TREENET

03/06/2026

🌳🎤 TREENET SYMPOSIUM - SPEAKER HIGHLIGHT

Gayle Dallaston's journey to verge gardening started at her own place - she had removed all the grass from her property and was fed up with mowing her nature strip, so she decided to convert the grass to garden instead. This began the journey of learning more about gardening on the verge, the council collaboration to achieve this and the broader benefits for everyone from the additional shade and biodiversity that verge gardening can create.

In her symposium presentation Gayle will talk about her experience and answer the questions of community collaboration, working towards building positive connections and attitudes in the community space.

See this and more at Symposium 2026 in September. Register now:
https://treenet.org/27th-national-street-tree-symposium/

01/06/2026

🌳🌳 TREENET OUT AND ABOUT IN ADELAIDE

TREENET Directors Tim and Cameron met up last week at a Resilient Urban Futures seminar in Adelaide. The event brought professionals together from engineering, urban planning, horticulture and hydrology to explore resilient urban design, with a focus on tree health, stormwater and greening.

Topics covered engineering for trees, water sensitive urban design, creating water sensitive cities and practical aspects of integrating trees successfully into city environments. As well the broader environmental and community benefits were explored.

Thanks to for hosting! Pictured with Tim and Cameron are Prof. Mizanur Rahman (Adelaide University) and Prof. Mahdi Miri Disfani (University of Melbourne), both geotechnical engineers who presented at the seminar on their research work in green engineering.

01/06/2026

🌳🌳 SYMPOSIUM EARLYBIRD RATES FINISH IN 11 DAYS

Don't pay more than you need to for your TREENET Symposium attendance - register before 11 June to secure the earlybird rate.

If you need to pay in the new financial year you can register and secure the earlybird rate and receive an invoice that you can pay early in July.

So, why wait!? Book now!
https://treenet.org/27th-national-street-tree-symposium/

31/05/2026

Trees cooling our cities everyday. One of many reasons we need more trees in our cities!

Urban heat can place a lot of pressure on our communities. Let’s plant in our cities and keep things nice and cool for summers to come 🌳

We work with who create resources to reduce urban heat and build more resilient communities.
For more, visit https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/policy-and-legislation/resilience-and-natural-hazard-risk/urban-heat

27/05/2026

🌳🎤 TREENET SYMPOSIUM - SPEAKER HIGHLIGHT

Ming Hui Choy joins us from Canberra to present her topic, titled 'Encouraging residents' stewardship of street trees in Canberra'.

Many studies have established the benefits of involving community members in stewarding urban green spaces for better environmental, community, and individual outcomes.

Ming's research extends this knowledge to identify the main factors influencing stewardship behaviour, including individual motivations, perceptions, attitudes and values; personal circumstances; and government policies and programs. These findings have been incorporated into a model of stewardship behaviour that can be used to guide decision-making about urban trees.

We are excited to learn more about involving the community to support establishment and growth of our trees at Symposium 2026. Register now!
https://treenet.org/27th-national-street-tree-symposium/

26/05/2026

🌳🌳 URBAN TREE OF THE MONTH FOR MAY

Watergum, satinash and white bush apple are just some of the names Syzygium forte is known by across northern Australia and New Guinea. Aboriginal people across Top End nations have used watergum over millennia; its fruit was eaten and leaves were used to catch fish. Watergum can grow to 25 m tall under favourable conditions on riverbanks and in rainforest habitats, but the species also thrives in exposed coastal sites where it demonstrates its tolerance of extreme winds and salt. These characteristics have seen it planted by northern local governments in recent decades, in streets and as specimen trees in parks.

Watergum’s flowers attract birds and insects and its fruit is a favoured flying fox and cassowary food. For coastal councils in the tropics looking for an additional reason to plant watergum, a James Cook University webpage reports that its fruit is also eaten by turtles.

Watergums are known to favour freely draining sandy soils and to flower prolifically across the Top End between September and January. The most southerly examples of watergum currently recorded in TREENET’s Urban Tree Trials Database are growing on the Sunshine Coast, so these provide no information on how the species might perform in southern states. With this lack of knowledge some might consider southerly plantings to be risky and potentially harmful, but controlled trials are essential to test how different species might help to sustain future urban forests. For this reason TREENET is working to introduce Syzygium forte into trials in coming years. In the meantime, if you are aware of any southern specimens of either of the two subspecies, Syzygium forte ssp. forte and Syzygium forte ssp. potamophilum, please let us know!

25/05/2026

The Aussie Bird Count survey results were released this morning, with the Australian Magpie the most sighted bird across Australia.

It's becoming clear that changes in our urban habitats is impacting the birdlife in our cities. Some birds are adapting to the changes, but others are being pushed towards decline. Trees play a crucial role for birds in our cities. We all can help by planting. Where can you fit a tree in your yard?

Find out more about the bird count at https://aussiebirdcount.org.au/2025-results/

When your council takes part in the Aussie Bird Count, you're helping thousands of locals slow down, look up and reconnect with nature right in their own suburb.

23/05/2026

It's National Volunteer Week and we wanted to give a HUGE shout out to TREENET's volunteers! 🌳😍

Thank you for all that you do to support TREENET's activities!

22/05/2026

🌳🎤 TREENET SYMPOSIUM - SPEAKER HIGHLIGHT

Dan Lambe from The Arbor Day Foundation will join us at TREENET's Symposium this year, with a presentation titled "A catalyst for green cities: how the right chemistry creates thriving urban forests".

Dan is the CEO of the largest non-profit membership organization in the world dedicated to planting trees. In his role, Dan is responsible for the Foundation’s strategic direction and for advancing its mission to inspire people all over the world to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. Under his leadership, the Arbor Day Foundation has undergone remarkable growth through the development of programs and partnerships that have helped to plant more than 500 million trees around the world in the last 50 years.

We look forward to hearing Dan's thoughts on how we can all contribute to developing thriving urban forests in our own communities.

Registration is open now!
https://treenet.org/27th-national-street-tree-symposium/

21/05/2026

On a day off last week TREENET’s director, Tim took time out to visit Waverley Park Homestead, a National Trust property in Willunga. His visit coincided with the opening of the ‘Trees in the Triangle’ art exhibition, showing works by mainly local artists of trees growing in the triangle between Kangarilla, Sellicks Beach, and Port Noarlunga South.

With ‘trees’ and ‘National Trust’ together in the same sentence, it wasn’t surprising that he bumped into retired Adelaide Botanic Garden Tree Advisory Officer, Tony Whitehill PSM, and former Chair of the National Trust of SA’s Significant Tree Committee, Mike Heath. Tim, Tony and Mike were treated to a tour of the house and the exhibition by National Trust of SA volunteer and local artist Susan Wardleworth.

The exhibition includes an impressive work by Susan which depicts the shade cast by a street tree. Susan’s tree model, a large-fruited SA blue gum (E. leucoxylon ssp megalocarpa), is no longer available for new works however since it was removed in its prime to support subdivision and development of the adjacent vacant lot. What a shame.