12 Sept 2014 – Egg and Bacon plants of Castlemaine
Posted on 8 September, 2014 by Connecting Country
If you do a Google search on ‘Castlemaine’ and ‘bacon’, at least the first 10 pages of results are all references to the KR Castlemaine business (AKA – the ‘Baco’). Yet the local area has many native pea shrubs – with the distinctive ‘egg and bacon’ flowers. A walk through the local bushland at this time of year is a sea of oranges, yellows, reds and browns.
Copyright: Alison Pouliot Photography
The guest speaker at the September Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club (CFNC) general meeting is local ecologist Ern Perkins. Ern’s talk will be on the pea-flowered plants, with particular reference to some of the local peas, and especially the ‘egg and bacon’ plants. The peas are beautiful, important to the bushland ecology, and make great garden plants. The talk will be held at the Fellowship room in the building behind the Uniting Church in Castlemaine (Lyttleton St, next to the Art Gallery) from 7.30pm on Friday 12 Sept. Members and visitors are all welcome – and entry is free.
There is also an excursion to ‘Humboldt’ on the Saturday following the talk (13 Sept), which will also be led by Ern. Humboldt is a hot spot for some significant pea plants. The walk will be for about a kilometre. Meet at the Octopus building on Duke St (opposite the Castle Motel). Exact departure time to be confirmed at the Friday evening meeting – but probably 1.30pm.
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