On Saturday 16th November 2024, Greater Sydney Landcare hosted a Creating Canopies planting at Clarendon’s Hawkesbury Riding Club. 23 fantastic volunteers came from all over Sydney to plant 421 native trees and shrubs on the club’s grounds.
The volunteers planted native species suited to the area including she-oaks (allocasuarinas), paperbarks (melaleucas), tea trees (leptospermums), banksias, hakeas, wattles (acacias), hopbushes (dodonaeas), bottlebrush (callistemon), Australian Indigo (Indigofera australis) and Rice Flower (Ozothamnus diosmifolius).
Hawkesbury Riding Club is currently very dry and hot with little tree canopy or other vegetation. Many of the species planted will grow to 3 metres or more in time, to provide habitat, shade and evaporative cooling to help reduce the heat. Increased greenery will make Hawkesbury Riding Club a more comfortable space for riders and horses alike in the future.
Creating Canopies Project Manager Danielle Packer, Natural Resources Manager Bryce Doyle and Revegetation Officer Jonti Baylis led the day. They couldn’t have been more impressed with the volunteers for their awesome efforts.
As a Nankeen Kestrel flew by to check out what the group was up to (and if they’d dislodged anything tasty to eat like insects, lizards, or mice), the volunteers:
- Dug holes in the hard ground
- Planted hundreds of seedlings
- Spread mulch around the planting to suppress weeds and retain moisture in the soil
- Guarded the seedlings to protect them from browsing wildlife
- Watered in the freshly installed plants
Even with all this work, this fantastic group got it all done by 11:30 am. Amazing work everyone!
This is the second Creating Canopies planting Greater Sydney Landcare has hosted at Hawkesbury Riding Club in 2024. The first took place in May and saw 500 native plants installed. Since the second stage of Creating Canopies began in 2023, 1,021 native trees and shrubs have been added to the club. We have also partnered with the club to plant here in previous years and appreciate their ongoing efforts to restore nature and make a positive difference.
Thank you to Hawkesbury Riding Club, its members and all the incredible volunteers who joined in to make this a cooler, greener place in the future.
Volunteer for Bushcare in the Hawkesbury
If you’d like to contribute to environmental efforts in the Hawkesbury LGA, 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.
Find out more about Corporate Volunteering with Greater Sydney Landcare here. Be sure to download our Corporate Volunteering Info Pack.
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.
