IF the spring season has gotten you in the mood to get out and get active, perhaps you’d like to celebrate it by planting a tree or two at Enviro Fixers Arbor Day Planting this weekend.

The planting takes place on Saturday, September 3 at Bridgevale Park (The Drive entrance), from 09:00 to 13:00, and promises to be a fun, learning experience.

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Jane Troughton, a member of the environmental organisation, said an assortment of indigenous trees will be available for sale in the morning, at a cost of R50 each.

“The park is the Durban North Conservancy and Enviro Fixers flagship project. We adopted this park a few years ago and are working hard at removing the alien invasive plants. Almost 600 indigenous plants have been planted since,” said Troughton.

All the indigenous trees are naturally occurring in our KwaZulu-Natal coastal forests so they expand the habitat for wildlife.

“This is our annual Arbor Day event where a 150 trees will be available to purchase and plant. We hope that volunteers also adopt the trees they will plant and come back to take care of them,” she said.

Troughton added that there will be people available to help with the digging of holes in order to plant the trees, which are naturally found in forests in South Africa.

“We encourage more schools and other volunteer groups to come on board and complete their volunteer hours. We haven’t had any businesses come through as part of their CSI initiatives so we really like to see that happen,” she said.

“What many people aren’t aware of is that natural wildlife feed, breed and rest on indigenous trees because that’s what is natural to the environment. Animals may perch on exotic trees, but they can’t live off of them. This is why we need more indigenous trees to be planted,” added Troughton.

There will be a treasure hunt, yoga, a coffee van and lots of entertainment for families.
Don’t forget to take a spade, 5 litres of water and gloves.