Plant plants in the right spot

There’s more to planting riparian areas than popping a seedling in a hole. Plants will only grow, flower and produce seed where conditions are favourable. Understanding the site requirements for your plants is critical to planting success.

When planning your riparian planting project, you need to consider:

• Zonation - where do your plants prefer to grow?

• Patchiness - what spacings and gaps for what outcome e.g. open (treeless) areas v closed canopy throughout?

• Constraints - what socio-economic factors exist that could limit placement?

Zonation

Identify where your plants would have naturally grown. You can do this by referencing regional revegetation guides and seeking local knowledge. For example, the following table describes appropriate riparian planting zones for six commonly planted acacia:

But most importantly, observe your site or similar sites nearby. Are plants on your list occurring onsite/nearby? Where are they growing? What is the soil type? What is the aspect? What is the landscape setting?

Patchiness

Rather than planting in ordered rows or spacings, your revegetation plan should consider the inclusion of ‘patches’ within planting blocks to replicate nature. This is particularly true for understorey species.

Including patches creates a mosaic effect which provides:

• greater opportunities for wildlife

• a competitive advantage against weeds in the dense patches.

Constraints

In some circumstances, social and/or economic factors may constrain the placement of some plants within your revegetation project. For example:

• In urban areas, dense shrubs may be excluded in favour of tree species with a more open habit to maintain lines of sight close to pathways.

• Near dwellings, some species of trees or shrubs may be excluded to decrease fire risk.

Have you got any planting tips?