Urban Forest at Home
Urban Forest at Home is an initiative that encourages our residents to participate in Greening Vic Park.
Through Urban Forest at Home, the Town’s residents are able to request free trees and shrubs for planting on private gardens and verges (low shrubs only), plant allocations will open in April with plant collection in May each year.
Urban Forest at Home offers positive health, community, social and economic benefits for you, your family members and neighbours.
So, if you enjoy gardening and being outdoors and would like to directly contribute to the Town’s urban forest goal of 20% tree canopy cover, this program is for you.
To learn more about the intitative, check out the below.
2023 urban forest at home plant information sheets
Bush tucker pack
Biodiversity pack
Wildflower pack
Strappy leave native pack
WA ground cover verge pack
Tree species
Planting tips and guides for complimentary everlasting seeds
If you received 10g of pink and everlasting seeds at the 2023 Urban Forest at Home collection day (27 May 2023), please find below some planting tips and guides to grow and care for your everlastings:
Planting tips
Check out these planting tips from our Urban Ecosystems Supervisor Bushy.
Garden design tips
Transferring tube stock to ground
Weeding tips
Why urban forest at home?
Our community-led UFS has always prioritised working with our residents and local groups to make our Town leafier, greener and healthier. Through the Urban Forest at Home program, we hope to achieve the following positives:
Health
Did you know that being outdoors, amongst green space amplifies the good effects of exercise more than in other settings? As an outdoor form of physical activity, gardening is a good way to build or keep up physical health.
Gardening helps connect children more to nature which research has linked to well-being and during our social distancing period, this program will engage children and adults alike in a positive, active manner.
Being outdoors, remaining physically active and having a project such as planting trees, can help to reduce the mental health impacts of social distancing.
Environmental
Some of the options for your tree or shrub request are the seedlings we have propagated from the Kensington (Jirdarup) Bushland seed bank. These seedlings only grow in the south-west of WA - one of 36 biodiversity hotspots in the world. Your help in planting these seedlings helps preserve global biodiversity.
Community
Our UFS was developed with our community members who were concerned about the increasingly apparent pressures on our urban forest on public and private land. The way to achieve our UFS goals is by working together with our local community and residents. By being involved in our UFS delivery, you are helping to grow our Town’s urban forest, making it a healthier, happier place today and in the future.