Applications open for $10,000 planting makeover

Schools are again being offered a chance to win a $10,000 outdoor spaces makeover, with applications opening today.

Treemendous School Makeovers is a joint initiative by the Mazda Foundation and Project Crimson which launched in 2007 to give New Zealand primary and intermediate schools the chance to improve their grounds by planting native trees.

Each year four schools are selected to get a visit from the Treemendous Team, who, along with the school community, create a beautiful native tree garden.

One of last year’s winners is Argyll East School, a small rural school in Hawkes Bay. They have been planting native trees for the past few years along the banks of the Mangatoi stream which runs alongside the school grounds.

Their Treemendous makeover will see hundreds more shrubs planted, new pathways created and the establishment of an eel-viewing platform and a weta hotel.

At Wyndham School in Southland, the makeover will completely transform a large unused area by planting a native garden, bush plot, and by building an outdoor classroom. The trees have been specifically chosen so they will entice native birds back to the area, and a large vegetable patch will also be constructed.

Click http://mazdafoundation.org.nz/treemendous.html#/treemendous for more information.