Wildflowers in the Sutherland Shire
Episode: # 30 22/12/07
Presenter: Dean Boone
One of our garden club members wrote in asking to know more about the spectacular wildflowers growing on the roadside in the Sutherland Shire.
The wildflower is called Coreopsis lanceolata or the Yellow Tick Seed. It is a member of the daisy family, famous for its bright yellow flower colour. These flowers are not native to the local area, in fact it is a declared weed in a number of Sydney council areas, including the Blue Mountains.
In the Sutherland Shire it is not a declared weed but is more kind of tolerated. It forms the character of the local area but how it got here is what is really interesting. The story starts back in the meadow gardens of England with a lady who was an avid gardener who immigrated to Australia. She missed the sweeping wildflowers and meadow gardens of home and set about finding a plant that could replicate this. To her credit she could see that Australian conditions were allot harsher than English ones and settled on a plant found in the southern United States. It germinates easily from seed and will naturalise.
She then set about collecting seed from plants grown in her own garden and travelled on the Sydney train system spreading the seeds out the windows wherever she went, so she would always be reminded of home. Now before you get too excited this is considered environmental vandalism today and would probably wind you up in gaol along with a hefty fine…..so don’t do it.
Romantically her vision, at least here in the Shire, lives on and generations of people are enjoying the swaying flower heads of this colourful plant. It is just a shame she didn’t pick out a local native to do the same job but we can at least learn from her that we do need to be careful what we plant in our own gardens.
The good news is there are some hybrids of the Coreopsis available and you may find them in specialist nurseries. There is a double flower form and a dwarf form in my travels so you can have something like this in your own garden.
The moral of the story is to check with your local council before planting to see what grows naturally in your local area, especially if you live close to bushland. While this does look spectacular, it is in some places a real menace and that is what we need to avoid for future generations.
Presenter: Dean Boone
One of our garden club members wrote in asking to know more about the spectacular wildflowers growing on the roadside in the Sutherland Shire.
The wildflower is called Coreopsis lanceolata or the Yellow Tick Seed. It is a member of the daisy family, famous for its bright yellow flower colour. These flowers are not native to the local area, in fact it is a declared weed in a number of Sydney council areas, including the Blue Mountains.
In the Sutherland Shire it is not a declared weed but is more kind of tolerated. It forms the character of the local area but how it got here is what is really interesting. The story starts back in the meadow gardens of England with a lady who was an avid gardener who immigrated to Australia. She missed the sweeping wildflowers and meadow gardens of home and set about finding a plant that could replicate this. To her credit she could see that Australian conditions were allot harsher than English ones and settled on a plant found in the southern United States. It germinates easily from seed and will naturalise.
She then set about collecting seed from plants grown in her own garden and travelled on the Sydney train system spreading the seeds out the windows wherever she went, so she would always be reminded of home. Now before you get too excited this is considered environmental vandalism today and would probably wind you up in gaol along with a hefty fine…..so don’t do it.
Romantically her vision, at least here in the Shire, lives on and generations of people are enjoying the swaying flower heads of this colourful plant. It is just a shame she didn’t pick out a local native to do the same job but we can at least learn from her that we do need to be careful what we plant in our own gardens.
The good news is there are some hybrids of the Coreopsis available and you may find them in specialist nurseries. There is a double flower form and a dwarf form in my travels so you can have something like this in your own garden.
The moral of the story is to check with your local council before planting to see what grows naturally in your local area, especially if you live close to bushland. While this does look spectacular, it is in some places a real menace and that is what we need to avoid for future generations.
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