Did you come and plant in Cranebrook with Creating Canopies and Penrith City Council?
It was our last public community planting of 2023 and on a monitoring visit in February 2024, we were very excited with what we found…
UPDATE: Grey Gums Reserve Planting, Penrith LGA
Creating Canopies teamed up with Penrith City Council at Grey Gums Oval in Cranebrook on Saturday 11th November 2023, bringing 25 volunteers together to plant 500 new trees and shrubs in the park.
The site at Grey Gums Oval in Cranebrook mulched and ready for planting in November 2023. Photo: Penrith City Council. 
The site at Grey Gums Oval in Cranebrook mulched and ready for planting in November 2023. Photo: Penrith City Council. 
The site at Grey Gums Oval in Cranebrook mulched and ready for planting in November 2023. Photo: Penrith City Council.
To make the occasion extra special, the Mayor of Penrith Todd Carney, Councillor Robin Cook, and Landcare NSW CEO Turlough Guerin joined the planting and spoke about the importance of tree planting and community, as well as the vital partnership between our organisations.
Thank you to the volunteers who joined Creating Canopies and Penrith City Council to plant at Grey Gums Oval in Cranebrook in November 2023. Photo: Penrith City Council. 
Thank you to the volunteers who joined Creating Canopies and Penrith City Council, including Mayor Todd Carney, to plant at Grey Gums Oval in Cranebrook in November 2023. Photo: Penrith City Council. 
Thank you to the volunteers who joined Creating Canopies and Penrith City Council to plant at Grey Gums Oval in Cranebrook in November 2023. Photo: Penrith City Council. 
Thank you to the volunteers who joined Creating Canopies and Penrith City Council to plant at Grey Gums Oval in Cranebrook in November 2023. Photo: Penrith City Council. 
Thank you to the volunteers who joined Creating Canopies and Penrith City Council to plant at Grey Gums Oval in Cranebrook in November 2023. Photo: Penrith City Council. 
Thank you to the volunteers who joined Creating Canopies and Penrith City Council to plant at Grey Gums Oval in Cranebrook in November 2023. Photo: Penrith City Council. 
Thank you to the volunteers who joined Creating Canopies and Penrith City Council to plant at Grey Gums Oval in Cranebrook in November 2023. Photo: Penrith City Council. 
Thank you to the volunteers who joined Creating Canopies and Penrith City Council to plant at Grey Gums Oval in Cranebrook in November 2023. Photo: Penrith City Council.
As noted previously, Greater Sydney Landcare’s Natural Resources Manager Esteban Zepeda visited the site in December 2023 and observed a 95% survival rate for the planting.
Creating Canopies staff visited the site again in February 2024 for further maintenance and monitoring. During this visit, they noticed Imperial Hairstreak Butterflies on an Acacia decurrens which was planted in November 2023.
At a monitoring visit in February 2024, Creating Canopies staff spotted Imperial Hairstreak Butterflies on an Acacia decurrens we installed in November 2023. 
At a monitoring visit in February 2024, Creating Canopies staff spotted Imperial Hairstreak Butterflies on an Acacia decurrens we installed in November 2023. 
At a monitoring visit in February 2024, Creating Canopies staff spotted Imperial Hairstreak Butterflies on an Acacia decurrens we installed in November 2023.
Imperial Hairstreak Butterflies are small native butterflies found in coastal regions of eastern Australia. Their open wings display a blue, black and orange pattern. When their wings are closed they appear buff coloured, with irregular black stripes and some orange details.
This species has a fascinating relationship with ants of the Iridomyrmex genus, also known as Rainbow Ants. The ants protect the butterfly’s larvae from predators and parasites and are rewarded with food secreted by the larvae.
Imperial Hairstreak Butterfly populations are distributed sporadically through the Australian east coast including Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory. They need a nitrogen-rich host plant, specifically one of 25 Acacia species, and attendant ants from the Iridomyrmex genus to be present on the plant in order to call it home.
The Grey Gums planting was looking great and growing strongly in January 2024, and already providing habitat for native wildlife. Photo: Esteban Zepeda. 
The Grey Gums planting was looking great and growing strongly in January 2024, and already providing habitat for native wildlife. Photo: Esteban Zepeda.
The butterflies live in small breeding populations over limited areas which may consist of a single tree. They have high site fidelity, meaning that the majority of butterflies are found in the same place almost every day of their adult lives.
We’re thrilled to have created new habitat for our native wildlife! 🙂 We hope you’ll join us again in 2024 to plant some more.
Become a Penrith Bushcare Volunteer
If you’d like to contribute to environmental efforts in Penrith, you can become a Bushcare volunteer and regenerate bushland. No experience is necessary as training is provided.
Get Involved in Creating Canopies
If you’d like to find out how to get free trees planted on your land, visit our Register Your Site for Trees page.
Come along and plant trees with Creating Canopies. Find out what events we have coming up on Greater Sydney Landcare’s Eventbrite page.
About Creating Canopies
Landcare NSW and Greater Sydney Landcare are planting 200,000 trees as part of the Greening our City program to help reduce urban heat in Greater Sydney. Proudly funded by the NSW Government.
