Urban Forest knowledge hub

Welcome to our Urban Forest knowledge hub! Here you'll find useful information about our urban forest and pick up some handy tips to help you care for your trees and garden at home.

Check out our curated resources below to take your greening game to the next level.


Planting Tips with Bushy

To get ready for plant parenthood, check out these planting tips from Bushy, our Urban Ecosystems Supervisor and resident plant whiz.

The benefits of planting tubestocks

How to plant tubestocks

 

Weeding tips

Garden design tips

 

Planting Calendar

The Town’s planting season runs from June to September, where we schedule our new planting activities to build our urban forest and increase canopy cover.

While the bulk of our work occurs during planting season, maintaining our urban forest is a year-round endeavour so it’s crucial to support our plants and trees with the correct care through the seasons.

To help with your planting projects at home, we created a handy calendar with monthly planting tips. Click the calendar below to view a printable copy.

Artist credit: the planting calendar features flora and fauna adapted from local Noongar artist Darryl Bellotti's Six Season artwork, commissioned by the Town in 2021.

Text-only version

Click below to view a text-only version of the planting calendar.

Planting tips

Birak 

December & January   

  • The weather is warm, bunker down and survive the heat. Help your plants get through with a little extra water if needed. Watering with a seaweed and fish tonic will provide plants with a little more resilience. 
  • Hold off from pruning during the warmer months as this may expose the plant to direct sun.     
  • When watering your garden over the summer, water directly to the plant and check to ensure the water is absorbing into the soil. Add a natural wetting agent to help with absorption.  

Bunuru

February & March  

  • Remove dead or broken branches on any trees, shrubs or plants that struggled through summer. 
  • Ensure to provide water for your garden friends, keeping bird baths and ponds topped up.  
  • Lightly feed your garden with complete fertiliser and ensure its watered in well.

Djeran

April & May 

  • Get ready for your Urban Forest at Home plants. Prepare the soil, remove any weeds, and apply a thick layer of mulch. 
  • When planting, mix in an organic compost to the soil and back-fill, creating a well out from the base of the plant to hold water.   
  • Prune plants that are growing too close to gutters and footpaths. 

Makuru 

June & July 

  • Keep on top of weeding, pulling them out before they flower to prevent from spreading. Finish any areas that still need some mulch.   
  • Prune deciduous trees to manage their growth and inspect for any pests and diseases. 
  • Keep an eye out for any new trees being planted in your street.   
  • Hold off applying fertiliser till Djilba as plants go dormant in the cooler months. 

Djilba 

August & September 

  • Now is the time to prune native trees and shrubs. 
  • Lightly trim immediately after flowering, removing old flower heads to promote new growth. Prune trees to uplift canopy or help balance their shape, removing any dead or diseased wood. 
  • As the rain eases, help recently planted shrubs and trees by adding a bucket or two of water each week as the days get warmer.

Kambarang

October & November 

  • The warming weather means plants are getting ready to grow. 
  • Apply native fertiliser, dig some organic compost into the soil, and top up the garden with mulch. 
  • If you received a new verge tree this year, help it along by ensuring the stakes and tree ties are in place and report any damage to the Town.   
  • Ensure your bird baths are topped up with water to support the new chicks.    

My Tree Story

What is your favourite tree around Town? How can young people get more involved in urban greening? What can we do as community members to help our street trees grow?

Our community members, residents, Aboriginal Elders, and young people share their thoughts and stories on all of this and more through our 'My Tree Story' series. Watch the videos on our YouTube channel.

Watch the My Tree Story playlist

Urban Forest Grant Stories

Each year our Urban Forest Grants are available to community groups, business and schools for tree planting and awareness projects that support our Urban Forest Strategy.

Grant applications open October to February annually, so get your ideas together now for the next round of funding. To kick off your brainstorming, take a look at some of the past projects completed in our community with the aid of the Town's Urban Forest Grants.

A quick Q&A with Caroline Raines from Perth Montessori School.

What project did you use the grant to complete?

We installed two large specimen trees at the front of the school campus facing Egham Road. The grant funded the purchase of the trees and our school community were also very generous and raised funds that paid for the costs of transport and the impressive crane lift to install them.

(Note: The school raised additional funding to secure mature transplant trees. The Urban Forest Grant funds trees up to a maximum size of 500ltr.)

What made you apply for a UF grant with the Town?

I had been aware of the Urban Forest Grants at the Town of Vic Park for a little while, but it was not entirely clear how Perth Montessori could best make use of such a grant. The school has a small urban campus and logistics such as access onto site can be very difficult. Having completed a couple of ToVP Place grants the previous year, our Place Leader, Tracy McQue, provided some useful guidance and put us in touch with the key Urban Forest people at the Town. This allowed us to plan how we could install fewer but larger trees in the available space at the school.

Are you happy with the result?

Absolutely! The transformation has been significant for the school, providing much needed shade, greening and natural cooling on campus. Previously we only had four mature trees on campus, now we have two new ones that are well on their way to becoming beautiful big specimens! It was a joy to see them planted after all the hard work to make it happen.

How did you find the process of working with the Town?

ToVP has been very supportive through the process. Having completed a few grants now, I think the key is to find the right person in the Town who has the skills or the knowledge to guide or help with answering your questions and problem solving. Our Place Leader, Tracy, has been very helpful with this process. She has extensive experience with her colleagues at ToVP, as well as detailed knowledge of our local area and our school.

Do you have any advice for others who are thinking of applying?

Plan, plan and plan some more. Try and be as detailed as you can with your budget and always include a contingency amount. Even with the best planning there are always things that arise that you didn't expect.

Hear from Renata Chaplin from Harold Hawthorn Centre about their Urban Forest Grant experience.

What project did you use the grant to complete?

We used the grant on a very exciting project, we designed and planted garden areas around the Centre which represent and are themed around the WA Noongar people's important knowledge system, the Six Seasons calendar.

The six seasons being Makuru (June-July), Djilba (Aug-Sept), Kambarang (Oct-Nov), Birak (Dec-Jan), Bunuru (Feb-March) and Djeran (Apr-May).

We wanted to not simply plant trees but use the opportunity to ensure that the project had meaning, was educational, paid respect to the local first nations peoples wisdom of native fauna and flora and utilised this wisdom to ensure that the urban forest we are contributing to will be appropriate for our environmental conditions, tell a story and engage the community.

What made you apply for a UF grant with the Town? 

The Centre has a close relationship with the Town and aligns closely with the Town's strategic community plan.  Our Centre is located within the TOVP and we strongly support the Town's goal to increase green canopy. We identified opportunities around the Centre where we could contribute to this goal by planting more trees and greenery, and we were excited to apply for the UF grant to assist us to fund our greening project.

As a non-for-profit organisation, we rely on grants to be able to deliver such projects with the ultimate aim to benefit the community. This was a perfect opportunity for us to contribute to the Town's goals and bring together the community to be part of something meaningful which will have lasting benefits.

Are you happy with the result?

We are extremely happy with the results. After the Six Seasons gardens we planted, we held a walk around information session with the local community to tour them through the spaces we created. Our Horticulturalist ensured this was an interactive and informative activity which included telling the story of each space, how each space reflects one or more of the six seasons, and the meaning behind the design and the plants themselves.

We've received lots of positive feedback from the community, not only on the look of each space but also the feedback on having learned something new. It has been really rewarding seeing the plants growing and the spaces keep changing over time as the plants are developing and coming together.

How did you find the process of working with the Town?

We have always found the process of working with the town positive. We really appreciated the regular updates and check ins and the consultation meeting we had with the Town's urban forest staff was helpful in clarifying the process, the timeframes, and confirming that we were on the right track.

When some things needed to be changed due to availability of plants or unforeseen circumstances, the Town was always understanding and flexible which was greatly appreciated.   

Do you have any advice for others who are thinking of applying?

I encourage others to apply, as the initiative is such an important one and highly rewarding to be part of. Where opportunities to involve and collaborate with others in a community focused project arise, I would encourage others to get on board. The process is not too onerous and the support from the Town has been great. I would also offer to assist, share our experiences with others who may be interested if they wanted to reach out.

Slime moulds for a healthy, thriving Jirdarup Bushland ecosystem

Over the cold, wet and wintry month of July 2022, the Friends of Jirdarup Bushland spotted some brightly coloured slime moulds, found in leaf litter and old logs on the Bushland floor. 

The fact that the Friends were able to “see” these tiny life forms (you would normally need to take back the old, wet log or leaf litter and place it under a microscope) is even more impressive.

Whilst they may be tiny in form, slime moulds have an important role in a thriving ecosystem like the Town’s Jirdarup Bushland. They are the food source for tiny invertebrates such as springtails, beetles and other insects and molluscas, which in turn becomes the food source for larger insects and small vertebrates such as lizards which help aerate the soil, pollinate blossoms, and control insect and plant pests.

Slime moulds are poorly studied in many parts of the southern hemisphere but particularly here in Australia, despite the fact that we have such a large proportion of species.

The Urban Forest team members were very lucky to have secured an interview with Karina Knight of the WA Herbarium who refers to herself as a citizen scientist but is the driving force for slime mould in our state.

Karina provided some fascinating insights into slime moulds.

What are slime moulds?

Slime moulds originally were thought to be a type of fungi as they have spores. They were even classified as part of the animal kingdom at one stage. Now they belong informal group known as protists,” said Karina.

“Slime moulds are essentially organisms that live mostly in moist terrestrial habitats and produce a plasmodium that feeds on bacteria, fungi and decayed organic matter.”

“Now for the most part, slime moulds exist in microscopic form but during this plasmodial stage they coalesce to have eye-catching and spore-containing fruiting bodies that can sometimes span up to a metre.”

“In fact, one species, with the common name of dog vomit, is bright yellow and you cannot miss it.” 

What role do they play for the Jirdarup Bushland?

“Slime moulds are part of an ecosystem and play a role in the Jirdarup Bushland and anywhere else in the world where there is vegetation, as part of the web of life in this Bushland ecosystem,” explained Karina.

“Slime moulds are part of an ecosystem and play a role in the Jirdarup Bushland and anywhere else in the world where there is vegetation, as part of the web of life in this Bushland ecosystem,” explained Karina.

“They are the food source for small invertebrates in this Bushland that then become the major food source for other insects that cycle nutrients, pollinate plants, disperse seeds, maintain soil structure and fertility, control populations of other organisms, and provide a major food source for other important and more visible fauna.”

An interesting fact that Karina shared is that slime moulds can get ‘smarter’ as they get bigger. They also can move quite fast and able speed up the journey to find food.

What can we do to preserve slime moulds in our bushland ecosystems? 

“There is still very little known about slime moulds in Australia, as there is hardly anyone truly dedicated just to collecting and documenting slime moulds,” said Karina.

“Yet there are 250 species recorded in WA out of 1000 species globally and so far two considered currently endemic to just our state, mainly found through the work of citizen scientists.”

“We probably still have a lot to learn about slime moulds, and especially in Australia as they rely on growing on vegetation and of course being an old country with endemic plant species, just here in the Jirdarup Bushland there might be some very unique slime moulds.”

“If you have some spare time and/or would like to learn more, I can recommend getting in touch with the Slime Mold Identification and Appreciation Facebook group to kick-off your learning on the basics such as where to find slime moulds in a Slime Safari event.”

“You can also head to iNaturalists online to record your observations and share your findings for discussions with scientists and other fellow naturalists around the world.”

For more information on slime moulds or to hold a 'Slime Safari' event, email Karina at wamyxophile@gmail.com

More resources

From identifying pests to caring for our Black Cockatoos, check out these online resources below. 

MyPestGuide - Biosecurity Resource

My Weed Watcher

Cockatubes by LandcareJS

Canopy Capture App

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