This Sunday is National Tree Day, a time to celebrate trees and our connection with nature.
Following the recent release by the Australian Government of its latest ‘State of the Environment’ report showing that our natural environment is under extreme pressure, there can be no better time to go out and plant some trees.
We know that trees are beneficial to our own well-being, the lives and future of our native flora, fauna and birdlife, and in reducing global warming. So it just makes sense that we should be planting more of them, and caring for those around us.
National Tree Day started in 1996 and has grown into Australia’s largest community tree-planting and nature care event. It’s a call to action for all Australians to get their hands dirty and give back to the community – each year, hundreds of thousands of people volunteer their time to plant seedlings and restore thousands of hectares of unique Australian landscape.
In fact, over 26 million trees have been planted by more than 5 million people over the past 25 years, and this number continues to grow with the help of dedicated volunteers around the country.
There are many ways to get involved at home – plant a tree in your garden, or even just start a vegetable patch, compost or worm farm.
Bring some green to your garden to attract birds and other pollinators. Native trees and shrubs are best; they not only need very little maintenance but many will flower all year round.
Carry the green indoors by potting up a new plant baby or two. Pothos (Devil’s Ivy) and Sansevieria (Mother-in-Law’s Tongue or Snake Plant) are easy to care for, and will help keep the air clean.
If you have no room or can’t plant trees at home, you might like to support community-led projects around Australia by donating to PlanetArk’s Seedling Bank program.
The program launched in 2019 with the goal of supplying native seedlings to schools and community groups around Australia. Financial grants are awarded directly to successful applicants to get seedlings in the ground and help restore our unique Australian landscape. So far, 90 groups have received funding through The Seedling Bank and almost 39,000 seedlings have been planted around Australia.
