Adelaide residents invited to join one of South Australia's largest tree planting events

Adelaide residents are invited to get their hands dirty at two tree planting events to celebrate Arbor Day 2018 and improve their local environment.

The annual Arbor Day events, run by Greening Australia in partnership with local councils, will result in approximately 8,000 native seedlings being planted to create much-needed new habitat at two sites along the River Torrens.

The events form part of Greening Australia’s collaborative Nature in Cities program, which is working to make Adelaide a greener, more liveable city. Previous Arbor Day events have resulted in more than 50,000 plants already being put into the ground along the iconic river.

For the first time, this year’s Arbor Day events will also include native bee BnB building with ABC Gardening Australia’s Sophie Thompson to create ‘hotels’ to protect existing native bees and encourage pollination. Other activities include nature play, a tree trail adventure and a free BBQ for volunteers.

Greening Australia’s SA State Manager, Stuart Collard says, “Arbor Day aims to encourage community involvement and appreciation of the value of trees and nature in our city. These events are the perfect opportunity for families to get outdoors and become involved directly in restoring their local urban environment.”

“Previous Arbor Day plantings along the River Torrens have transformed once degraded areas into wonderful spaces for both people and nature to thrive within urban Adelaide.”

“Arbor Day provides the community with a chance to make a significant contribution to the ongoing restoration of habitat along the River Torrens, an important wildlife corridor. Being held in Winter, it is also perfect weather for jumping and playing in muddy puddles!” he says.

The events will take place along the River Torrens, at Windsor Gardens on Sunday 24 June and at Lockleys on Sunday 8 July.

The Windsor Gardens event is being run in partnership with the City of Port Adelaide, while the Lockleys event is supported by the City of West Torrens, Natural Resources Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges, and Benson Radiology.