NEW MEMBER PROFILE: VICTORIAN ALPS NURSERY

The Victorian Alps Nursery specialises in the production and propagation of alpine flora, making it a unique offering in Australia.

What makes your Nursery unique?

We propagate a large variety of alpine and sub-alpine species for rehabilitation and restoration projects at all major Ski resorts, including Mt Buller, Falls Creek and Mt Hotham and Perisher, Alpine National Park, Mt Buffalo NP, Kosciuszko and NSW National Parks (Perisher Valley).

Our core work provides plants for alpine ski fields and National Parks. Plants grown for resort management boards and ski companies are used in the revegetation of ski runs, snow and soil stabilisation, village landscaping and recovery following infrastructure works.

We also supply plants for peatland bog restoration, bushfire recovery, threatened species habitat (a large component of our work is to grow food plants for the Mountain Pygmy Possum), and supporting habitat restoration programs.

We are the only supplier of local provenance indigenous plants to Victorian alpine areas. We grow up to 200 different species and hold the only indigenous seed bank for use in conservation for Victoria’s alpine region. It is also the only seedbank for lowland valley species surrounding the alpine areas of the North-East.

We are the leading supplier of indigenous lowland plants for revegetation projects in valleys surrounding the mountains. Clients include various Landcare groups, such as, Upper Ovens Valley, Myrtleford, Mudgegonga, Omeo/Benambra, Mitta Mitta and Swifts Creek/Ensay.

Our staff collect all seed and cutting material used for propagation, maintaining seedbanks for each mountain or provenance. An exciting part of the job is experimenting in germination trials of alpine species, many of which had never been grown under cultivation before. This involves many different methods, including stratification for different time periods. We successfully propagate species once thought difficult or impossible to grow and continue to refine our techniques and trial new species.

What is your stock range?

Any local plant requested to order including trees, shrubs, herbs and wildflowers, grasses and bog species. We also sell a selection of non-local natives for the home gardener. The slowest alpine species can take up to two years to produce for sale (in 70mm square tube) so planning ahead is a must and predicting future orders can be challenging, as much of the work is funded by grants.

Who is a typical customer?

We mostly grow to contract for land managers, such as, alpine resorts management, ski lift companies, ski lodge owners, Parks Victoria, DELWP, catchment management authorities, Landcare Groups and local council. We sell to the public by appointment only.

Do you have any longer-term plans?

We would like to increase the capacity of our seedbank and collection team to establish a seedbank in North-East Victoria that a wide variety of land managers in the north east can benefit from. Currently we only collect for use for our own propagation needs.

We’re also looking to expand the growing capacity and consulting side of the nursery and employ more staff to meet production targets for ever increasing environmental projects.

What challenges do you face given your remote location?

Freight! Getting plants to site in alpine areas can be difficult. Often crews will have to walk and carry plants long distances to get to planting sites. The long distances to travel is time consuming and slow. We deliver to Perisher via the Great Alpine Way, with a fully loaded truck we crawl up the steep mountains behind Kosciuszko. The trip takes about six hours and is a difficult drive!

Also, freight costs and difficulty in obtaining materials for day-to-day operations is a challenge. All our nursery supplies are shipped up from Melbourne.

Tell us a little bit about your core team.

We are a small team of three and looking to expand the crew. We are currently advertising for a nursery supervisor. Our combined experience in alpine plant propagation totals 39 years.

Where does your passion for horticulture come from?

My passion for indigenous plants, bush regeneration and revegetation came through being lucky enough to work and train with many experts in the field. Their wealth of knowledge impressed me so much that I wanted to follow in their footsteps and work to restore our natural environment.

Why did you choose to become an NGIV member?

Hopefully to increase the awareness of our nursery and our amazing alpine flora, and that Australian alpine plants are produced and are commercially available. We also want to have access to industry resources and to keep in touch with latest developments.

We’re delighted to have Victorian Alps Nursery join the NGIV as a full member. As Victoria’s peak industry body, we are committed to helping our member businesses and the State’s horticulture industry to grow. Find out how you can become a member – ngiv.com.au

More information - Victorian Alps Nursery, 5338 Great Alpine Road, Ovens

m: 0408 151 130 | e: alpinenursery@mthotham.com.au w: https://rmb.mthotham.com.au/Our-Services/Victorian-Alps-Nursery