Every home and garden, every footpath and park, makes a difference – for better or worse.
Gardens cover a larger area of greenspace than parks and reserves, yet too often get left out of discussions about conservation and sustainability of the city.
And then there are the footpaths, nature strips or verges, many full of invasive weeds. Imagine if these barren wastelands became true nature strips providing habitat and a network of wildlife corridors throughout the city.
Every home and garden, every footpath and park, makes a difference – for better or worse. Whether it’s the efforts of existing residents, the planning decisions of council, or the design of new developments, every little thing takes Brisbane closer or further away from being a sustainable city of the future.
How would you like Brisbane to evolve in the coming decades?
Verge Gardens
If you were ever in doubt that gardening was political, the issue of verge gardens should set you straight. Lurking in the undergrowth of the debate are issues of shared ownership and responsibility, (non-)conformity, environmental concerns, power relationships between councils and ratepayers, and class. Some even argue about what to call that area between your front property boundary and the road. Is it a verge, footpath, nature strip, or something else?
Reduce, Repurpose and Recycle
These are the new 3 Rs. Reducing consumption and waste can brings many rewards. Repurposing can be creative and fun – and save you money. Recycling is better than adding to landfill. It means changing attitudes and habits but it can be rewarding in unexpected ways.
Our biggest project is repurposing a swimming pool into an underground water tank.
Urban Planning, Development & Rainwater Management
Town planning is the core business of councils. It determines how people can live together, how greenspace and wildlife can be preserved, and how we deal with rainwater, weather events and climate change. There are many players behind planning decisions, the politicians, developers, lobby groups as well as the planning professionals. Who is providing the leadership needed to deal with the challenges of increasing urban density and climate change? What can we do as individuals?
Plants in My Garden
The posts here about plants in my garden are really for me to record what I have growing, and where and why I’ve planted them. They are categorised into native or exotic, and whether they are edible. Some are also tagged for their special roles in the lives of birds, butterflies, bees and other creatures who share or visit the garden. It’s simply a record to stop me making the same planting mistakes again, buying a new plant only to find I already have one, and so I can answer when people ask me about one of my plants.