On the verge of a beautification make-over
Change can seem to take forever, when it comes to altering the mindset of what constitutes a verge landscape, especially in a very conservative state like NSW – a state that is often the last to adopt changes that are of benefit to the common good of the wider society.
Lake Macquarie City is dragging its feet, but not for want of all the groundwork that’s needed. As part of the Urban Greening Strategy, the Verge Garden is an important component, but so far its adoption by Council is yet to take place. The result is that it can’t be promoted as a desirable way to manage the public space we refer to as the verge between the curb and the house block.
The evidence in support of the verge garden make-over has now been confirmed as part of an environmental research project that surveyed almost 1000 Perth residents to identify what the perfect verge looks like – all part of a project looking at how we can improve urban greening.
“The land along streets and roads can make up more than 30% of public open space, which offers huge opportunity to increase the quality of greening without increase land use,” says Ali Babington, who led the research as part of her PhD on The Woody Meadow Project.
Survey respondents were asked to rate a range of images to understand preferences for structure – low, mid or high vegetation – flower presence, foliage colour, and visual symmetry. The most preferred was image ‘f’. See below …
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How to be chuffed. Ditch the front lawn. Expand it to the verge
In: Horticulturalists and hobbyists are ditching traditional lawns in the name of biodiversity, Daniel Miles, (ABC News,19 May 2024) reports on the movement to bring back diversity where once the monoculture movement reigned supreme.
Sarah Reid would love to see everyone kill their front lawn.
The Canberra-based public servant traded her traditional turf front yard for a biodiverse native wetland around six years ago.
She thinks it’s one of the best things she’s ever done.
“It was all a bit dry and uninspiring,” Ms Reid said of her inherited home frontage.
“I’ve [since] turned the backyard over to the chickens and vegetables and bees, and the front yard’s all about biodiversity.”
Ms Reid is part of a growing guild of gardeners tearing up the traditional “English lawn” in favour of native bush plantings, with an eye to increasing the feed and fodder for native birds and other critters.
…. From MMM Issue #45, Aug-Sept 2024