Oh for Obi Obi
Last Monday was a stinker, high temps and humidity so I went for a drive through the Blackall Ranges on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland to escape the heat. The drive up through Maleny is very colourful at the moment with the many tibouchinas out in flower. The purple is Tibouchina alstonville and the pink is Tibouchina kathleen.
The following information is from the Gardening Australia website by Colin Campbell
Look out for include Tibouchina ‘Kathleen’, with its beautiful, mauve-pink flowers. Another that’s popular is Tibouchina mutabilis ‘Noelene’ – the flower starts white and turns to a mauve-pink. Tibouchina lepidota ‘Alstonville’ which is covered in masses of purple flowers from autumn right through to winter.
The plants filmed by Gardening Australia are in a garden in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast where the soil is acidic – absolutely ideal for Tibouchinas. If the soil is not acidic enough the leaf burns at the edges, turns brown and eventually the leaf dies. If that happens correct the soil acidity by adding sulphur on the ground, around the roots, or use an acidifying fertiliser.
Tibouchinas originated in South America, where they grow over a wide diversity of climates, and that means they’ll do the same in Australia. They don’t like hard frosts, but give them a warmish spot and they’ll do well from Melbourne to Cairns.
Obi Obi Creek runs through the middle of Maleny. The creek provides and idyllic home to platypus, water dragons, tortoise, native fish and bird life.
There is plenty of time to soak up the peaceful solitude of the creek at Gardner Falls, accessed from Obi Vale Road about 3 kilometres east of Maleny. The water is cool and clear as it cascades over rocky bars and there are some deeper holes for swimming and many areas for lazing in the shallows.
The carpark is small, catering for about 20 vehicles and a gravel path leads the 300m to the falls themselves. There is plenty of grass areas and a couple of picnic tables here.
Leave a Reply