WORDS › ANNA KANTILAFTAS | PICTURES › ISAAC FREEMANSowinga greenerfuturehome gardens, cut flowers and nursery plants – as well asnutraceuticals, which include superfoods and food crops.In a world grappling with escalatingclimate change and global agricultural concerns, the Waite’s researchis vital to addressing modern-dayfood and biodiversity needs.“My research has always been about finding new thingsto fit into our environment to help humans,” Kate says.“I realised how important plants are to people, even justlooking at them and being in nature, or having trees thatprovide biodiverse habitats for our native fauna, as well asproviding good things for humans, like shade, clean air, andbeauty. And that’s a really important research area for me –bringing new plants into an existing system.”Horticulturist Dr Kate Delaporte says nurturing Australia’s native biodiversity can play an important role in howwe move into the future and restore our environment. Withexpertise studying eucalypts and other native cut flowers,Kate is now on a mission to spotlight the often-overlookedheroes of local biodiversity – Australia’s native plants.In her research, Kate emphasises the role of plants inreshaping our approach to environments, from expansiveagricultural fields to humble home gardens. Describingthem as “essentials for human happiness”, Kate focuses onplants that produce food and other essentials.As Australia faces the impending loss of its urban forestdue to climate change, Kate is researching alternative treespecies resilient to extreme temperatures. She says climatechange could potentially result in a 60 per cent loss of urban forests in the next decade, and a big part of her workand research is trying to alert people to the legitimate concern that as the climate changes and we experience moreconsecutive hot days, the trees become a risk.Originally specialising in plant development of Australian-cut flowers, focusing on eucalypts and other small trees,by the end of her PhD, Kate hybridised many new plantsthat were ready for commercialisation. Australian plantswere in the global spotlight then, and there has been a hugedemand for amenity horticulture – such as parks, gardens,The solution, Kate says, is to look to alternative tree species found in places like Alice Springs, Port Augusta andthe Great Victoria Desert and bring these into Adelaidebecause they’re already resilient to temperature extremes.“It’s an example of how the stuff is already there. We justneed to look at things differently,” she says.46
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