Happy Wanderer Experiment

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Woko
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Happy Wanderer Experiment

Ms Woko & I recently had a number of Monterey Pines Pinus radiata cut down. Their cones had been providing some food for Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos & Sulphur-crested Cockatoos but now that our Banksias are maturing & also providing food for the cockatoos it was time for the pines to go.

The result is we now have stacks of cut stumps in the areas where the pine trees were growing. Yesterday I scattered among & around the stacks Hardenbergia violacea seeds hoping that they'll germinate & enventually cover the stacks. If all goes well they'll also provide habitat for at least one species of butterfly which lays its eggs on the leaves of this creeper. And the eggs & larvae, of course, will provide food for birds.

This idea was triggered when I spied about 40 Hardenbergia violacea seedlings germinating underneath a Hardenbergia creeper near our house.

Young Hardenbergia violacea

GregL
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Hardenbergia is native in my area and grows along the roadside. Unfortunately it is a favourite food, along with indigofera, of the swamp wallabies. Road verges give it the protection and rocky banks to scramble down it loves. Do you have indigofera native to your area? If hardenbergia does well indigofera might thrive also.

Woko
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Hi there Greg. I haven't seen Indigofera australis growing naturally in my area but the distribution map on Plant Distribution Mapper suggests that it would almost certainly have been before the area was almost totally cleared of native vegetation for grazing purposes. So I've planted half a dozen or so as part of my revegetation project. Because of the drought here it's been a struggle to keep them alive & I need to provide them with more adequate protection from rabbits as they get eaten back quite a lot. I also need to put more time into rabbit eradication.

By the way, why do you say "unfortunately" in relation to swamp wallabies eating Hardenbergia? I would have thought that providing the wallabies with natural tucker would be the way to go. Is there a shortage of Hardenbergia in your area? Do the plants that do survive need protection from the wallabies?

GregL
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I mean unfortunate for me because I would like to have lots of Hardenbergia growing on my property but the wallabies ensure that isn't going to happen. Indigofera once established has great powers of regeneration so even though the wallabies eat it back it can still thrive, not so the Hardenbergia. There doesn't seem to be any shortage of Hardenbergia here but the only plants that get to a good size are roadside plants that the wallabies don't eat. Wallabies seem to have a bit of road sense, unlike kangaroos.

Woko
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Interesting, Greg. I noticed that a Hardenbergia we had growing near our house was constantly eaten down by rabbits until it expired. If I can get the Indigoferas established I'll watch with interest their regenerative capacity.

GregL
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The main wallaby control method i use is to grow a lot of the things they like to eat so the damage gets spread around. Unfortunately their liking for Hardenbergia means they will eat it before any other plants. I think the hardenbergia copes by growing in inaccessable places.

Woko
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I like your thinking, shirley, & your approach, Greg.

Qyn
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Greg, you could try fencing the Hardenbergia off with temporary fencing until it establishes enough to withstand the grazing or would that not be possible?

Alison
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