CRISP Nursery - 30 years and still growing!

CRISP Nursery - 30 years and still growing!

CRISP Nursery is celebrating 30 years!

In the mid-1990s, a small band of native plant enthusiasts living in Maroondah made history locally. They began a nursery that contained only seedlings propagated from plants occurring naturally in the local area.

They were the Friends of Mullum Mullum Valley, a group of volunteers who were focused on improving the Mullum Mullum Creek environment. With no indigenous plants readily available for plantings, the need to source indigenous plants for Maroondah was identified - and so, the seed of an idea was sown!

In 1993, the Community of Ringwood Indigenous Species Plant (CRISP) Nursery was established in partnership with the former City of Ringwood, now Maroondah City Council.

Mayor of Maroondah, Councillor Rob Steane, said CRISP has contributed significantly to biodiversity in Maroondah.

“It’s fantastic to see CRISP Nursery celebrating this special milestone and we are proud to have partnered with them for such a long time,” Cr Steane said.

“CRISP has contributed so much to the biodiversity of Maroondah, thanks to its many volunteers, ‘Friends of’ groups and bushland helpers, whose efforts have helped to increase Maroondah’s unique local biodiversity, provide habitat for local species, and improve the amenity of our community spaces.”

Thirty years on, CRISP Nursery continues as a not-for-profit community organisation run by an ever-growing passionate group of local volunteers.

Annette and Stephanie, of CRISP Nursery, said ongoing community and Council support has been invaluable.

“We have wonderful support from our volunteers, who are involved in all aspects of the nursery management and day-to-day work.

“We have, on average, around 45 active volunteers at any given time. Plus, there are many past volunteers who regularly pop in to support the nursery. Some volunteers have been with us for many years. In fact, some of our founding volunteers are still active with the nursery today,” they said.

“The support from Council has also been invaluable - in particular, the Bushland team, who help us source plant material and purchase plants from us, and who support the ‘Friends of’ groups and homeowners to use indigenous plants for revegetation projects to enhance local biodiversity.”

Each year, around 30,000 plants - including rare and hard-to-grow species - are propagated by CRISP volunteers and planted back into local parks and bushland reserves to boost remnant populations, improve amenity, and to revitalise and preserve wildlife corridors.

Thousands of these CRISP tubestock are planted annually over late autumn and winter with the help of Council’s Bushland team.

Through its countless revegetation projects with schools and communities, CRISP has also provided a space for social interaction and meaningful work, education and awareness around the importance of protecting Maroondah’s natural environment.

You can support this work and CRISP Nursery by:

·visiting the nursery and finding out about the value and importance indigenous plants have for Maroondah’s biodiversity purchasing some indigenous plants, as appropriate, for your home garden becoming a CRSIP member and accessing the range of membership benefits ·volunteering at the nursery, with one of the local ‘Friends of’ groups, or at an event at a local reserve 

Happy 30th Birthday, CRISP!

To become a CRISP Nursery volunteer or to find out how you can support the important work they do, visit www.crispnursery.org.au, call 9879 3911 or visit the nursery located at 17 Greenwood Avenue, Ringwood.