Hundreds of students gather at Flooding Creek to help save the Grey Billy Buttons golden flower
Community effort plants 1,200 native trees, shrubs and grasses in conservation marathon.
Jacob Wallace
August 11, 2025
The endangered Grey Billy Button is identifiable from the long stalks that protrude from its base of silvery grey leaves, ending in a globe of golden flowers.
It’s a unique looking native, but a loss of habitat is putting its future at risk.
In an effort to help save the Grey Billy Button and get some more green in the ground, an army of 200 students and 60 volunteers have planted thousands of trees and shrubs.
On July 27 - National Tree Day - dozens of volunteers planted 1,000 natives at Flooding Creek, and then over the course of the next week the volunteers and 200 students joined forces to plant a further 1,100 (including 80 Grey Billy Buttons), also in Flooding Creek.
Students help plant hundreds of natives at Flooding Creek Reserve.
Wellington Shire council aims to plant 25,000 native trees, shrubs and grasses along the Flooding Creek Reserve after receiving state funding to increase biodiversity.
The project was coordinated by the Royal Botanic Gardens of Victoria (RBGV) with assistance from Wellington Shire Council, Sale Botanic Gardens, the Gippsland Grammar St Annes and Garnsey campus’ and St Thomas Primary School.
“With over a third of plants in Victoria listed as threatened, we need the help of the wider community to join us in our conservation efforts,” said Dr Meg Hirst, Seed Ecologist at RBGV. “With community involvement, we can grow more plants in more locations and in climates they may be better suited to.”
She said awareness and greater appreciation of the local flora “ultimately leads to conservation action”.
A rare field of the endangered Grey Billy Button.
The Grey Billy Button flowers from spring to summer; the plant is drought tolerant but grows best in moist and well drained soil.
