Southland Community Nursery

Community Nursery in Otatara, Invercargill

On their 14 acre property at 185 Grant Road, Otatara, Chris and Brian Rance have established what they have called a "Community Nursery". The aim of this nursery is to provide facilities and materials (potting mix, pots etc) to help people to grow native plants and restore local areas.

Southland Natives are Best!!

Locally sourced native plants are best suited to the range of Southland conditions; they make attractive, low maintenance landscapes and bring in a wealth of native birds and wildlife.

Free Native Plants!

We supply the materials (potting mix, pots, seed mix) and facilities (shadehouse, cloches, standing areas), You supply the labour! - i.e. you pot up and look after your own plants. This year we have also collected seed and cuttings from our own property for people to use in spring. In this way you could produce hundreds of locally sourced native plants at no cost except your own time.

Planning Ahead

Restoration (returning an area back into native vegetation) takes time (years), commitment and planning. You need to be thinking today about what you want to plant in two years time. When planting, you need ideally to plant nurse crops first (the fast growing shelter species like fuchsia, wineberry, Pittosporum, manuka) and the forest trees in future years. But as forest trees grow more slowly you still need to sow their seed today!

How to grow your own native plants

Brian and Chris have lots of experience in growing native plants from seed and cuttings and are willing to share their knowledge. They are restoring native forest areas on their own property, have created a variety of shelterbelts using native plants and are creating a pond habitat. Feel free to call in and have a look.

What do you do next?

If you have an area you'd like to turn into a native area (big or small), send us an email. We have already helped a wide range of groups (like Riverton Estuary Care Society), schools and individuals to produce thousands of native plants.

Funding

This Community Nursery Project has been funded by the Pacific Development Conservation Trust (Rainbow Warrior Fund), Forest & Bird, Community Trust for Southland, Environment Southland and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Further information

For more detailed information on the Community Nursery, you can see an article from Forest & Bird magazine: "Restoration in Southland" (by Chris Rance) and look at our photo gallery.

Chris and Brian have gathered together information on Native Species for Southland and Seed collecting time in Southland.

Environment Southland, in partnership with Southland Community Nursery, has produced some Biodiversity Education Factsheets for native plants.

Threatened Plants Garden

On their property , Chris and Brian also have established a 'Threatened Plants Garden'.

Forest and Wetland Restoration Project

The property also contains a forest and wetland restoration project.

Volunteers

Volunteers are welcome to come and stay, by prior arrangement. See the information sheet for further details.