Blooms from the blaze

By Monique Ebrington
VICTORIAN Rhododendron Society members have brightened the day of Marysville residents through the donation of more than 900 plants.
The Olinda branch of the Rhododendron Society had grown and collected almost 1000 plants, including 300 rhododendrons since the Black Saturday bushfires.
Rhododendron society committee member Marcia Begg said the group had intended to distribute the plants to Marysville residents who had lost their gardens in the recent bushfires.
On Saturday 1 May they began doing just that. Mrs Begg said residents were encouraged to help themselves to the array of plants.
“Our members started growing plants, this time last year. They were just looking at what they had in their gardens and potting them up,” Mrs Begg said.
“We thought that by autumn this year, people would be ready to start putting plants in their garden again.
“The Marysville Lions Club has been of great help. They helped with the distribution of the plants, which was excellent.
“The distribution was awful in some ways.
“We had a few Marysville residents bring photos of their garden as it was before the bushfires. “Some of them had these great big rhododendron plants, as high as their house roof, and we were handing out three-foot plants which were hardly a replacement.”
She said, however, that residents seemed keen to get their gardens going again.
“A special visitor on the day was Bruno Torfs whose Art and Sculpture Park is once more a very special place to visit after being devastated by the fires,” she said.
Mrs Begg said the society had received tremendous support from community groups and businesses that supported the project, including Silvan-based company Van Berkel Plant Transport.
“The managing director Rodney Wintle had no hesitation in offering the services of a large specially equipped truck and driver at a date to suit us and at no charge,” she said.
The plant hand out was run in conjunction with the opening of the new Marysville Primary School by Premier John Brumby and the Community Day held at Gallipoli Park in Marysville.