Thirty-five years in business has allowed Brett and Sally Wileman to build an enormous network of contacts in the Australian gardening and landscaping industry.
Rarely have the Rochester operators of Temptation Living and Landscapes put their hand out for a “freebie’’, so it wasn’t surprising when, on the back of the flood devastation of almost a month ago, there were offers of support from some of the industry’s biggest names.
The charity arm of Ames Australia, an organisation called Plantfulness, was forthcoming with thousands of items to support the recovery effort.
Mr Wileman said his and Sally’s long-term relationship with Northcote Pottery had encouraged the major player on the Australian gardening scene to contribute to the clean-up.
Thousands of disinfectant spray bottles, hoses and fittings, gloves, shovels, rakes and scrapers have been available free to the community since the middle of last week.
“People can come and help themselves to what they need,” he said.
Plantfulness is an organisation supported by Ames and major gardening supply companies that offers support to community programs by contributing equipment and human resources.
"They promote physical and mental health through gardening, and aid to those in need,“ Mr Wileman said.
Mr Wileman said Ames Australia had reached out to the business, itself still not fully operational as the clean-up effort continues, and within a week quality garden products by Cyclone, Hills and Garden Master arrived.
Within hours of a Facebook post being put up by Ms Wileman, there was a consistent flow of foot traffic in and out of the business, on the Echuca side of Rochester on the Northern Hwy.
This is the second occasion the Wileman family has been affected by flooding, but in typical fashion — of the business owners and Rochester community — they’re always thinking about others.
The business has removed 12 truckloads of destroyed product from the site in the days after the flood event.
“It’s been a phenomenal clean-up effort, and we could not have got to where we are now without the incredible support from all around our local and surrounding communities.
“With the nursery slowly taking shape, we still don’t know the extent of survival, plant-wise, and probably won’t know for a little while.
“Our landscape yard is operational, there are a lot of people requiring rock and gravel so they can get in and out of their properties,” Mr Wileman said.
Mr Wileman said driveways and backyards were an important part of the recovery as people wanted to have caravans in backyards that were still wet and muddy, and with more rain on the way a fresh layer of rock provided a safer environment.
“We have also supplied part of the base being used for some of the landscaping at the Elmore (temporary accommodation) site,’’ he said.
All in all there are hoses, sprayers and sets of gloves, rakes, jet gun pressure washers, industrial scrapers, rakes and shovels available at the Temptation Living and Landscapes site.
“It brings a good feeling that we can assist people out in their efforts to recover, and we cannot thank the support and generous donation from AMES Australasia in conjunction with Plantfulness enough.