Growing back

By Melissa Meehan
FOR MANY who lost their homes in the bushfires, putting the pieces back together is a long and tiresome task.
Toolangi’s Robin Jones hopes to make that a little easier, offering her market-ready plants at no cost to those affected by the fires.
“I usually grow the plants and trees and take them to the markets,” Ms Jones said.
“But this year I am giving it to people who have lost their gardens and homes in the bushfires.”
She said Toolangi was the perfect area to grow plants for Marysville and Kinglake victims.
“We have a similar climate here,” she said.
“Rhodies, which were everywhere in Marysville, also grow here.”
While Ms Jones says she is not a gardener by trade, she understands the importance of a garden.
“Everyone has special things they really love,” she said.
“I know, I love my garden, it’s my passion.
“I want to be able to give people back their gardens.”
Ms Jones said she would open her garden to anyone affected by the bushfires.
“People can come in and look around,” she said.
“Sometimes they forget what they had, or don’t know the names of them.”
Last week she took a trailer of plants to Steels Creek Garden Club member Jane Calder’s for future distribution. She said that while it may have been too early for landowners to start thinking about rebuilding their gardens, she hoped people would come to her.
“Gardens are where my heart lies,” Ms Jones said.
“If I can help people I will, they can come and choose what they like – all at no cost to them.”
Ms Jones said her garden would be open to the public during the Toolangi Festival and the Open Garden Scheme next month, but people were welcome to call her and check out her plants before then.
She said that she had had the help of local businesses donating soil, but was running low on three-inch tube pots.
Anyone interested in taking Ms Jones up on her offer can call 5962 9194.