GROWING PLANTS THAT CHANGE LIVES

By Kate Smith

A purchase from a social enterprise is the most impactful transaction you will make! You purchase quality products or services required for your business to thrive, whilst at the same time you meet your social procurement requirements. However, it is the ripple on effects where the impact is really appreciated.

Next time you require green life supplies for your commercial project, government department, large private project, landscaping business or to fulfil orders for your retail nursery, Billabong Garden Complex is a great place to start!

Billabong Garden Complex is a ‘social traders’ certified social enterprise, operated by disability service ConnectGV. Growing and evolving over the years, the expansive garden complex, open seven days, is home to a large production nursery, a retail nursery, gift shop, the Ruby Saltbush Café, a floral arrangement studio and most recently a venue hire facility for training, meetings and social gatherings. Every facet provides meaningful employment and work experience opportunities for people with a disability.

Supported employees with a disability work alongside qualified horticulturalists to produce tens of thousands of plants annually. The range of green life produced is extensive including native plants, ornamentals/cottage/hedging plants, licensed native plants species (including Ozbreed, Bush Magik and Austraflora), deciduous trees, camellias and more. This extensive range of green life is produced in varying pot sizes from tube stock to advanced trees. Billabong is also a part of a group of other social enterprise production nurseries that work together to fulfil large scale commercial orders. In addition, long-standing connections with a substantial network of growers ensure diversity in their own retail nursery and enable efficient and quality assured sourcing of other species outside of Billabong’s plant repertoire to meet your requirements. Plant quality is paramount, all plants grown on site in the production nursery go through the establishment and hardening off process, so they are ready for successful plantings.

Billabong is a preferred supplier for local government authorities, wholesale trade customers, supplies to many retail nurseries across the state and interstate and supplies and contract grows for large commercial and domestic projects.

Celebrating 20 years of operation this year, Billabong Garden Complex was born from humble beginnings, before it become a garden complex open to the public it started out as a little gardening program that operated on the outskirts of Shepparton. ‘The Farm’ as it was affectionately known then, provided people with a disability the option to participate in an activity to learn new skills, for social connections and to obtain the numerous benefits associated with horticultural therapy. The plants propagated were sold at an annual fundraising fete. The program was so sought after and successful that a retail nursery to sell the plants grown, Billabong, was opened to the public.

Having been a part of the community for two decades, Billabong is now a destination for locals and visitors alike. This holistic approach results in year-round garden solutions for the general public and industry whilst at the same time provides enhanced community connections and diverse and sustainable opportunities for supported employees with a disability.

Your purchase from Billabong makes a difference! You are supporting meaningful employment, training, and work

experience opportunities for supported employees with a disability. These staff are involved in the entire process from the taking of cuttings, planting seeds, potting on, plant maintenance, stock movement and control, labelling plants and the picking, packing, and processing of orders.

Billabong Garden Complex Manager, Tracy Lamont said, “It is so rewarding seeing our staff grow with every plant order. Skills grow due to the diversity of orders, confidence grows, community and social connections grow and opportunities to achieve their individual employment goals grow.”

The benefits of gardening have long been known; however, it is when you visit this social enterprise, Billabong Garden Complex, that you can truly appreciate the enormity of the benefits of horticultural therapy. Contact Billabong to discuss your requirements and to arrange a visit to meet the team and tour their operations.

More information

Tracy Lamont, Manager

Billabong Garden Complex

295 Numurkah Road, Shepparton T: 5821 8632 | www.billabonggardencomplex.com.au