Planting at Bunker Bay

It's the little things citizens do. That's what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees. Wangari Maathai, Nobel Laureate

Bunker Bay is part of Meelup Regional Park.

The area is an important reserve for native flora and fauna. One of the challenges is the problem of invasive weeds in our native bushland. The main aggressive weeds in the dunes around the Sculpture are:

Sea Spurge (Euphorbia paralias)
Rose Scented Pelargonium (Pelargonium capitatum)
Dune Onion Weed (Trachyandra divaricata)
Sea Spinach (Tetragonia decumbens)
European Sea Rocket (Calcile maritima)

Invasive weeds are problematic because they spread rapidly, displacing the native vegetation, and changing the structure of the dunes. This in turn upsets the delicate balance for our native flora and fauna.

Pelargonium

We cleared the area around the Sculpture, and replanted over 300 local native plants grown at the Geographe Community Landcare Nursery. This Nursery is a fantastic example of a community and volunteer based organisation that helps with regeneration of native plant life in the region. The main type of native plants included in the planting were:

Coastal Daisy Bush (Olearia axillaris)
Coastal Pigface (Carpobrotus virescens)
Knotted Club Rush (Ficinia nodosa)
Olive Leave Hakea (Hakea oleifolia)
Sapphire Skies (Scaevola nitida)
Chenille Honey-myrtle (Melaleuca huegelii)
Coastal Dune Wattle (Acacia littorea)
Granite Claw Flower (Calothamnus graniticus)

Hairy Spinifex (Spinifex hirsutus) cuttings were also taken from the existing dune spinifex and planted on the face of the dunes.

With the help of some amazing friends and family, we started by weeding the area and clearing it ready for planting. Corflute guards were placed around each seedling for 12 months. The pale green guards allow sunlight to penetrate to the plants, creating a type of artificial greenhouse environment, whilst also protecting them from salt, wind, people and other misfortunes.

After that it was a few years with regular weeding, until 2017 when the area was left to see whether our plant babies could prosper on their own and survive the winter storms and king tides of the south west region. In the years since some have survived and flourished, some sprouted their own babies, and some have been swept away by king tides. Unfortunately, the relentless weed march continues.

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap,

but by the seeds that you plant. Robert Louis Stevenson

The images on this page may not be downloaded, copied or reproduced without the written permission of the owners of this site.