Advanced Australian Natives Plants (II) course

DESCRIPTION 

Develop your ability to identify, select, cultivate and explain commercial applications for appropriate varieties of low growing Australian native flowering plants in a variety of situations. This course deals with both woody (hard wooded) and herbaceous (soft wooded), low growing Australian Native Plants, which bear showy flowers. The focus is on small shrubs and ground covers.

“This course looks even deeper than Australian Natives I into the various species native to Australia. Once you have studied them, it’s exciting to recognise them and to see them growing in their natural environments.”- Tracey Morris Dip.Hort., Cert.Hort., Cert III Organic Farming

LESSON STRUCTURE 

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction
2. Growing Conditions
3. The Heaths and similar plants
4. The Daisy Family
5. The Legumes
6. Other common groups
7. The Monocots
8. Commercial Applications

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

AIMS

• Distinguish between different types of native wildflowers.
• Determine reliable information about the identification and culture of Australian wildflowers.
• Specify general cultural practices, including propagation, for different families of Australian native wildflowers.
• Explain the characteristics, including identification and culture, of heath like native wildflowers; with reference to both proteaceous and myrtaceous plants.
• Explain the characteristics, including their identification, culture and use, of wildflowers in the Asteraceae (eg. Daisy) family.
• Explain the characteristics, including identification, culture and use, of different legume wildflower genera.
• Explain the characteristics, including identification, culture and use, of different Australian native monocotyledons (eg. narrow-leaved plants).
• Prepare a planting design featuring Australian wildflowers.
• Develop a cut flower production plan, for a selected Australian wildflower.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Distinguish, using illustrations and minimum but adequate comments, between different plant families within which Australian native wildflowers are commonly found, including the following: Asteraceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Dilleniaceae, Epacridaceae, Ericaceae, Fabaceae, Poaceae, Haemodoraceae, Iridaceae, Lamiaceae, Liliaceae, Mimosaceae, Myrtaceae, Orchidaceae, Proteaceae, Rutaceae and Thymelaceae.
• Prepare a collection of wildflower specimens (or illustrations), not collected elsewhere with information included on culture and use.
• Compile a resource file of sources of information on native wildflowers.
• Develop criteria for distinguishing the accuracy of information, relating to native wildflowers.
• Determine four reliable sources, of accurately named Australian plant material, including both seed and plants.
• Develop a procedure for researching cultural information on an unfamiliar species of Australian wildflower, listing specific information sources in order of importance.
• Explain two different ways to plant different specified wildflower plants
• Compare the use of different types of mulch, around specified wildflowers.
• Explain appropriate techniques for watering wildflowers, in a specified garden.
• Compare the pruning of two specified wildflowers, from two different taxonomic families.
• Explain why three different wildflower plants have different preferences in soils.
• Compare the use of different types of fertiliser on wildflower plants.
• Propagate wildflower plants using different techniques (eg. Seed, Cuttings).
• Identify pests and diseases afflicting different wildflowers.

DELIVERY

• Correspondence