On Saturday, April 11th, 2026, the three LIFE projects currently being implemented in Notranjska Regional Park – LIFE ORNAMENTAL-IAS, LIFE for SEEDS and LIFE TRSCA – joined forces and presented themselves at the event called From lake to garden. Large number of visitors were primarily attracted to the venue in front of Cerknica Lake Visitor Center by the free compost.

The compost was prepared from August-cut reeds and tall sedges as part of LIFE TRSCA – an innovative approach to using mown material from intermittent Lake Cerknica area, which has low nutritional value due to late summer mowing. In addition to the compost, which has matured since the summer of 2024, the LIFE TRSCA project team also distributed pellets for bedding for small animals, which are also produced from hay from August-mown wet meadows, tall sedges and reeds of Lake Cerknica.

Staff of LIFE ORNAMENTAL-IAS project, which focuses on the removal of invasive alien plant species, raising public awareness about the problems these plants cause in nature, and preventing the sale of invasive alien species in nurseries and garden centers, distributed promotional material and some free seedlings of native shrub species, which are much more suitable for hedges and garden decoration than their non-native counterparts.

The LIFE for SEEDS project team presented their work, which includes collecting seeds of wild plants for storage in a seed bank, restoring extensive meadows on wet and dry soils, designing a proposal for new measures within the framework of agri-environment payments intended for nature-friendly farming, and delighted visitors with seed mixtures collected on the intermittent Cerknica Lake.

In addition, members of the Klasje association provided visitors with homemade snacks, Najdi Gardening company presented organic gardening products, while visitors were also able to exchange vegetable and ornamental garden plant seeds and listen to speeches of Mayor of the Municipality of Cerknica, Mr. Marko Rupar, and the manager of the Notranjska Regional Park Public Institution, Mr. Leon Kebe.