CORREAS AGAIN!

	I love our little native correas that are happy whether its hot and dry or cold and wet, in the shade or in the sun. They are originally an understorey plant, common under gum trees and wattles etc. Their flowers are a wonderful sight in the bush in early winter and there were several in flower when we went camping a few weeks ago.
I am recreating a patch of local bush down near the bottom of my block, amongst a few blue-gum trees. It is slow to fill in, with all the drought and heat in the last couple of years but eventually I will have it crammed with local plants, for the wildlife value and for my pleasure.
I recently saw some honey-eaters and pardalotes there, which I haven't seen for years before, because of the invasion of the noisy-miner birds. Grrr...that's the council's fault for clearing everything in sight!
	Of course there are lots of weeds down there too but that's OK because this is also the chooks biggest foraging area and, if the ground was bare, they would undermine the steep bank and cause terrible erosion, as they have elsewhere. For some of the summer I have to keep them off this area as it is so dry and devoid even of weeds. This also gives plants such as these correas time without the chooks.
Correas are actually edible and the flowers taste better than the leaves but I think the leaves would make a good substitute for bay leaves. The Belair Native Flora Nursery has lots and I always choose those grown from seed collected as close to where I live as I can and this is always written on the labels. Those that survived last summer are the ones I will plant more of during this winter.