The Wilderness School Spyridium Project has been set up to save a native plant from extinction. Only 12 Spyridium fontis-woodii plants are left in their natural habitat near the Crawford Campus and have been in need of much nurturing.

We have been working in conjunction with the South Australian Botanic Gardens and their ‘Seed Project’ to plant a ‘Seed Orchard’ at the Schools Medindie Campus.

Our girls have been collecting flowers and extracting the seeds from the 15 ‘Seed Orchard’ plants. The seeds that have been collected will now be available for people to try and grow at home. If successful, the plants will be transplanted back into the wild at Crawford.

There will be 25 seeds per packet with instructions on how to prepare the seeds (they need to be treated with boiling water to penetrate the seed coat), prepare the potting mix, plant out the seeds in pots and then care for the plants after they germinated.

Seeds and instructions will be sent out to those interested by the end of May. The seeds need to be prepared and planted by the middle of June and should germinate between 7 – 10 weeks after they are planted (depending on weather and temperature) and can then be left to grow, with watering through summer.

This is an excellent opportunity for members of the Wilderness community – staff, students, old scholars and parents to be involved in saving a plant from extinction.

Please register your interest using the following TryBooking link by Wednesday 19 May, with information concerning whether you would like to collect the seed packets or have them posted to you.