Working Bees
This winter, we have been emptying the many leaf hoppers in the Arboretum, and near the train line, past the Art Hub. These cylinders of wire mesh have been used over many years to be filled with the leaves from surrounding trees that we collect after autumn. Firstly, we empty the lovely leaf mulch that has been produced from the previous year’s leaves, from the leaf hoppers. The leaf mulch is put on the surrounding garden beds to nurture the plants.
In past years we would have then filled the cylinders with fresh raked leaves to decompose throughout the year. This year we have dismantled the hoppers because the Open Spaces Maintenance and Arborist Teams from Cardinia Shire Council are now involved in caring for their respective areas in the park, including mulching with mulch produced by the Arborist Team.
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Grants
In 2024, Friends of Emerald Lake Park secured a grant from Landcare/Melbourne Water to further support the Emerald Lake Park Vegetation Management Project. This grant has allowed weed control works, which entails enlisting contractors to remove Cestrum elegans, large Sycamore Maples, Holly and small-leaved Privet. This was followed by the Friends group micro-weeding, and then planting indigenous species grown by the Helmeted Honeyeater Nursery in Yellingbo. For the first planting working bee, we were helped by a group from Aligned Leisure to plant the 100 tubestock, which helped immensely. The grant work has now been finalised, with the second instalment of 150 plants planted by the Friends and the Natural Reserves Team Rangers.
First 100 plants planted, Thursday 16 October 2025
FELP members and the Aligned Leisure team, October 2025.
New seedlings of Cestrum weeded in April
Plant guards and stakes laid out, waiting for holes and tube stock.
The planting in progress.
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