Onkaparinga is growing even greener.
Around 1,200 new trees will soon put down roots on private properties across the region following a tree giveaway by the council this month.
Local households, small businesses and community groups proudly walked away with the locally grown native trees from the One Tree per Child Onkaparinga giveaway at the Aldinga Community Centre on Sunday 15 June.
The overwhelming uptake of trees by the community has received national recognition in a congratulatory video from the ABC’s ‘Gardening Australia’ legend Costa Georgiadis.
“I want to give a big shout-out to the Onkaparinga community,” he says.
“When you look at the fact that around 75 per cent of land in Onkaparinga is privately owned, this is a wonderful statement saying, ‘Hey, we want to green our suburbs. We want to turn them into naturehoods’.
“Every tree, every shrub, every ground cover helps to build biodiversity corridors, habitat for our birds, flowering plants for our insects and pollinators.
“The fact that families are doing this, and schools are doing this, we’re growing the passion and the connection for the next generation who are the caretakers of the planet.”
One Tree per Child Onkaparinga is a partnership between the City of Onkaparinga, One Tree Per Child, Green Adelaide, Arborgreen and Trees for Life. The program encourages planting on private land to expand green spaces, cool hots spots, and provide much-needed habitat for native species.
Four species of small native trees were given away on the day, all grown by local Onkaparinga-based Trees for Life volunteers using remnant seed: cross-leaved honey myrtle (Melaleuca decussata), red-stemmed wattle (Acacia myrtifolia), prickly tea-tree (Leptospermum continentale and heath tea-tree (Leptospermum myrsinoides).
The trees are perfect for their target homes – private properties – and for pollinators such as bees, hoverflies and moths.
Costa encourages the region’s new tree owners – young and old – to enjoy the whole experience.
“Go well with your planting,” he enthuses.
“Enjoy that connection, putting that tree in the ground, and then revisiting it every few months, every year to watch your tree grow. And if it’s at your place, tell the story. It’s all about falling in love with nature.”
The tree giveaway is expected to be an annual event. As part of the program, Green Adelaide's southern education team is also working with local schools to get another 600 trees planted on school grounds, helping the next generation grow up surrounded by nature.
Onkaparinga was named Tree City of the World earlier this month by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Arbor Day Foundation for, among other things, its tree management policy, community programs and commitment to growing 100,000 new trees by 2037.
For more information on Onkaparinga’s tree programs and growing your own trees at home, go to the council’s website.