Learn about the many benefits of sustainable gardens for our environment, climate and community.
Replacing your lawn, fake lawn or exotic gardens with sustainable gardens will help create a brighter, more resilient and biodiverse future. Help by creating your own sustainable garden, by getting to know the different types of sustainable garden options and using our resources and tips to help you get started.
Benefits of sustainable gardens
Waterwise gardens are designed to allow the rain to water them, and are often irrigation free. In addition, beautiful biodiverse gardens beaming with plants help water infiltration preventing stormwater run-off, allowing deep soaking of the soil. Plant cover provides a cooling effect and can reduce temperatures inside your home. Together these water and energy savings mean less money is going on bills.
Sustainable gardens are well positioned to survive in Perth’s forecast drying climate with additional hot days.
Growing a diverse range of local native plants, including threatened and priority flora species, helps conserve and protect species in decline and enhance local biodiversity. By growing local native plants and creating healthy soil, an ecosystem is created where other species, including fungi and wildlife can benefit too.
Planting local native species for wildlife, leaving logs, rocks and leaf litter for reptiles and invertebrates, and bare patches of sand for pollinators will all provide our local wildlife with homes and food. You can also add artificial wildlife homes to your sustainable gardens for wildlife to nest or access water, such as providing nest boxes, bee hotels, frog ponds, safe bird baths, lizard longues and more. Improving soil health will also increase soil biota.
Sustainable gardens provide stepping stones for local wildlife to safely move between green spaces in the urban environment. Creating habitat corridors and improving connectivity of green spaces, particularly on your verges, will help local wildlife survive and thrive. You can learn more through NatureLink Perth and our IntraMaps resource to see if you live in a ‘Regional Ecological Linkage’ area by clicking ‘Regional Ecological Linkage’ on the lefthand menu and find your address.
Sustainable gardens creates green liveable communities and streetscapes and also contribute to healthy drainage. Not to mention the added health and wellbeing benefits from increasing green spaces in our communities.
Urban heat island effect is the build-up of heat in urban areas. This build up is exacerbated by an increase to urban densities and building heights that trap heat overnight, particularly during periods of extended dry and heat.
Greening initiatives, like adding a street tree to your verge or garden and by creating a waterwise and wildlife-friendly gardens will assist to offset the build-up of urban heat.
Who said you couldn’t have it all? Sustainable gardens, particularly waterwise and wildlife friendly gardens, can be easier to maintain than looking after lawn or a garden full of exotic plants. This includes reduced watering, fertilising and pruning requirements, with some simple aftercare tips shared in our planting for success resource.
Sustainable gardens are the perfect companions to composting and worm farms that turn your waste into valuable garden products. For further information, visit the Waste and recycling webpage.
Waterwise and Wildlife Friendly Gardens guide
View our Waterwise and Wildlife Friendly guide for information about how to create an urban garden that enhances the connectivity of green spaces and builds resilience in a changing climate.
Firewise Gardening
The State Government has developed a Firewise Gardening guide to help you with plant selection, positioning and management to help reduce the risk of damage and protect your home from a bushfire. This is increasingly important with the impacts of climate change.
Get inspired by nature
If you are after resilient, tough and fauna friendly native plants for your garden that suit our local climate and soils, and flower for days, then look to nature to guide your plant selection. Our bushland reserves include various significant plant species and communities, such as the threatened Banksia woodlands and Tuart woodlands. Read our Plants and People in Mooro Country publication to learn about our iconic and unique native species.
Growing your own food
Grow it local and community gardens
Sustainably grow productive edible gardens to reduce your carbon footprint and household food waste.
Learn more through Grow it Local, bushtucker gardens and our local community garden groups on growing fruit and vegetables in your garden.
The City provides a database of community groups, visit the City's Community Directory to view our local community garden groups.
Street trees and habitat trees
Whether living or dead, is a native tree with a hollow or substantial trunk diameter. Trees with a diameter exceeding 30-50cm may receive protection under State and Federal laws, as they serve as vital habitat for threatened species like black cockatoos. Habitat trees are crucial to the natural environment, taking a century or more to develop, particularly where urban environments offer limited options for our local wildlife.
The City provides free street trees to help green your garden and our neighbourhoods, and has a Significant Trees Register.
Fertilise Wise and finding your soil type
Using appropriate fertiliser practices reduces the amount of nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen).
Fertilise wise and grow local guides are aimed at specific soil types. By identifying your particular soil type, you can design a garden with the most suitable plants for your area.
Check your soil type below or visit the Fertilser Wise website.