The last plant…. and lamingtons!
Green Army team at Cottesloe Native Garden
Whoopee! Planting is finished for 2016. It has been a very busy patch getting 4000 local provenance seedlings in the ground over 7 weeks.
This past week we had an excellent Green Army team – a team of young people sign up for a 6 month period to work and to learn all sorts of skills at the same time. We were very fortunate as our team were committed, interested and hard working plus they had an excellent supervisor, Adeline. We planted almost 2000 seedlings over three days which would have taken our small group many more days to plant!
The first day was very chilly but we all planted enthusiastically at Cottesloe Native Garden. I love this site, which is a significant Spearwood dune system remnant with limestone ridge vegetation, unique in Cottesloe today. Pre-European grass trees and many other interesting local plant species grow at this special site. When Cottesloe Coastcare volunteers commenced work here 10 years ago, approximately 75% of the site was covered by the woody weed, Leptospermum laevigatum (Victorian teatree). Much of this dominant environmental weed has now been removed.
At Grant Marine Park we had a day of infill planting. Damage has been done to the dune areas by adults, children, dogs and rabbits…. but we will persist! A small lawn patch was growing in to the back of the site. Council switched off the reticulation and prepared the area for us to plant here.
Green Army team
CCA’s two Vlamingh area projects over the years have resulted in good revegetation following fencing and path creation. We planted another 600 seedlings in the area this week, particularly on the primary dune. Spinifex longifolius was the main species planted on the fragile and eroding front dune.
Teatree removed at Cottesloe Native Garden. This area was planted in June 2015
Patch of lawn now planted with local plants – Grant Marine Pk.
Planting Spinifex at Vlamingh
The Green Army team sent us this message for our blog. (This is where lamingtons come in… if you have been wondering!)
Adeline, the team supervisor has sent us a note too:
Thank you Robyn and all the volunteers at Cottesloe Coastcare who hosted us and made our time planting and weeding a very enjoyable experience. It was great to meet other volunteers and to see the amazing work you have done restoring the dunes in the area, especially after seeing photos taken prior to revegetation! Great work!! It was also a valuable opportunity for the team to learn more about the coastal flora through Robyn’s knowledge she shared whilst working with us.
Adeline
Adeline Morrissey
Green Army Supervisor
Conservation Volunteers Australia
We will leave the last word to Kai who is an enthusiastic CCA volunteer. Here are Kai’s answers to some questions put to him recently.
Q; How often do you volunteer?
On the first Sunday of every month from 9-11am.
Q; What’s involved?
My family and I meet our work group in the Cottesloe dunes, we use tools to weed, plant new native plants, pick up trash and water plants.
Q; How can others get involved?
Find out the event location, head down there, grab some gloves and they give you instructions. Everyone is friendly and they provide morning tea, including Milo and biscuits.
Q; Why do you do it?
Modern technology owes ecology an apology and this is my way of apologising. The Cottesloe dunes are pretty much my front garden, it’s also lots of fun and helps the environment repair itself.
Q; I’m making a difference because…..
I’m cutting down weeds that could prove potentially fatal to the ecosystem and I’m planting native plants that will help the entire environment, and help protect the dunes from erosion.
How about that! It inspires us all that there are young families who not only care for the environment but do something about it too. Three cheers for Kai! Thanks to everyone who made our planting season a success. Now for some more rain!
Robyn Benken, Cottesloe Coastcare volunteer
Note from Green Army team
Cottesloe Native Garden June 2016
Kai in his Cottesloe Coastcare shirt
