Ever wanted to know the secret to the award-winning landscaped gardens at Essendon Fields? An onsite tree farm which is constantly producing mature trees ready for planting, acclimatised to the precinct’s growing conditions and aviation safety requirements.

Essendon Fields’ tree farm was first established in 2016 by award winning on-site landscapers Super Gardens, who in 2018 won the Victorian Commercial Landscape Management and Maintenance Award for their continued work around the precinct. The farm is large and well established, stretching over 13,000 sqm in the north-east of the Precinct, with an additional 1,100 sqm of hardstand area. It’s home to approximately 2,000 trees growing in the ground and hundreds more in pots on the hardstand area.

Adam Strathairn, Operations Manager at Super Gardens, says there’s a variety of trees growing in the farm, all of which have become features at Essendon Fields for tenants and visitors alike to enjoy.

“Trees form an intrinsic role in establishing a sense of local identity and a ‘sense of place.’ The intention with our selections were largely to develop and enhance a recognisable landscape typology for Essendon Fields,” he said,

“Currently there are trees including Pear, Ash, Crepe myrtles, Ficus and Chinese elms, and we expect to plant Magnolias in June. We purchase the plants at juvenile stage, at specific availability times, which makes it a cost-efficient exercise. The trees have the opportunity to acclimatise to soil conditions and mature over a period of time.’’

Corey Wilson, Senior Facilities Manager at Essendon Fields, believes the farm was critical to the 10,000 tree target being met in record time, and will now play an equally crucial role in the precinct achieving its new 15,000 tree target.

“In 2021 we achieved a 10,000 tree target for the precinct, which is an incredible target to achieve and positions Essendon Fields as a leader in Urban Forestry. We’re now cultivating an additional 5,000 trees to reach a new target of 15,000 trees on site as soon as practically achievable. Around 300 trees will be planted into the estate from the farm this season alone,” said Mr Wilson.

Image above shows the process to dig out a tree from the farm in preparation for planting around the estate.

As a thriving General Aviation Airport, the type of trees grown are critical to maintaining aviation safety, with ornamental fruits selected over other native varieties, so as not to grow so high that they impact airspace, or to attract flocks of birds that present a hazard to operating aircraft.

Ensuring the gardens are managed sustainability is also important, and with the help of Super Gardens, Essendon Fields harvests rainwater from the roofs of aircraft hangars, redistributing it to the irrigation system for the tree farm and making it water self-sufficient. With over 1 million litres of rainwater storage currently in place,  Essendon Fields now looks to increase this to 1.5 million litres.

“Our landscapers are out at the farm weekly, more often in summer, to undertake pest, disease and weed control, as well as pruning and to ensure irrigation is working correctly,’’ said Mr Strathairn.

Essendon Fields CEO Brendan Pihan notes how proud he is of the award-winning landscaping and Urban Forest, and the role the tree farm plays.

“About 6000 people work at Essendon Fields today. We expect that number to grow to about 20,000 people over the next 20 years, servicing the expected population growth in Melbourne’s north-west. A healthy urban forest will play a critical role in maintaining the amenity and attractiveness of Essendon Fields, and offer a strong defence against the future heating effects of climate change on our urban areas. With Super Gardens help we look to continue to create a long-term sustainable landscape,” finished Mr Pihan.

For more information about the commitment to sustainability at Essendon Fields please visit: https://ef.com.au/about-us/sustainability/