Revegetation program progressing as native grasses thrive at Mount Vandyke

For followers of our journey to restore the native vegetation of Mount Vandyke, we can share the positive news that everything is progressing well. The Tussock Grass (Poa labillardierei) planted in June are doing particularly well, some have even flowered and set seed! We’re optimistic that we will be able to collect seed from them next year to help kickstart our revegetation of other areas at Mt Vandyke.

You can read more about our revegetation plans for the site here, and if you haven’t already, read John’s update on the recent burn conducted in preparation for direct seeding later this year.

While we were there, we also took the opportunity to broadcast some seed collected from the local sedge Carex iiynx, which is a dominant species of the sedgey/grasslands of the volcanic flats which surround Mt Vandyke, and is described in more detail in this post from last year.

The Carex is seeding particularly well this year, so John and Andy were able to collect seed last week, most of which will be used to propagate seedlings for planting next year. The seed was actually so abundant that we were able to use the surplus to direct seed directly into the grassland revegetation area, no need to clean the seed for this approach! Carex iynx seed is not available commercially so we were pleased to have the opportunity this year to add this species to the diversity in the revegetation site.

The current phase of this project has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Purryburry Trust.