The Horowhenua District Council have 6,000 or more Spinifex plants to go in to help stabilise our sand dunes. We need willing helpers on Saturday 29 September 2018 to plant them. Please bring your whΔnau and friends for an hour or two.
Meet at the north end of Reay Mackay Grove at 10 am on Saturday 29 September 2018. Bring gardening gloves and a trowel if possible (spares may be available). A Council worker will dig the holes and get the plants into the right area and itβs our mahi to put them in the holes.
At the end of the planting the Council will put on a BBQ for us too.
Spinifex helps hold the sand in place without building tall dunes. Itβs the perfect plant to help protect our coastline and our community. The last planting a couple of years ago has taken hold well. Itβs fantastic to see the dunes accreting instead of being washed away.
Te Ara tells us:
Spinifex sericeus (often just called spinifex) is the most important native sand-binding grass in New Zealand. It is found mainly in the dunelands of the North Island and around Nelson and Marlborough. In the past, specimens were collected much further south, from Canterbury and around Dunedin. Spinifex favours dunes immediately behind the beach. It can tolerate high winds, salt spray and shifting sands.
Source: Alan F. Mark, ‘Grasslands – Tussock grasslands’, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/13338/spinifex (accessed 20 September 2018).
I hope weβll see you at the planting!