The much-loved Canary Island Date Palm Trees of Royal Avenue, Glen Huntly have returned home after being temporarily relocated during level crossing removal works at Neerim and Glen Huntly roads.
Heavy haulage trucks transported the 80 to 100 year old trees back to Glen Huntly, where they were carefully replanted by a team of professional arborists using cranes and machinery.
Characterised by their date fruit, diamond-patterned trunk and broad spiky fronds, these palm trees have spent the last 15 months at a specialist nursery in Keysborough being carefully looked after and regularly treated with water and fertiliser. The soil they were temporarily planted in was regularly tested and analysed to ensure health.
In the last 6 years, around 65 palm trees, including these at Glen Huntly, have been successfully removed and reinstated by the Level Crossing Removal Project to allow for works to be carried out.
The Glen Huntly palms are known to provide homes for possums and birds. The local rainbow lorikeets have already begun celebrating the return of their homes, settling back in before the palms were even off the crane.
With the boom gates gone, the new Glen Huntly Station open and trains running again on the Frankston Line, the iconic Canary Island Date Palm Trees can safely settle back in beside the new 1.2km rail trench.
We’ll continue monitoring the health of the palms for the next 4 years so Glen Huntly locals can enjoy them well into the future.
