Hi Landcarers

Have you had the chance to fit it any day trips in the school holidays? Perhaps you were lucky enough to fit in a holiday.

I was fortunate to have the need to head to Burrendong this week (not for a holiday unfortunately). More specifically, I was collecting plants from the Burrendong Arboretum for one of our projects.

Burrendong Arboretum is spread over 164 hectares and has one of the largest collections of Australian plants in cultivation. Adjacent to Lake Burrendong, the Arboretum has over 50,000 flowering plants, shrubs and trees. The Arboretum’s mission is to preserve and promote Australia’s unique flora. Many rare and endangered species are being grown there.

We were fortunate to organise a bus trip to the Arboretum last year when conditions were extremely dry, with funding through the Central West Local Land Services (CWLLS) Small Purple Pea (Swainsona Recta) Project, under Government’s National Landcare Program.

As well as being extremely pretty, the small plant that is only found seasonally, is extremely palatable to stock, hence its demise in some areas. Through the project, there have been several locations found where it is still naturally occurring, which is extremely exciting!

Things are now looking amazing at the Arboretum and I am pleased to report an update on the Swainsona recta (Small Purple Pea) project that was the focus of our last trip.

I was fortunate to see the Swainsona recta in flower after the beautiful rain that we have had. Through the project, areas have been protected where the plant was growing naturally.

The small pea-shaped flowers stand out amongst the green surrounds. It is fabulous to see a positive outcome from this project first-hand after visiting last year in the infancy of the project.

If you are interested in visiting Burrendong Arboretum, just head out the road towards Burrendong Dam and the road is signposted. The Gardens were established by George and Peter Althofer in 1964.They are open to the public from 7.30am every day of the year.

In addition to propagating plants there are many sights to be found including Fern Gully which is a wilderness in itself and the fantastic views from Harris lookout. I have popped some pics from the trip on Facebook and Instagram, so feel free to get inspired and check them out.

For further information check out our social media on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram @cwllandcare