After experimenting with organic teas, aromatic spices and therapeutic herbs for a number of years, Emma and Damien decided to make their tea obsession a full-time project. By 2012, the range included more than 20 different blends, and the business name evolved into Love Tea.

Love Tea is a small group of dedicated folk who share the passion of making the world a better place. They are continuously progressing, evolving, improving, learning and now … tree planting!

2024 | Brisbane Ranges, VIC | 500 trees

The sun shone for our tree planting day with the team from Love Tea and the Brisbane Ranges Landcare Group at a property adjacent to the Brisbane Ranges National Park. Under tough ground conditions (the hard ground made digging a challenge), the trees were planted over the course of a few hours in early August.  These trees will help establish a biolink between the National Park and the small outcrops of native vegetation on private land. Thereby giving the native animals in the district a safer passage between the reserves and the park, as well as providing them with future homes and food sources.

Trees planted on the day included; wattles (Silver, Lightwood, Black, Myrtle, Golden, and Varnish), Banksias (Silver and Sweet), Bottlebrushes, Correas, eucalyptus species (River Red Gum, Broadleaf Peppermint, Yellow Gum, Red Stringybark, Yellow Box, Grey Box, Messmate, Red Box and Manna Gum), Hakeas and Tea-trees. A great variety to ensure a biodiverse planting. The trees were sourced from local indigenous nursery Birds In The Bush.

A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to organising a tree planting day. Thank you to Rob, Simon and Rosemary from the BRLG for organising the day and for delivering the plants and laying out the tree guards, stakes and plants. Plus for supplying a delicious morning tea, that went so well with Love Tea’s Chai.

Drone Footage

2023 | Westgate Park, VIC | 500 trees

This year, the team from Love Tea rocked up at Westgate Park (right under the Westgate Bridge) to assist Friends of Westgate Park from Westgate Biodiversity with their revegetation project at the park. Armed with gloves, boots and an attitude to get work done, the team literally moved mountains of mulch before they could start planting.

Westgate Biodiversity includes Bili Nursery & Landcare Inc. and is a community-based not-for-profit organisation based at the foot of one of Melbourne’s most iconic and main transport arterials from the West to the city, Westgate Bridge.

Westgate Park not only grow and sell locally indigenous plants, but work passionately in transforming Westgate Park into a natural, bush-like place for people to enjoy, and habitat for amazing biodiversity. The team from Love Tea who ventured out helped this aim, with some mulching and then the planting of indigenous trees and shrubs.

Drone footage from our day. 

2022 | Balliang, VIC | 500 trees

On Friday July 29th, 9 adults and 2 children from Love Tea, Nina and Rob from Brisbane Ranges Landcare (BRLG) and Colleen & Albert from Fifteen Trees found themselves in a sunny field planting out a range of wattles, gums, bursarias, sheoaks and banksias. This particular project on Staughton Vale Rd, Balliang, is part of a much larger community project aiming to create a wildlife corridor from the Brisbane Ranges to the You Yangs. It involves numerous landholders, local council and one of our favourite organisations, Koala Clancy Foundation.

Thank you to Emma and Damien for contacting Fifteen Trees and committing to purchasing 500 trees for this project. Thank you for your energy and enthusiasm and for bringing along a packet of hot ‘Original Chai’ for morning tea! The trees we planted were sourced from 2 local nurseries (Oz Trees and Western Plains Flora), these seeds were gathered last year for a 2022 planting date. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to organising a tree planting day. Thank you also to Rob and Nina from the BRLG for picking up the plants, ripping the soil (made it so much easier for us to plant), organising a porter-loo and laying out the tree guards, stakes and plants.

By midday, we had planted 450 of the 500 plants, and have passed on the remaining 50 trees to Nina and Rob to plant in the coming days. From there, the team from Love Tea went out to lunch at a nearby restaurant, with dirty knees, rosy cheeks and a well earned appetite.

We love organising and attending tree planting days for businesses. Activities such as tree planting, helps people see each other in a different light and allows them to connect in different settings. One of the best reasons for this type of team building is that the activity actually helps improved communication. Any successful team building activity, will surely mean a more comfortable, successful workplace environment for any company.

And when you combine team building and volunteer work (such as tree planting) – well – you are ticking all boxes!!

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.