Thousands of plants to transform the Glenthorne Hub

The plants, which are in addi­tion to those planned for oth­er areas of the park, will help bring to life the vision for the Glen­thorne Hub area, a large mul­ti-use space which includes a vis­i­tor cen­tre and plen­ty of land­scaped out­door spaces – per­fect for pic­nics and play.

The vision for the hub land­scape includes large patch­es of sedges lin­ing the creek. Species such as bare twig-rush (Baumea juncea) – a native vari­ety of sedge, Cype­r­us gym­no­cau­los – a peren­ni­al sedge, and Jun­cus pal­lidus – a species of rush that is native to south­ern Aus­tralia, will pro­vide impor­tant habi­tat for birds and lizards along the creek. 

Patch­es of droop­ing sheoak (Allo­ca­sua­r­i­na ver­ti­cil­la­ta) will also be plant­ed and over time will pro­vide a food source for yel­low-tailed black-cock­a­toos, and add vari­ety to the habi­tat structure. 

Mature trees will add imme­di­ate impact around the hub area, includ­ing the entrance road. 

The plant and trees species select­ed for the restora­tion of Glen­thorne Nation­al Park-Itya­mai­it­pin­na Yarta were cho­sen to align with the vari­eties found on the prop­er­ty pri­or to Euro­pean coloni­sa­tion, and in response to cli­mate change and risks such as drought and fire.

The mature trees will be plant­ed once con­struc­tion with­in the Glen­thorne Hub is com­plete, with the remain­ing plants installed over a few months as they become avail­able from nurs­eries, and the weath­er con­di­tions are favourable to sup­port their survival. 

Some exam­ples of plants you will be able to spot as you enjoy the vari­ety of out­door spaces with­in the hub include: 

• gold­en wat­tle (Aca­cia pycnantha)
• sweet bur­saria or Christ­mas bush (Bur­saria spin­ose) – a small tree or shrub in the fam­i­ly Pittosporaceae
• riv­er bot­tle­brush (Cal­lis­te­mon sieberi) 
• sticky hop bush (Dodon­aea vis­cosa)
• ruby salt­bush (Enchy­lae­na tomen­tose)
• dry­land tea tree (Melaleu­ca lance­o­late)
• native apri­cot (Pit­tospo­rum angus­ti­foli­um) – a shrub or small tree grow­ing through­out inland Australia
• fra­grant salt­bush (Rhago­dia par­a­bol­i­ca) – an ever­green shrub
• small-fruit fan-flower (Scaevola albi­da)
• nar­row leaf New Hol­land daisy (Vit­tadin­gia blackii) – a small, peren­ni­al wildflower
• kan­ga­roo grass (Theme­da trian­dra) – a peren­ni­al tus­sock-form­ing grass
• wool­ly New Hol­land daisy (Vit­ta­dinia gra­cilis) – a small erect peren­ni­al shrub
• com­mon blue­bell (Wahlen­ber­gia stric­ta ssp. Stric­ta) – a peren­ni­al herb with soft, lin­ear leaves.

Main image: Gold­en wat­tle (cour­tesy of Bev­er­ly Buck­ley, Pixabay)