This National Tree Day – July 27 – South Australian residents are being asked to grow a plant to help the State’s environment.
The call comes from South Australian environmental organisation, Trees For Life, which has developed easy-to-grow Ruby Saltbush kits.
In an initiative with local and long-time supporters Foodland – ‘The Mighty South Aussies’ – the kits will be available for $1 at all 116 Foodland stores just in time for Planet Ark’s National Tree Day.
The kits contain seed to grow the Ruby Saltbush, step-by-step instructions and jiffy pots. The jiffy pots are a complete propagation system in themselves and expand in water, which means there is no mess and the plants can even initially be grown inside on a sunny window ledge.
Trees For Life chose the Ruby Saltbush (Enchylaena tomentosa) species because of its suitability to most parts of the State. It is a shrubby perennial growing up to 1 metre high, with succulent grey foliage and berry-like fruit. It is tolerant of drought, frost and moderate salinity.
The berries themselves are coloured from yellow to red and pink and are edible. Some data has also shown that the Ruby Saltbush leaves were even eaten by early white settlers to prevent and-or cure scurvy!
The species can also be eaten by sheep in drought conditions and the fruit is a valuable food source for many native birds. The plants themselves provide vital habitat for lizards, ants and other native wildlife.
“National Tree Day is now an entrenched and important day in Australia’s calendar as it gets people to not only stop and think about how precious our environment is, but
also enables people from all walks of life to get involved in helping the environment,” Trees For Life Chief Executive Officer Greg Boundy said.
Mr Boundy said individual households could get involved in the project by growing their own Ruby Saltbush and the kits could also be a great way for young children to learn about growing native plants and the environment in general.
“This project can involve anyone – whether it’s a kindergarten or school group or residents in an aged care facility. We’d love all local communities to be part of it!”
“Trees For Life and Foodland have decided to give everyone the chance to help our environment by jointly developing these kits,” Foodland’s Chief Executive Russell Markham said.
‘We will have 20,000 available in our stores and if every one sold results in one or two plants being grown and planted out into the South Australian environment, it would make a huge difference to our environment” Mr Markham added.
Foodland has committed that all proceeds from the sale of the kits in Foodland stores will go directly into on-ground environmental work within SA through Trees For Life.
Foodland retailers have been valued supporters of the local community for over 50 years now and they have supported Trees For Life since 1996, their contribution helping to grow thousands of native seedlings.
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