Samford

Monthly Meetings

Meetings are held at 7.30 p.m. at the CWA Hall, Main St, Samford (opposite the Farmer’s Hall) on the first Tuesday of each month except January. This is the place to come if you want to learn about native plants from our local experts in a friendly and welcoming setting. We can advise you on the best native plants to suit your property from a small suburban garden to large acreage, and how best to control weeds. Visitors are always most welcome.

The usual meeting format is:

• a ‘show and tell’ segment where people bring along specimens from their gardens (often natives in flower, but also interesting foliage or weeds for ID)
• announcements relevant to native plants
• guest speaker (high calibre speakers on wide ranging topics, including native fauna as well as flora: see list at end)
• refreshments and drawing of winners of plant raffle of plant species suitable for the district
• once per quarter, a short business meeting to discuss matters pertinent to the Branch.

Projects

The Branch is closely involved with the local Progress Association’s Samford Eco-Corridor project at the Samford Parklands (the old CSIRO site), which was initially funded by jointly by the Queensland Government and Moreton Bay Regional Council. This revegetation project aims to restore the biodiversity of the area and to provide an educational resource for the whole community, showcasing the many native plant species and habitats that were originally found in the Samford district.

• The first planting in 2014 involved revegetating 4500 m2 of alluvial land along the South Pine River behind the Samford Bowl’s Club with about 1900 gallery rainforest trees and shrubs.
• This endangered ecosystem used to be found all along our creeks and rivers, but was largely cleared by early settlers for timber and agriculture.
• Once the canopy was established just 18 months later, 1900 understorey plants were added and parts of the original planting have been extended westwards.
• On Earth Day in 2018, the Samford community helped to plant 2300 m2 of the adjacent hillside with 2000 trees, shrubs and grasses to form a local grassy eucalypt woodland.
• The Eco-Corridor team carries out long-term monitoring to record the progress of the site, including monthly bird surveys in conjunction with members of Birds Queensland and periodic surveys of fish, insects, spiders and freshwater invertebrates.
• To keep up to date: www.facebook.com/EcoCorridor

Our history

The inaugural meeting of the Branch was held in September 1988 at the Samford State School. From 1989 to 1995 the Branch hosted the annual Autumn Plants Sales on behalf of Region at Ferny Grove High School (now held at Grovely TAFE, where we still take part). 

The Branch assisted with the landscaping and supply of plants at the Samford Community Pool in 1991 before the official opening in 1992. We undertook monthly working bees during the growing/maintenance phase until the final clean-up and handover to the Pool Committee in 1994.

The Branch has put on displays of native flora at the Samford Museum on Australia Day, the Samford Show in July and at the Queensland Region Spring Flower Show at Mount-Coot-tha Botanical Gardens in September, as well as at the Kumbartcho Festival and at school events.

We celebrated our Silver Jubilee in September 2013 at the Homestead Restaurant, Samford. The Branch reached its 30-year milestone in September 2018, with a celebratory picnic held at Maiala NP, Mt Glorious.

Life members: John Morse, Pat Morse (deceased), Nev Deeth (deceased), Shirley Deeth.

Recent speakers

‘Know your local weeds’ by Janet Mangan

‘Fungi of South-East Queensland and their importance to native plants’ by Dr Frances Guard 

‘Botanical art of native plants’ by artist Glenyth McKenzie 

‘Native ferns’ by former Qld nurseryman of the year Russell Young

‘Using native plants in Ikebana’ by Catherine Purdon Director Sogetsu Ikebana 

‘Research and restoration of the Australian Koala Foundation’s environmental reserve.’ by Deborah Tabart OAM

‘Saving Australia’s threatened native plants’ by Karen Boulter and Peter Storer

‘The native snails of South-East Queensland (and why they are the gardener’s friends)’ by snail whisperer Dr John Stanisic

‘Plants of Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island’ by Ross McKenzie

‘The native orchids of Queensland’ by Steve Waters and Brendan Killen of the West Brisbane Orchid Society.