is called a semi-slug because it cannot retract fully into it’s shell

Helicarion mastersi, the little “horn” on it’s tail is an identifying feature

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drosera capensis  the Cape sundew, a carnivorous plant from South Africa growing with moss

Stapelia asterias a carrion flower from South Africa called carrion because of the scent designed to attract specialist pollinators.

A few summer flowers

Lilium asiatic hybrids Kaveri and Cocopa among elm leaves

Filipendula ulmaria Meadowsweet

Pelargonium rodneyanum Australian native

  Santolina virens Green lavender cotton

Insects in the garden

Fungus eating ladybird Illeis galbula

After a hot spell, Christmas was cool and damp and consequently stress free for gardeners worried about wilting pot plants. The summer warmth brings out the insects and we identified our 5th Ladybird species -the Australian native fungus eating ladybird – a handy beneficial in humid conditions.

We have been monitoring the whitefly and thrips populations on our abutilons since introducing the green lacewing larvae and have recorded a huge drop in pest numbers using both yellow and blue sticky

Brown lacewing on blue sticky trap with white flies a beetle and an unidentified fly

traps. We can’t say if the green lacewings contributed because we have been unable to spot either the larvae or adults in the vicinity. We did trap a brown lacewing adult on our final sticky trap and did see a brown lacewing larva on the abutilon. Environmental conditions may have contributed as we have greatly reduced watering and there was the hot dry spell. Our final insect photo is a dragon fly perched on an ivy leafed geranium. I actually gathered it up as an untidy leaf which then vibrated in my hand.

Dragonfly