Sometimes from Bad Seeds, good things grow.

In a ceremony on Saturday, Nick Cave became the first local cultural identity in more than a century to have a tree planted in his honour at the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Nick Cave at the Royal Botanic Gardens. He planted a lime tree named in his honour. Credit:Penny Stephens

As the man who sang, "I put my hand over hers, down in the Lime Tree Arbour", it was fitting that he planted a lime tree with a silver spade. "The lime tree grows into something very soulful ... and is, of course, connected to the song Lime Tree Arbour – a song with a very romantic lyric I am particularly proud of," Cave said.

Cave is expected to be the first of many Melbourne poets, painters, musicians, actors and cultural figures who will plant a tree as part of a new gardens program.