Nearby Nature

Since 2000, the community-based Vale Park Our Patch (VPOP) has been working to preserve, enhance, record and promote our “Nearby Nature”  along sections of the River Torrens Linear Park at Vale Park and Gilberton (inner city suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia), including reintroducing over 20 species of native orchids back onto the Adelaide Plains.

Working with various partners, VPOP has planted over 30,000 locally native plants (most propagated ourselves) in as natural as possible plant communities whilst also preserving our remnant species.

We now have around 200 indigenous species growing at our various sites in several suburbs, including 60 species of conservation significance.  This includes our Nationally Threatened Species the Silver-Leaf Daisy (Olearia pannosa ssp. pannosa) which we use as the symbol for VPOP (see website banner at the top of this page).  

Most of our plant species have naturalised and we are very pleased that most are self-propagating on site.

We are also delighted, though not surprised,  that our wildlife sightings also continue to improve each year!

To make our Nearby Nature as  interesting and appealing as possible to the wider community

• since 2008 we have developed a community friendly Wildflower Walk at Vale Park
• designed and installed informative photographic plant labels on site
• given away  locally native plants to the community
• are now  developing  have the many galleries on this website to help identify, record and promote our natural sites, plants and wildlife at both Gilberton and Vale Park.

Vale Park Our Patch has  worked closely with Vale Park Primary School and developed many award-winning educational biodiversity resources used by a number of schools.

The featured photograph by Heather Whiting is of a Common Grass-Blue Butterfly (Zizinia labradus labradus)  sipping nectar from  Native Convolvulus or Grassy Bindweed flower (Convolvulus remotus), thereby aiding in pollination.