Some of our tree planting partners are quietly racking up whole forests. G.J. Gardner Homes is one of our strongest supporters, having planted 56,000 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.

A family affair on the farm in Rowsley Valley

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).

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.

 

It has been a quiet year on the landscape change front with only three sites participating in revegetation activities. We even had to cancel our our much-anticipated annual Grow West Community Planting Day, that normally attracts 200-300 volunteers from across the region.

Getting the trees in the ground this year then became a family affair.

Despite all the challenges that 2020 has presented, Grow West and its landholders were able to continue contributing to a greener, brighter future for our children and we look forward to organising more plantings next year with our wonderful supporters.

Thank you to G.J. Gardner Homes and Fifteen Trees for your continued support of our tree planting projects.

Emma Muir | Coordinator | Grow West Program

Caitlin Hamston and Ben Longhurst from G.J. Gardner Homes Bacchus Marsh are generous supporters of local community groups and their tree planting projects. This year Caitlin and Ben and their team purchased 330 native plants trees for the Grow West Program which were planted on a farm in the Rowsley Valley.

Grow West is an ambitious landscape restoration program that works with local communities in the west of Melbourne to create a sustainable future.

The revegetation project has helped stabilise parts of the Whitehorse Creek and has contributed to the Werribee Gorge State Park biolink.

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.