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Picture courtesy: (Vergelegen Wine Estate) Wine Estates Partners with Hospitality in the Tree Planting initiative at for a greener future.
(The Post News)- Lourensford Road in Somerset West was known as a beautiful tree-lined road.
Tragically, this road lost many mature trees due to severe storms and invasions of the polyphagous shot-hole borer insect, which burrows into trunks, stems, and branches.
That all changed with the ambitious joint tree planting programme undertaken by the Heart of Helderberg Initiative, led by the Vergelegen and Lourensford wine estates.
That all changed with the ambitious planting programme undertaken by the Heart of Helderberg Initiative, led by the Vergelegen and Lourensford wine estates.
Agricultural groups from both properties commenced with the extension on June 11.
The groups used a mechanical digger and water that was given by cultivate tankers to set up the tree saplings.
Both properties contributed in different ways: Lourensford provided 215 water pear trees, white stinkwoods, and nightcrawler compost produced on the farm. Meanwhile, Vergelegen supplied the mechanical digger.
These trees now line the road for 600 metres, stretching from the Shell fuel station to the Somerset West Croquet Club.
The water pear tree, known for its resilience against harsh weather and the borer beetle, is ideally planted in winter to establish itself before the growing season.
Horticulturist Casper Geldenhuys from Lourensford and gardens chief Richard Arm from Vergelegen emphasised that this was a collaborative effort benefiting the Somerset West community.
The initiative received endorsement and support from Phumzile Tyandela of the City of Cape Town’s Parks and Recreation Department.
Arm added that being part of a community-driven initiative to beautify their town with trees is immensely rewarding; one can never have too many trees.
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