ZWUA – Genadendal Nursery
As part of the Zonderend Water Users Association focus on Restoring the Riviersonderend it has it’s own Indigenous Plant Nursery where one of the EPWP teams, lead by Johannes (Hansie) Arendse oversees the plant propagation process with his team of 14 workers. Lana du Toit, the ZWUA Restoring the Riviersonderend Project Manager guides the team to ensure plant propagation is being monitored and schedules worked out during the year to utilize the plants propagated at the Nursery to use for active restoration on previously cleared areas.
The nursery is open to the public, however we advise you contact us beforehand to establish your needs. We mainly focus on indigenous plant species from the surrounding area that can be used in different planting zones.
The key benefits to ecological restoration
•Indigenous plant species have had time over centuries to acclimate to a region, whereas non-indigenous species have not. •Preservation/restoration of the original habitat and species. •Generally less involvement is required post-planting (fertilization, etc) with indigenous plant use. •Faster habitat recovery. •Beneficial to wildlife, retention of naturally occurring food sources. •Prevents the potential of “habitat loss“. •Helps mitigate climate change and threatened or endangered species. •A restored ecosystem is capable of reproducing the inherent species for continued ecological stability and is more resilient and adaptable to the local environment.