Pararistolochia praevenosa

Yesterday  morning we went to Indigiscapes to purchase some more native plants (mainly shrubs) for the front  eastern area of the property. Once a month Indigiscapes  (at Capalaba) has a small nursery open which sells a good range of local native plants  (tube stock) for the very reasonable price of $2.10 each.

http://indigiscapes.redland.qld.gov.au/GardensNursery/Nursery/Pages/default.aspx

One of the plants we collected is called:


Pararistolochia praevenosa
 or Richmond Birdwing vine.

I have already planted two specimens of this plants, one on the old backyard dunny, and another on a fence.  Both are a bit slow growing but the idea is that if enough people plant this vine, it will encourage this spectacular butterfly to return in the numbers it used to be in the Brisbane area. There are reports of "clouds" of this butterfly in earlier times. There is a Richmond Birdwing Butterfly recovery organisation which has an informative website:

http://www.richmondbirdwing.org.au/

Here is a google image of this butterfly :

One day I hope I get to see one or more of them hanging around our property.


Further to my efforts against Asparagus aethiopicus (asparagus fern)
I  found on the Queensland DPI site that diesel is effective against this plant when applied to the crown to the point of runoff ( ie  a good soaking). Diesel is quickly broken down in the soil and is relatively non toxic to animals so I have tried some diesel on a few clumps of this weed as well.  The  clumps are labelled and dated so I can check back later on outcome.


The hippeastrums are flowering profusely -  here is a white one

More rain yesterday -6mm in rain gauge yesterday morning and more rain since then as well.