Woody Meadows set for spring

Our Woody Meadow research partners have been busy over winter, selecting and preparing sites and getting plants into the ground. Three new Woody Meadows have been planted in the City of Greater Dandenong at Ross Reserve (Noble Park), Burden Park (Springvale South) and Rotary Park (Dandenong). Sally Dawe, Anthony Sorani and Patrick Cazaly of Greater Dandenong’s Open Space team have overseen the installation and are trialling different approaches to site preparation and mulches – a wood chip mulch and a scoria mulch that also acts as the substrate into which plants establish. The Woody Meadows have been planted with 17 shrub species that will form a multi-layered planting and two taller emergent species, Eucalyptus caesia and Alogyne huegelii. Planted species that occur naturally in the region include the Gold-dust Wattle, Acacia acinacea, and the purple-flowering Native Sarsparilla, Hardenbergia violacea. These species together with other flowering shrubs should provide year-long visual interest. See the Burden Park Woody Meadow being planted in this great short video.

https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/fatqCvl0E5u7l9MrQfQlwZD?domain=youtube.com

A map showing the location of these Woody Meadow sites, along with all the details on species and site preparation, will be added to our website soon.