Woodend’s Grow Locals is offering free workshops in propagating and healthy grasses to help celebrate their first year in business.
“We’ve always had the idea to establish an environmental educational component to the business and aim to expand this into schools, local landcare groups and the broader public,” production manager Tully Sumner said.
“We are offering these workshops as an introduction into a broader range of topics and hope to deliver more over the course of the year.”
The first workshop on healthy grasses was held last Saturday and the next on propagating cuttings will be held this Saturday (March 11) at 10am at the nursery.
Tully said there were many benefits to propagating a plant by cuttings, including creating an identical plant to the parent to keep characteristics and avoiding challenges of growing from seed.
“Propagating a new plant via cuttings avoids the difficulties of propagating by seed. Additionally, some seeds are difficult to germinate, taking two to three years for the seedling to appear,” he said.
“A new plant grown from a cutting will frequently mature faster and flower sooner than a plant grown from a seed.”
Tully Sumner, Richard Gray and Martin Roberts created the Woodend nursery with a view to reinvigorating the old Acres Wild site.
The aim was to once again supply local native plants and apply conservation expertise to support landowners to achieve their land management visions.
Some of the benefits for the grower of local native are that the plants are primed for unique characteristics of the local landscape, they attract animal pollinators to the garden, and need little pest control.
“Starting a nursery midway through a global pandemic and in one of the wettest years on record has not been short of challenges,” Tully said.
“It has also been a great learning experience and allowed us to develop strong relationships within the community and amongst local environmental groups.”
Grow Locals is located at 42 Anslow Street, Woodend.
