Sharing Examples and Stories

Reassure and inspire others by telling them about your verge gardens

This week I’ve had another request to use my cover photo as an illustration of the verge garden councils want to encourage - with street trees and low-growing native plants. I gave permission in return for acknowledgement and a link - and thanked them for asking.

Unfortunately, many examples online are food-growing or “anything goes” gardens. Most don’t comply with council policies. Meanwhile, many gardeners who create excellent native verge gardens don’t go on to share it as an example for others.

So, we’re building a library showing the sort of verge gardens we need to transform our cities - predominantly native verge gardens supporting street trees and planted in line with the local council policy.

And you can help.

By adding your story to the library of examples https://shadylanes.com.au/directory/directory-category/nature-strip-projects/ on the Shady Lanes website, you can help reassure and inspire others. All listings are designed for easy sharing on social media.

They don’t have to be spectacular gardens or even finished. A good variety shows that even the smallest garden on part of a verge makes a difference and you can update your listing as your garden grows.

Less than 20% of councils in Australia have policies to allow verge gardening. Examples of residents complying with policies to green the streets help people advocating to, and within, all those other councils for verge garden policies.

We’ve kept the technical side easy. It’s just like posting on social media or a classified website.

You can upload a photo and as much text as you like. If you’re keen you can include a youtube video or slideshow.

You can also include links to other websites or web pages within the text, and extra images if they are hosted elsewhere.

Tell your story in the content box - include things like…

• why you decided to do it

• what plants you have included

• why those plants

• what benefits you have found

• what drawbacks you have found

• what you have learned

• how other people have reacted

• what you might do differently next time if you had known what you know now

There is no need to include your name or address in the public listing, unless you want to. The council area and the area converted is enough.

What is your WHY?

There are many different reasons we need to increase the quality of our greenspace and that’s why verge gardens offer so much opportunity for collaborations.

Including your reasons is your chance to start conversations and advocate for your cause.

If you are concerned about biodiversity and habitat, talk about the increases you have seen and how your nature strip connects with other greenspace.

If you are concerned about reducing emissions, talk about having no emissions from mowing equipment or clippings going into landfill.

If you are interesting in building community and reducing loneliness, talk about the conversations you’ve had or people you’ve met.

Or maybe it’s simply that you don’t want to mow it - my original reason.

You can add and edit your listing at any time. You can add the listing when you start and update it as you progress. Listings are current for a year. You will get an email asking you to click to renew and a prompt to check the listing is up to date.

Promote your group

If you are a member of a group or collaboration project, remember to tick their box so you will be included in their listings as well as the general listings.

For Groups and Collaborations, see Promotion, Story, and Leveraging for more on this topic. To see how to use this activity to include members who don’t have verge gardens, see Roles, Resources and Requirements (paid subscribers only)

Next…

You can register here or login to post listings

Note: All gardens must comply with your local Council policy and guidelines. See the free Understanding the Space articles if you haven’t done already.