Some of our tree planting partners are quietly racking up whole forests. G.J. Gardner Homes is one of our strongest supporters, having planted 63,000 trees with us over the past 8 years. That impressive number comes as a result of G.J. Gardner planting 15 trees for every home it builds in Tasmania and Victoria. And as a well-established building company with a reputation for quality and reliability, it is a popular choice.

G.J. Gardner prides itself on being a practical, hands-on family affair, and in past years staff have happily got down and dirty and planted their trees themselves. This year, of course, everything is a bit different, and volunteer groups are managing the actual roots-in-ground part of the process with small numbers of their own volunteers. To keep the local connection, all trees are planted near the offices managing the builds, between 200-900 trees for every district. Local Landcare groups work out the best trees for the job – usually indigenous natives – and source the seedlings. The seedlings themselves are often grown by local independent nurseries who have collected seed from the region by hand (with the proper licensing, of course).

Andrew Timms from G.J. Gardner Homes Melbourne Inner East is a generous supporter of local community groups and their tree planting projects. This year Andrew and his team purchased 200 native plants trees for The Southern Dandenong Landcare Group for planting in the Zig Zag Reserve.

This project was part of a friends group in the Southern Dandenongs and done, in memory of a dear environmentalist who recently passed away. He will be missed terribly by friends and family. He was so passionate & knowledgable about the Dandenongs and the loss of environment. A very big loss as he made such a positive imprint in the hills.

We had 10 people at each of the 2 planting working bees. Thank you to G.J. Gardner and Fifteen Trees for making this project possible.

Jackie Glen | Member | Southern Dandenong Landcare Group

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 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.

If you are also interested in how your business and Fifteen Trees could work together, contact Melinda at <[email protected]> and ask for a no obligation proposal.

Writer – Sarah Hart.

Sarah is an artist whose passions include the stories and experiences of women and narrative driven creative work. Her aim is to delight, to reveal glimpses of everyday beauty, and to celebrate flights of the ordinary. Sarah works across a range of media, with an abiding interest in pen and ink, mixed media and the human form. You can find Sarah here.