Andrew Womersley from G. J. Gardner Homes Warrnambool is a generous supporter of local community groups and their tree planting projects. This year, Andrew and his team purchased 900 trees for the Warrnambool Coastal Landcare Network. This brings their total tree tally to 4,875!

G.J. Gardner prides itself on being a practical, hands-on family affair, and take pride in supporting their local community with their revegetation projects. Working with their local nurseries, Landcare groups determine the best tree species for the project. The seedlings themselves are grown by local independent nurseries who have collected seed from the region. The sites that have been planted in the past have included nature reserves, parklands, roadsides, school grounds, riverbanks & rural properties.

G.J. Gardner’s core business is building homes. Safe, secure places for families to grow and thrive for many years to come. We love that alongside this, G.J. Gardner Homes is planting forests, which is very much the same thing; safe, secure places for fauna and flora to grow and thrive for many years to come.

The trees (900) were planted at 2 sites in the Warrnambool district; the first site near Deakin University and the second site located in Wangoom, close to Hopkins River and Mt Emu Creek.

Both planting days were a great success with around 40 volunteers planting a variety of trees such as Manna Gum, River Red Gum, Swamp Gum, Sheoak, and  varieties of tea tree and native grasses providing habitat to resident wallaby, possum, koalas and variety of local birds.

There were a wonderful mix of volunteers from Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Network, Deakin Environment students, local Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management (GHCMA) staff, Eastern Maar Tafe students and Deakin staff.  The event was arranged by Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare facilitator Geoff Rollinson who also arranged a social BBQ lunch for volunteers once planting was complete.

Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Network would like to thank Fifteen Trees, and our sponsors GJ Gardner Homes for including us in their 2024 projects, the process was made easy with all necessary information provided and excellent communication and with a positive contribution to our environment.

We’d love to include you in the planting day next year.

Jane O’Beirne | President | Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Network

From all accounts, the day was enjoyed by those who attended and provided an excellent social occasion for different groups to work together and gave some of the volunteers their first experience of tree planting.

Many thanks to GJ Gardner for their continued support over the past 11 years. A decade of giving back to their local community and environment.

Here at Fifteen Trees, we are always happy to have a chat about the best way to incorporate CSR into your organisation. It’s a lovely way to connect with the broader community and reduce some of your company’s environmental impacts. If interested, please contact Colleen at <[email protected]>.

Writer: Colleen B. 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.