Seaford Banksia Arboretum - 2026 Tidy Towns Environment Category Finalist
Four years ago, this 3.8 hectare strip of roadside land in Seaford was known mostly for dumped rubbish and weeds. Now it grows 80% of all known Banksia species.
Local resident Ross Shepherd started the Seaford Banksia Arboretum in 2022 on VicRoads-owned land, clearing the site and planting the first of what's now more than 2,500 Banksias, working toward a target of 3,500 suited to the area's sandy coastal soils. Funding has come from Rotary Australia, the Australian Plant Society and Frankston City Council, with seedlings donated by Bunnings Frankston and the Frankston Indigenous Nursery, and it runs almost entirely on volunteer hours.
Early losses to theft, plant damage and harsh conditions taught the volunteers to build relationships with neighbours and plan for realistic establishment rates rather than best-case ones. What's held steady is the payoff: increasing birdlife, a habitat corridor linking to the nearby Seaford foreshore and Edithvale-Seaford wetlands, and a site now recognised for what it is rather than what it used to be.
The X-factor is the single-species focus at genuine scale. Most arboretums mix everything. This one bets everything on one Australian genus, and the bet has paid off in a landscape you won't see replicated anywhere else nearby.
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