The planting event will be held from 11am-noon on Mother’s Day, next Sunday, May 10, at Rotary Park, in Waverley.
The first “Trees for Babies” were planted in 2003 in Fraser’s Gully, Kaikorai Valley, as a way for parents to mark the birth of their new babies.
Now renamed Trees for Families, the annual planting project now covers a wide variety of family milestones, including anniversaries, births, birthdays, marriages, graduations or memorials.
Trees for Families is a partnership between the Rotary Club of Dunedin, Dunedin City Council and Keep Dunedin Beautiful, and is supported by Tangata Whenua, Taskforce Green, Hope and Sons, and Blueskin Nurseries.
Over the past 23 years, plantings have been held at Frasers Gully, Roseneath, Bayfield, alongside Te Ara Moana — the West Harbour cycleway-walkway, and now at Rotary Park.
After a decade of planting at the harbourside location, a “forest of memories” can now be seen growing along the cycleway’s edge.
So far, there have been more than 1000 native trees and shrubs planted across Ōtepoti Dunedin through the Trees for Families event.
Keep Dunedin Beautiful co-ordinator Kelsey Porter said by planting a native tree “participants are adding to Dunedin’s living landscape — and linking themselves with the hundreds of other individuals and families who have been involved in previous plantings over the years”.
Each year, 50 trees are planted during the Trees for Families event, and registrations are open now.
To register visit dunedin.govt.nz/do-it-online/online-form/trees-for-families-registration
