Waterwise Verge Garden winner

Melanie’s waterwise and biodiverse verge garden has been crowned the City of Joondalup’s Waterwise Verge Garden of the Year (2023) as part of the Waterwise Verge Garden Competition 2023.

Melanie explains how she transformed her verge four years ago from desolate concrete and exotic weed species into a beautiful, waterwise and biodiverse garden. Now, her verge and front garden is thriving and supporting the conservation of rare species, providing habitat for local wildlife, helping cool the neighbourhood and is a place for her entire family to relax and enjoy.

In this article, we explore her waterwise verge garden to show how beautiful and beneficial it can be to have a verge without lawn, fake lawn or pavement.

We can all play an important role in creating a waterwise community and enhancing ecological connectivity within our urban suburbs, and Melanie’s verge garden can guide and inspire you to take action and transform your verge with very little water, maintenance or effort.

Celebrating waterwise and biodiverse gardens

The intent of the Waterwise Verge Garden Competition was to celebrate community members creating greener, cooler and more sustainable verges in the face of climate change.

This was a sentiment Melanie resonated with, sharing that she hoped her entry would showcase how easy it is to create a beautiful, waterwise verge garden with year-round greenery, flowering colour and interesting native plants. Her garden shows us what is possible in just four years.

Melanie would like to see more greening of our local neighbourhoods that help save water in a drying climate and provide vital stepping stones for wildlife, supporting their movement across the landscape and providing them with habitat. She further reflects that street trees and a verge garden will also create a cooling effect and counteract ‘heat island’ effects in summer and that the best part is they don’t need as much maintenance as non-native plants or lawns. Melanie thinks that verge transformations allow homeowners to enjoy all the benefits of a waterwise and biodiverse verge garden while supporting a more sustainable future.

The whole family fell in love with their verge’s potential when moving into their Sorrento home over seven years ago. Their north-facing, wide verge was soon to be a native plant paradise! They ripped up the concrete, removed the South African Daisies from the verge, and completely re-landscaped the verge and front garden into a beautiful, thriving, waterwise, green, and biodiverse garden. Four years and very little watering or maintenance later, their front verge celebrates biodiversity while being water efficient.

With many larger shrubs now established in the garden, Melanie loves to plant some smaller plants to enhance biodiversity. There are always plenty of pollinators, praying mantises and geckos, as well as lots of small skinks in their garden.

Every drop counts

Native plants are adapted to our dry and hot summers. Whilst Melanie’s garden required initial hand watering during plant establishment, the garden barely gets watered besides from the rain. Despite having no water, the garden stays beautiful and green over summer. “This really contrasts with the amount of time and water we need to keep our area of lawn looking good,” says Melanie.

Native verge gardens don’t just require less water, but they require less maintenance, too. Melanie only applies mulch every 2-3 years to keep the moisture in the ground, and their home compost is added while planting to improve the water holding capacity of their sandy soils. Each summer, they apply a wet soil treatment to hold some additional moisture in the soil.

Waterwise plants feature across the whole of Melanie’s garden, with many different species that are creating biodiversity. Her verge features species such as Fringed Lily, Yellow Leschenaultia, Grey Cottonheads, Bottlebrushes and Coastal Boobialla groundcover. The plants on the verge have all been selected to remain under 60cm tall to ensure there is a clear line of sight for local traffic. One of Melanie’s favourite features of her front garden is the 300 year old Balga (Grass tree) that was successfully translocated from the edge of the verge to a prime central position after being saved from destruction during the installation of the new retaining wall. It was one of the original Balga’s from before the development of Sorrento. Retention of native vegetation is essential to supporting local wildlife.

Increasing urban tree canopy

To complement her verge transformation, add some shade to her verge and house and provide habitat for even more wildlife, Melanie requested that the City provide and plant her street tree. Melanie had a Red Flowering Gum in 2019, and it has grown so much already. This tree is only four years old, but it will continue to grow and provide more shade cover to Melanie’s house and street, having a cooling effect on the entire neighbourhood, and it will even increase the value of her home. The Red Flowering Gum is a waterwise tree that flowers from December to May each year, providing a splash of colour to the front garden and providing habitat for invertebrates, birds, reptiles, frogs and mammals.

Fun for the whole family

The most rewarding part of the verge for Melanie is how her kids get so excited about finding something new in the garden. Whether it’s an insect, a mushroom or a native orchid, they always learn something new and connect with nature.

Melanie and her daughter share special moments together, creating native flower bouquets and creating watercolour paintings of the flowers that grow on their verge. They also help friends and neighbours choose waterwise plants to start their own native gardens.

The whole family also enjoys an annual Spring display of kangaroo paws and everlastings, and they are always trying to squeeze in a new plant wherever it will fit!

Melanie's tips for creating your own waterwise verge garden

• Site preparation is key – if you have a lawn, the grass needs to be removed or killed first, or you will forever be removing grass regrowth.
• Before you get started on your verge, read the Street Verge Guidelines (below) to understand any local requirements.
• Apply a thick layer of coarse mulch to suppress any weeds emerging.
• Prune regularly to keep the plants dense and tidy – you can easily shape many native plants just like you can with non-Australian plants.
• Celebrate local biodiversity with your plant selection. Apace Nursery in North Fremantle and Zanthorrea Nursery in Maida Vale have an abundance of native seedlings, but there are also plenty of local nurseries such as Wildflower Society’s Northern Suburbs Branch and Dawsons Garden World – Joondalup Store for you to explore.
• Apply for a free street tree from the City. Trees are a fantastic way to improve biodiversity and habitat, add shade, reduce the heat and even add value to your property!
• There are so many incredible resources to help you find plants that suit your soil, climate and local wildlife, check them out at Water Corporation, ReWild Perth and the City's Sustainable gardening page.

Are you inspired to create your own waterwise verge garden?

The City's Sustainable gardening page shares a range of tips and resources to help you get started. Water Corporation’s handy guide to waterwise verges can also help you convert your verge into a beautiful, biodiverse and waterwise garden.

The Waterwise Verge Competition 2023 was proudly co-funded by Water Corporation’s Waterwise Greening Scheme and forms part of our ambition for the City to be a leading waterwise community.