I think they're just incredibly beautiful and there's something that is unique. They're so graceful and they're so beautiful that they're easy to embrace and really appreciate for their beauty out there. Yeah, they're really an icon, I think, for this area. That's the most important thing for me. I think you see messes of co-fire blooming, you know, it's springtime. It's really bright and vibrant and it's really cool because most trees are just green. It's a cool fight tree at home and it's just a wee baby one, but it's beautiful when it flowers in the summer. Did you know that a taago used to be covered in cool fireworks? The abright yellow blossoms provide food for birds like toys and bell brooks. The alleys give shade to other native plants and people really like them too. It's very much a New Zealand tree for me. When I see a co-fire, I know I'm a New Zealand, it feels like New Zealand. It's not found anywhere else. It's so distinctive. I love the link it has with birds and the seasonality link it has as well whenever you see messes of co-fire blooming, you know, it's springtime. It's just a lovely reminder about what's so great about living in New Zealand. Co-fire used to flourish around a taago, but now there are only a few lonely trees left. The community groups around a taago are about to change that by being part of Pocchi Gorg, which encourages people to grow co-fire all around a taago. I guess Project Gorg came out of the concerns we had about the continuing loss of woody vegetation, particularly in central a taago. It became really apparent when we, I guess, rather belatedly realised that co-fire was perhaps the last tree species that's still quite widespread through a taago. It's a picket of really of forest or the tree land that we might have had in the past. Although Project Gorg is a Department of Conservation initiative project, it's really only going to get wings of the community getting behind it. Project Gorg is something incredibly worthwhile to reintroduce the Kufai species into the district here and beyond. It's an enhancement of the central a taago rail trail, and it's an awareness of this very special tree. I'd like to see co-fire and indeed other companion species along parts of the trail around the reserve, particularly around the old station areas. It's a restoration of some of our native environments, particularly our dryland environment here. Conservation tied up with that, I guess. Just trying to bring those environments back to partially what they were before. We'll never return them to exactly how they were, but we get part of the way there using the likes of co-fire, that'd be great. Because Kufai and native to a taago, they're actually really suited to growing here. In fact, they do better than a lot of exotic trees. I've been planting for about five or six years now, and my older trees are probably seven or eight years old. They have abs that snub their noses at the wind, the drought, the alkaline soil, a lack of watering by me, and they're still managing to flower within seven years of planting. To me, to survive on my one-swip site at the head of Lake Dunston, that's just fabulous. Not no trees that you go and buy locally ornamentals would grow there. So one of the options that people will have is to grow their own co-fire. And to make that a little bit easier for them, we've developed a we-pack here, which is just a six-celled punnit, which we can provide to people with a little packet of six seeds that have been eco-sourced for their area, where they're going to plant them back into. And we'll have an instruction leaflet explaining how to prepare your seed, because it's got to be prepared in a certain way to get the germination process going. And so those three items will come together in the pack, and you'll be able to call them to your dog office and pick up a pack and get your own half a dozen co-fire plants underway. Only one tree species of co-fays native to Otago. So there's to grow trees that have been eco-sourced. Yeah, eco-sourcing is really about using plants that are local to the area that you want to plant into. And there's a lot of good reasons for that. One is we see a lot of variation within the form of co-fire, and it's nice to have plantings that reflect the local form of co-fire that you're growing, because it would be different from region to region. But the most compelling reason is something that the plants that have already grown here are really the best adapted to growing here, and they're really going to give the best chances of survival. So who knows what the seeds look like? You do. What color are they? They're tiny little yellow ones. You've found one already. So do you know what's inside these seeds? I'm really hot on our students sourcing their seeds locally. We go out and walk the hills and collect co-fire seeds from all around the district. I don't want them collecting seeds from town. It's really important to me that we get truly eco-sourced co-fire seeds to grow. They are going back into our local district when they're planted. So the next thing we're going to do now that you've got the seeds out of the pods is we're going to have to try and break this strong coat around the seed, because the little co-ye that's living inside that seed, he's not going to be able to get out of there, unless we make some holes in this coat. So we're going to have to get some sandpaper, and we're going to have to make a little hole on this side. A lot of people think there's a lot of magic associated with germinating co-ice, but in actual fact all you've got to do is break the very hard seed coat that most legumes have. In the wild they normally are broken down by abrasion as they move in lopes in the water, or just by microorganisms in the soil. However we want to speed things up so the piece of sandpaper is the key. It's very very easy. Don't save paper too hard. The main thing is not to damage the embryo, which is situated near the little brown line. Five or six strokes on some sandpaper and you'll have scarified the coat. You'll have broken through to a let water and oxygen in. It's fun planting a tiny seed. Knowing that one day it will provide food, or tens, if not hundreds of toys and boughbards. Everybody's got a certain fondness for co-fi. I think it has a special place in their hearts. They've all got special memories about co-fi. And always good memories. And when you say, hey let's do something for co-fi, let's get a few more out there in the landscape. People are inevitably really enthusiastic about that idea. So how was that experience for you? I'm pretty cool because I wanted to pass my own co-fi tree. But with you one? We're all finished. I've finished mine and I like it because it's my first time planting. It's my first either time planting or five. If you water the seeds and keep them snug or warm, they'll only take two weeks to germinate. And one or possibly two years they can be planted out. It was your tree that you grew last year. That's pretty cool. I think I'd really like to see people in central Tago especially plant more co-ive because they are such a local tree. They bring the bellbirds and a bellbird in your garden is needed in my opinion. So what does a co-fi tree need to grow big and strong? I'm digging out the weeds. I'll need worms, water. It might need compost to fertilise. It would be a good one. Who did fun? Who did fun? Who did fun? So I think if you're planting a co-ive you need a good sunny site. They do want full sun in most cases. A little bit of slope is nice if you can for the good drainage but mostly we get that in central Tago. A decent hole broader than you think you might be necessary. You can incorporate some compost or something that's well-rotted if you want to but I don't actually in my holes. Plant them well, firm them in with your first rather than your foot. Otherwise you might break some roots off so you don't have to be a wonder or green-fungered to actually get into grow well because they are so robust and can handle the wind as well. We're sprinkling stones and straws around the co-play tree to stop the weeds getting into it. This is a very rabbit-prone area here so we have to protect from rabbits because one little nip and you can lose all your hard work. And after a couple of years the trunk should be thick enough to take it off. I've been amazed about how much support we've had for project gold already and we've had schools, we've had polytech. Various nurseries have been really keen to come on board. It's a sort of project that might even appeal to sponsors. Local communities I think will benefit from co-fire planning in the local area. It gives the sets of being, a caring. This just gives us one more thing to be proud of where we live. I would like to see more co-play trees around because all we've got really is pine trees. Good evening, Phil! Rock!