A key gateway to Mount Gambier is undergoing an image overhaul, with a new indigenous planting scheme starting to take root.
The City of Mount Gambier and Natural Resources South East are working together to revegetate a prominent pocket of land adjacent to Penola Road in the city’s north.
Volunteers and staff from the two organisations today began replacing unsightly weeds with a wide variety of plants that are native to the area.
The newly-planted species have been raised by Eight Mile Creek company Mimosa Farm Trees and the Nature Glenelg Trust Community Nursery; and include correas, banksias, lomandras, running postman, muntries, pigface, pale flax-lily and various grasses.
City of Mount Gambier Environmental Sustainability Officer, Aaron Izzard, said groundcovers and shrubs had been chosen rather than trees, and plants had been selected for their hardiness, aesthetics, conservation status and useability.
“Indigenous plants can make great landscaping gardens, with the added benefits of being suited to the local climate and conditions, usually requiring less water and attention, and also providing other uses such as food or materials.
“We’re looking forward to the site flourishing into a low-maintenance indigenous garden that is both visually appealing and practical.”
The City of Mount Gambier hopes that the site will serve as a demonstration garden and anticipates that the rare and threatened species in particular, will become a convenient source of seed for the community nursery down the track.
The Penola Road project is part of a broader civic planting plan with an increased focus on the use of indigenous and edible plants in parks and gardens.
