Green fingers get to work

The green places around the Hibiscus Coast are getting greener with the planting season well underway.

Hundreds of volunteers are turning up to weekend community plantings around the Coast, with some of the biggest at Shakespear Open Sanctuary – two plantings last month at the open sanctuary drew more than 150 volunteers each time.

Fences have come down and around 4000 plants gone in on 3ha of land within the pest proof fence; the ground is still covered in cowpats but is now retired from farming. Shakespear Open Sanctuary Society chair Peter Jackson says the plan is to gradually plant up the steep-sided gullies, leaving the farmed area on the ridgelines, where it’s easier to maintain. New plantings will link several areas of existing bush, extending bird habitat and also change the look of the park.

Peter says that, after around 40 years of planting, the end is in sight with potentially “just a decade or so” of planting to go.

The next SOSSI planting day is on July 16 – see What’s On, for details.