The Peaks to Points Festival celebrates local governments and their communities who care for the creek catchments along the southern side of the Brisbane River. My workshop is on the 31st July - they’re taking bookings now.
Although verge gardens might seem a bit removed from creek catchments, they are connected. What you do in your garden and on your verge affects the stormwater that ends up in the creeks, the rivers, and then the Bay or ocean.
Verge gardens also provide a way to contribute to biodiversity if you can’t fit volunteering with bushcare groups into your life. In the other direction, bushcare provides a place to learn about native plants, habitat, and all those invasive plants that come from surrounding gardens.
Both are collaborative projects which rely on residents and council officers building trust and respectful relationships. Alignment with a shared purpose is essential. That means shifting from blame and criticism to negotiating diverse perspectives and interests to find constructive solutions.
For verges, the need for alignment is crucial because that land is more open to the public. I’m reminded of that every time there’s a dispute and I read the vitriol towards councils and whoever made the complaint in the social media pile-on. Understanding who must be included, and who you might unwittingly exclude, is covered in my book: Garden on the Verge: A New Approach.
For people running verge garden group projects, Garden on the Verge is a handbook they can give to participants. It reinforces the message that resident gardeners can’t just do what they want. It shows why it matters what they plant. You need that basic alignment and shared purpose as a foundation.
I also use the book as a filtering device when people approach me wanting to start big planting projects to transform their street or city. If they are not interested enough to read the book and put it into practice by creating their own native verge garden first, there’s no point going further. For successful group projects that scale, leaders need a deep understanding of the alignment and commitment to collaboration. Group leaders set the tone for their members and other stakeholders. They need to be able to spot the warning signs that someone is likely to spark a neighbourhood dispute.
In-person presentations and workshops are good but they are limited by geography and they cost me a lot of time. That’s why I publish free resources for you to read online on this Shady Lanes Project Substack and the shadylanes.com.au website.
I’m planning to add some online sessions starting in July for those who want more. Please fill in this survey if you are interested.
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