Trip to Southland Community Nursery

Trip to Southland Community Nursery, Otatara, Invercargill. Chris and Brian Rance have established what they have called a "Community Nursery". The aim of this nursery is to provide facilities and materials (potting mix, pots etc) to help people to grow local endemic plants and to restore vegetation of the local areas. Brian and Chris have lots of experience in growing native plants from seed and cuttings and are willing to share their knowledge. They are restoring native forest areas on their own property, have created a variety of shelterbelts using native plants and are creating a pond habitat. The have also established a threatened plants garden to provide sanctuary to over 70 New Zealand native under threat of extinction in the wild on their property. On the trip we will have a look at the nursery itself, the Threated plant garden and one or two of their restoration works. Chris or Brian will be there to give us a background about the nursery and the associated works. Leave Botany car park at 8 AM and return mid to late afternoon. Pack lunch, water and protection from the sun, wind, rain and cold. The possibility of extra side trips and an overnight option is still being investigated. For more information about the trip contact Ian Radford on 472 7470 (ah) or 479 9065 (w).