Australian Bush Life

Since the bushfire about 90% of the eucalypt trees on our bush block shot out epicormic shoots. The eucalyptus trees that haven’t produced and maintained epicormic shoots after a year would be assumed dead. These shoots are a sign of the tree healing and are usually the result of a major trauma event such as when a tree is lopped or after a bushfire event.

Epicormic shoots help the tree make it’s own energy through photosynthesis. They give the tree and any new seedlings growing beneath the tree protection from sunlight and frosts – which is particularly important in the first year after a bushfire event as the soil is very vulnerable to these severe environments with no ground cover and no canopy.

Eucalypt shooting epicormic growth.

Epicormic shoots bud out from the bark of trunks and stems and can be quite fragile if knocked whilst they are young (first few years). Once they grow to a larger size they can grow a stronger bark around them and take on a form like normal branches.

It is important to be aware though that as a recovered injury as epicormic branches become older and heavier they may be more susceptible to falling, particularly under strong winds. It is important to keep an eye out on trees in areas where we move under them while they are healing particularly avoiding being under them during strong winds.

Epicormic shoots really assist the tree in survival through the first few years until they can grow more stable structures such as branches in the canopy or form new trunks from lignotuber shoots.

Bidgee-widgee. Acaena novae-zelandiae. With burr - seed head.

Bidgee-widgee – Acaena novae-zelandiae is a ground cover that many people would recognise due to the burr seed heads it produces after the pretty white flowers. Yep the ones that stick in your socks! Bidgee-widgee is an extremely good ground cover plant, spreading across the ground and covering bare soil areas and reducing potential weed invasion. It also readily returns after bushfire. We have even seen it being eaten by local wildlife particularly Black Wallabies – Wallabia bicolor, with the burrs sticking around their mouths while they eat them.

Bidgee-widgee. Acaena novae-zelandiae. Flower.

An important indigenous plant in bushland that can also be planted in garden beds, it will even trail down over the edge of beds forming pretty hanging trails. Also good in garden areas that aren’t readily walked over to avoid the burrs.

Liverwort - Marchantia berteroana. Gemmae cups.

The liverwort – Marchantia berteroana has been observed on our bush block in abundance since the bushfire over a year ago. Before the bushfire it was rarely seen, but in the past year after the bushfire with the landscape cleared and a good ash bed laid down Marchantia berteroanahas abounded. Marchantia berteroana  and the moss Funaria hygrometrica are both fire loving and important species preparing the soil after bushfire for other indigenous plants to follow.

Liverwort - Marchantia berteroana male parts antheridiophores. Also Moss - Funaria hygrometrica

We find Marchantia berteroanahas been through a range of visual stages over the year, firstly spreading in size, flat over the ground. Then forming gemmae cups on top, followed by the male reproductive organs (the antheridiophores) then finally the fertile female reproductive organs (the archegoniophores), which release the spores from their underside.

Liverwort - Marchantia berteroana female parts archegoniophores.

We found the male antheridiophores of the liverwort – Marchantia berteroanato be so beautiful. The unique shape are almost a piece of artwork in themselves and we are thinking of painting these shapes onto a wall or other part of out home. Of course thats if we get time…..

Often some of the smallest things in our backyards can be so interesting it is just a matter of spending time to observe and finding the right people to ask questions to if you don’t understand what you are seeing. The Australian National Botanic Gardens were a great help to me answering all my questions whilst learning about Liverworts in my backyard.

Plastic water tank after bushfire. Melted remains went to landfill.

We had a 2000 litre plastic water tank that was up against our main shed, and both shed and tank burnt in the bushfire. The water tank did have a small amount of water still in it, but not much as it had been a long, hot and dry summer leading up to the bushfire.

On the evening of the bushfire our shed caught alight from embers between 1 – 2 hours after the fire front itself passed through our bush block. At this stage the additional heat from the burning shed evaporated the last of the water inside the plastic water tank and then the air inside superheated to a point where it basically exploded. The explosion further enhanced the burning of the shed – all too late for either shed or water tank by this stage.

We are still in the process of organising ourselves new sheds and tanks as we are trying to make good decisions and not hurry into things that don’t end up working well in the long run. We will definately be buying either steel or concrete tanks and not be using a plastic water tank again. An empty steel or concrete tank could be damaged by the heat of a bushfire but is unlikely to explode adding additional gases etc for the ignition and fuel of fire.

There is also more possibility that a steel or concrete water tank could be fixed and re-used if damaged therefore be more sustainable as a lifecycle of this product. We can’t imagine where most of our plastic water tank disappeared to. There must have been a whole lot of nasty fumes dissipated into the atmosphere somewhere and the plastic melted blob that remained just ended up in landfill and this is not sustainable.

Striped Marsh Frog - Limnodynastes peronii.

We find Striped Marsh Frogs – Limnodynastes peronii in our garden most summers. We usually have to be careful if we are digging a hole for planting our vegies as Striped Marsh Frogs tend to like digging in to softer soil especialy in areas where the soil is often moistened. We haven’t managed to spade one yet and I hope we don’t either it wouldn’t be pleasant.

After the bushfire we didn’t know if any of our frogs would have made it, but as our whole home didn’t burn down we had some plants in pots and other things around the house that they managed to survive in or under. The first few months after the bushfire would have been difficult for them as there was no cover like logs or indignenous vegetation for them to hide under, but I guess they found food as there were insects around particularly ants.

Striped Marsh Frog - Limnodynastes peronii. Hiding after bushfire.

About 2 months after the bushfire we were cleaning up some of the debris from our 4 burnt down sheds on our bush block when we turned up a bit of corrugated iron we noticed a weird hole. When we looked closely we realised that it was a Striped Marsh Frogs home. They really do live in the most amazing places, well I suppose there was little choice as the ground was still bare from the bushfire. We put the iron back down over the Striped Marsh Frogs hole to give him some protection.

More information on wildlife on our bush block.

Indigenous Ground Cover. Ivy-leaf Violets - Viola hederacea. A bush tucker plant.

For all the same reasons and similar to the indigenous ground cover plant Kidney-weed – Dichondra repens, Ivy-leaf Violet – Viola hederacea is a also great indigenous ground cover plant. Ivy-leaf Violet – Viola hederacea is drought tolerant and holds a lovely form, green foliage all year around. Pretty little mauve and white flowers are abundant and continue flowering for months over the spring and summer. Another great lawn alternative, for low foot traffic areas and a fantastic weed suppressor as it has 100% ground coverage aving no bare ground for weeds to take hold.

Viola hederacea. Ivy-leaf Violet flowers can be eaten raw as bushtucker.

The flowers are also edible bushtucker food, eaten raw can add color and interest to any salad. Harvest only some of the flowers to ensure the plant reproduces and to leave some for the wildlife too!

Ground Cover 1 year after bushfire. Kidney Weed - Dichondra repens.

Ground cover plants are so important for the health of our soil protecting it from excessive sunlight and erosion. Ground cover plants are particularly important in keeping bush blocks healthy with quality indigenous vegetation and stopping inundation by weeds. Weeds are opportunistic and love open soil spaces. Ground cover plants are also critical to the micro-habitat (food and shelter) for all the small wildlife species that are often the base of any food chain; the insects and other small reptiles, amphibians and birds.

Kidney-weed – Dichondra repens is particulary good indigenous ground cover plant that is drought tolerant and has a good cover and holds a nice form and lush green color. After the bushfire we had mass regeneration of Kidney-weed – Dichondra repens and successfully transplanted Kidney-weed – Dichondra repens into pots and also just moved it from one place to another in our garden area as we have had to manage building works on areas that were fire affected (mostly our retaining walls).

It grows quickly and takes up space protecting the soil, especially good after a disturbance like a bushfire or just when you are doing major garden works and need to cover bare soil quickly. It is a great alternative to lawns as it needs no mowing maintenance. Although it won’t take too much foot traffic, but is okay to be walked on sometimes.

Another similar and very beautiful indigenous ground cover plant is Ivy-leaf Violet – Viola hederacea.

Photopoint 1.1 - 08.02.09 - day after bushfire.

The morning after the bushfire we walked around our bush block and took a series of photos. We didn’t intentionally set up photopoints as I think in reality we were in a bit of shock, but it ended up being a great idea. If a bushfire ever happens to us again I would do it even better as now we are going to keep our photopoints going for years to come. The one great wish in hindsight is that we had photos of our chosen photopoints before the bushfire. We had heaps of photos of our bush block (particularly the indigenous vegetation) before the bushfire but not taken from exactly the same location so you can’t see the dramatic effect quite so clearly.

Photopoint 1.7 - 07.02.10 - 1 year after bushfire.

About 1 month after the bushfire we chose 15 photos that we had taken the morning after the bushfire of different points on our bushblock and decided we were going to track them every 2 months for the first year. When taking our 2 month after bushfire photopoints it took us a while to match the spot to the original photos we had taken, so we also put in small hardwood stake (about 50cm long) at each location to make it easier to find again. Here are the mistakes that we would love to fix in hindshight:

• Set up photopoints before a major event like a bushfire actually happens so you can visualise pre and post event (particularly indigenous vegetation).
• Use metal stakes (not wood) as they will not burn and be easier to find particularly after a bushfire as they would have been burnt.
• Use long stakes that sit up to at least your head height, you can then use them to balance your camera on to help you get that “same photopoint shot” and also you won’t loose you stake as easily when the indigenous vegetation “bush” grows up thickly around you.
• For best results try to take the photos at the same time of day and with similar weather (light intensity), typically overcast days work best.

For a full copy of the Bush Dudes house and bush block 2 month interval photopoints download PDF - click here.

Burchardia umbellata - Milkmaids after bushfire

More beautiful indigenous plants Milkmaids -  Burchardia umbellata and Early Nancies – Wurmbea dioica, that returned in huge numbers the spring after the bushfire event. All the indigenous plants, the lillies on our bush block are also

Wurmbea dioica - Early Nancies after bushfire

bushtucker plants. The underground tubers can be dug up after the flowering and fruiting season and eaten. Currently we don’t eat the lillies out of our indigenous bush as we are leaving them as habitat for wildlife, but in the future we may try to grow lillies in our bushtucker garden for eating purposes.

White-throated Treecreeper - Cormbates leucophaeus sleeping under eave.

We have a few White-throated Treecreepers – Cormbates leucophaeus that live on and near our bush block. They are really cute and when they get going on their call that is really high pitched and goes “peep, peep, peep , peep ……..etc” we laugh as we wonder when they are going to stop. We count them “peeping” over 30 times very often we wonder if they are going to stop.

When we first moved into our house 3 years ago one of the White-throated Treecreepers that we nicknamed “Creepy” used to spend every night through the winter sleeping under the eave of our house. As it was cold he looked like a puffed up ball of fluff with a tail. It’s strong little feet hidden under the feather fluff clinging onto the side of the eave. It was a great alarm in the morning, as soon as it was light Creepy woke up “peeped” and then was off.

White-throated Treecreeper - Cormbates leucophaeus on burnt tree trunk.

The first morning after the bushfire, we woke at dawn to the sound of our White-throated Treecreepers “peeping” and immediately yelled “Creepy is alive!” before rushing outside. They have been one of the “staying” bird species that has been visible almost every day since the bushfire occurred. They climb up the trunks of trees and search for insects and obviously even though the trees were burnt their food supply remained available after the bushfire event.