G.J. Gardner Homes Ararat has been supporting our community tree planting projects since 2013, and in that time, we have planted 4,800 trees in the Ararat, Horsham and Hamilton Districts due to their generous support. That impressive number comes from G.J. Gardner Ararat planting 15 native trees for every new home built.

This year Ashley and Sally Heard and their team purchased 375 native trees for the Landsborough West District in Victoria’s Central Highlands. The trees were planted by volunteers organised by Congongella Landcare and Project Platypus along a seasonal creek that had been cut off from the native vegetation that once lined its banks.

Fifteen (15) volunteers and Project Platypus staff gathered from across a number of Landcare areas  to plant along the creek corridor. Different ages, different backgrounds, a shared sense of purpose and a catered lunch. That combination, it turns out, works remarkably well. The day was as much about education and connection as it was about getting trees in the ground – helping landholders understand the improvements they can make on their own patch of land.

The planting focused on rebuilding a section of Grey Box–Buloke Grassy Woodland. The species chosen reflect the full layered structure of this ecosystem – Grey Box, Yellow Gum, Yellow Box, Red Gum and Buloke for the canopy; Drooping Sheoak, Gold Dust Wattle, Black Wattle, Golden Wattle, Hedge Wattle and Scarlet Bottlebrush for the mid-storey; and Prickly Tea-tree, Woolly Tea-tree, Hopbush, Black-anther Flax-lily, Red Leg Grass and Tall Sedge for the ground layer.

Each layer has a role. The canopy eucalypts will eventually produce the hollow-bearing trees that woodland birds and gliders depend on for nesting. The mid-storey shrubs provide shelter and year-round nectar. The grasses, sedges and ground covers support the insects and reptiles that underpin the whole food web.

On behalf of Project Platypus, thank you to G.J. Gardners Homes for your generous support of this planting. Your contribution is helping restore a threatened woodland community and giving our local wildlife a place to come home to for generations to come.

Connor Beven | Coordinator |Congongella Landcare

The Grey Box–Buloke Grassy Woodland supports some of Victoria’s most threatened woodland birds such as the Superb Parrot, Diamond Firetail, Grey-crowned Babbler and Brown Treecreeper among them, all listed under Victoria’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. Squirrel Gliders and micro-bats move through Box-Ironbark country in the region, depending on old hollow-bearing trees for shelter. Skinks and dragons depend on the fallen timber and grassy ground cover that a restored woodland provides.

The seasonal creek at the heart of this site will also benefit enormously. Stabilised banks, filtered runoff and restored riparian vegetation will improve water quality and habitat connectivity for everything that moves through this landscape – including the platypus that give Project Platypus its name.

Thank you to Sally and Ashley for helping us support community groups such as Project Platypus who protect and enhance our rural reserves. Thank you also for the additional funding for tree guards. These guards help protect the new seedlings and gives them protection from grazers, in particular rabbits and kangaroos. Inside the plastic sleeves, the microclimate created protects the seedlings from harsh UV, drifting sand, frost, and wind. Once the seedlings survive their first summer and get the opportunity to develop a strong taproot, their chances of survival skyrockets.

Writer: Colleen Filippa

With a background in Environmental Science, Colleen is the Founding Director of Fifteen Trees. In 2009, after 20 years in primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions, Colleen left the classroom to start the company. Fifteen Trees is a social enterprise assisting individuals and companies to reduce their carbon footprint by supporting community groups such as Landcare, schools and environmental networks.