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Garden of Life with Stan Maley: Friends of Geraldton Gardens gets jump on flora tags

Stan MaleyMidwest Times
The plant sign workshop.
Camera IconThe plant sign workshop. Credit: Stan Maley

Friends of Geraldton Gardens is creating name tags for the native flora that is growing with colour and strength in Maitland Park.

This is part of FroGGs’ overall vision to build a Geraldton Botanical Garden of our native flora in the park.

A plant tag-making workshop was held at the same time as the local farmer’s market on July 17.

Yvonne Marsden catered for the event, which was attended by 12 people. Funded by Iluka, FroGGs created plant identification tags from unfired brick pavers supplied by the Geraldton Brickworks, using templates made by Steve Percy from Penguin 3D Print and Electronics.

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“The idea came about when I saw an example of a clay plant identification tag used in a botanic garden in Victoria,” Irene Ghannage, chair of FroGGs said. “I knew that Roxanne Grant, our vice-chair, had a good relationship with the Geraldton Brickworks and there was this opportunity to create this style of identification tag for the plants in our Geraldton Botanic Gardens.

Danny McShane at the plant tag workshop.
Camera IconDanny McShane at the plant tag workshop. Credit: Stan Maley

“It went really well and we created 44 plant tags plus an extra couple of arty pieces by pressing plants into the wet clay. They have been taken back to the brickworks to be fired. They look great and I’m looking forward to the day when we will plant them into the garden and unite them with their plant species. Stay tuned for details about this upcoming event.”

Local people can come by once the signs are placed, identify the plants they like, see how they will fit into the garden, and get on with planting. Remember, these plants are growing in neutral pale yellow soil with no fertiliser. The plain yellow soil is more than half a metre deep. Small amounts of native fertiliser have been added monthly and we’ve been lucky with the wonderful steady rain we’ve had recently. Regular monthly pruning is strongly recommended for our Mid West natives in a small garden.

The next section of the garden will be built and planted before the winter of 2022. FroGGs is keen to have people come forward to volunteer to help with this great project.

The wildflowers in the Mid West are coming out in bloom, and because it’s hard to leave our great State with COVID-19 restrictions, people from all over WA are streaming into Geraldton and its surrounds and discovering what a great place it is.

On a personal note, I have cancer in the form of melanomas on my liver, lymph nodes and two on the brain. Maybe I will recover and maybe I won’t. But whatever happens, I wish to thank you, my regular readers, for your support and kind words. Geraldton is a great place and we must work to make it famous.

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