The Shady Lanes Project

Ballarat: New Guidelines and a Dispute

Ballarat issued new verge garden guidelines in November. Now they're being dragged into a very public dispute that shows how community attitudes can…

Dec 6 • 

Gayle Dallaston

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November 2025

The Challenge of Community Engagement

On Monday, we visited a demonstration verge garden in the City of Moreton Bay area. Like many other councils, they are exploring ways to get the…

Nov 27 • 

Gayle Dallaston

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Do We Really Agree? Does it Matter?

Recent conversations have prompted me to reflect on why my approach to greening the streets is different to many popular approaches like placemaking and…

Nov 10 • 

Gayle Dallaston

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5

People-powered green spaces for climate and disaster resilience

In October, three PHD students from Griffith University presented their nature-based solution using public land to reduce flooding at the Natural…

Nov 3 • 

Gayle Dallaston

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October 2025

Book: "Garden on the Verge: A New Approach"

If you've ever wondered why I am so insistent on native plants and street trees for verges, following council guidelines, or why I think verges are such…

Oct 27 • 

Gayle Dallaston

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Should Councils Subsidise Verge Gardening?

This week another council is offering free plants to try to get more people verge gardening. Is this a good idea? How much difference does it make?

Oct 20 • 

Gayle Dallaston

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September 2025

TREENET Gold Leaf Awards

I was in good company as one of the three people recognised in the 2025 TREENET Gold Leaf Awards.

Sep 16 • 

Gayle Dallaston

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Connecting ideas on the verge

Our streets bring everything crashing together - different disciplines, different sectors, competing and complementary uses. Streets connect us all…

Sep 1 • 

Gayle Dallaston

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August 2025

Platypuses and Canaries

There's some new research about the effect of our urban environment on platypuses. Does a verge garden in the streets have a role in protecting…

Aug 15 • 

Gayle Dallaston

5

July 2025

Where the City and Nature Meet

Between people in the built environment and nature in the bush, there is that complex space that is not one or the other.

Jul 31 • 

Gayle Dallaston

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1

The Nursery Layer for Regeneration

Although Jim's passion is bush regeneration (wild nature) and I concentrate on regenerating nature in urban areas (nature combined with people), there…

Jul 22 • 

Gayle Dallaston

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1

What is Nature Anyway?

At the "Being Stewards: On Nature & Philosophy" event, the first activity was to see what each person around the table classified as "nature" and "not…

Jul 14 • 

Gayle Dallaston

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