This is not a Verge Garden

I often see my photo used as an example of a verge garden, sometimes with permission, often without.

Why is this photo so popular?

I use this photo on the front page of this website and in presentations, and have a laminated printed version for displays.

Reactions are always positive. One Councillor who was not keen on verge gardens commented, "It would be all right if they all looked neat like that."

My verge garden is not professionally designed, and I wouldn't say it was particularly neat. 

So why is the photo popular?

I think people like it because it's not a photo of a verge garden. 

It's a photo of a corridor.

It's a street tree, habitat, biodiversity corridor, and my verge garden is just part of that corridor. The idea of verge gardens as part of a nature corridor is at the heart of the Shady Lanes Project.

In the free basics course, we explore the different views of a verge garden as an extension to your private space versus part of a modern-day, urban, long paddock. On the verge, we learn to switch focus, zooming in to create and care for a garden, and out to see the big picture where it is part of the public street that belongs to the entire community.

This approach is why people who are very wary of verge gardens can say: Yeah that's fine. I get that, if only they were all like that.

We all know we have to green our streets for cooling the city, for increasing biodiversity, and to make pleasant and walkable streets for everyone. This is how we can all work together to make it happen.

The verge is a powerful place for thinking about the commons, and learning how to collaborate on regenerating the commons.

Verges are places for councils to learn to trust residents enough to encourage native verge gardens that support their street trees, and a place for residents to learn to understand and respect the constraints and work within the official policies.

Explore these ideas further at: Verge Garden Basics – Understanding the Space