In July 2023, MCMC received a fresh batch of 180 Silver Banksia seedlings (Banksia marginata, tree form) from the Friends of the Forgotten Woodlands, a volunteer group who have been working hard to rebuild the Banksia, Bursaria and Sheoak woodlands that were once a keystone in the ecology of the Victorian Volcanic Plains. Together with 50 seedlings grown by VINC, these plants will be added into our Tree Banksia Orchard which was established in Fawkner last year with help from many volunteers and support from the Merri Creek Environment Fund. The Orchard currently brings together genetic material from 10 different Silver Banksia populations across the volcanic plains, alongside material from three populations growing in locations whose current climate matches Melbourne’s future modelled climate. We will add provenances from Clarkfield and Eynesbury to the mix, bringing the number of volcanic plains populations represented in the Orchard to 12. A successful planting with LGBTIQ Friends of Bababi Djinanang was held on Saturday 12th August.

Silver Banksias are tricky plants to grow at the best of times, and the odds were stacked against our Banksias last year. Of the cohort planted into the Orchard in 2022, only 15% made it through to 2023. Quite a few plants succumbed to powdery mildew before they even made it into the ground, and a large portion spent their first few months underwater, following the exceptional rainfall in the second half of the year. But the establishment of the Tree Banksia Orchard was always intended to be a long term venture – Tree Banksias often take up to a decade before they flower and start producing seed. High initial casualties were expected, and yearly replenishment of each provenance has been built into the project. Interestingly, in the drier parts of the site around 40% of 2022’s plants survived, which is pretty standard for Silver Banksia. This bodes well for the next instalment: a dry spring and summer is on the cards, and we can always add more water if needed – the problem last year was that we couldn’t take water away!

The tree form of Silver Banksia once populated the volcanic cones and stony rises of the Merri catchment and beyond, but the Merri’s remnant Banksias have long since gone extinct. We hope that in the coming years, the Tree Banksia Orchard will provide a convenient source of genetically-diverse, climate adapted seed, to help MCMC and like-minded groups repopulation the volcanic plains around Melbourne with Tree Banksias once again.

To find out more, watch our webinar on Bringing Back Banksias to the Merri. (Photo shows one of the Banksias planted in 2022, doing well after a year in the ground at Fawkner.)

Our Tree Banksia Orchard project in Fawkner has been made possible thanks to generous donations to the Merri Creek Environment Fund.