Bush Crew diaries April 2024

Published on 25 March 2024

Seed collection and propagation is a great tool in restoration and revegetation activities as it is a non-invasive way to increase biodiversity, reintroduce endangered species and a fantastic way to involve community groups in the process.

Over the past year, The Bush Crew, alongside volunteers, have been working hard to collect seed from native grasses and wildflowers from our bushland reserves for the Bushland team to propagate.

Recently, the Crew started propagating 4 species native to Banyule, the Bulbine bulbosa (Bulbine Lily), Bulbine semibarbata (Leek Lily), Arthropodium strictum (Chocolate Lily) and Thysanotus patersonii (Twining Fringe Lily).

This year we have experimented with smoke water, a liquid solution designed to imitate fire, a process many native species respond significantly well to. We have also collected seed from the Dianella amoena (Matted Flax-lily) which is critically endangered in Victoria. We are hoping to achieve some success through propagation to boost the small populations that occur at the Banyule Northern Grassland Reserve.

Due to the substantial help from volunteers, we have been lucky enough to collect a significant amount of seed in recent years. This has allowed the Crew to trial different methods of propagation and better understand the complex processes of propagating native species. Unfortunately, what is successful for some plants isn’t successful for others.