Woody Meadows for Australia

Tuesday 21 March 2023 – Half Day – $260 inc GST

Assoc Prof. John Rayner and Dr Claire Farrel.

Naturalistic planting schemes are becoming commonplace across the globe, particularly in public and urban environments where there is an increasing need for more rich, biodiverse and visually aesthetic landscapes.

You’ll visit various woody meadow sites with Assoc Professor John Rayner and Dr Clair Farrell before heading to the classroom at Burnley to learn how it’s done.

While these novel plantings are inspired by nature, they are very much designed plant communities; plants are selected that will grow and succeed across changing environments and climates.

The Woody Meadow Project led by Assoc Prof. John Rayner and Dr Claire Farrell at the University of Melbourne, has been researching and trialling naturalistic plantings using Australian heathland plants since 2015. In this half-day workshop, participants will visit woody meadow sites within Melbourne, created by John, Claire and their team before, heading to the classroom at Burnley to learn more about the project and the key learnings to date. The itinerary for the tour encompasses sites in Dandenong, Port Phillip, Clayton (Monash University) and central Melbourne, including older and more recent woody meadows.

Inclusions: Travel from MCEC to demonstration sites and return, morning tea and lunch.