Verge Gardens

Verge Garden Grants now open!

Want a $250 voucher to help start a verge garden and make your neighbourhood a better place? Our Connecting Neighbours - Verge Garden Grants program is open until Tuesday 30 November 2021.

You can save around 20,000 to 40,000 litres of water per year by converting a verge lawn to a water-wise garden.

Residents can replace grass with plants on the Council strip (verge) between private property and the road.

Guidelines

Follow the Verge Garden Guidelines to create a safe and successful verge garden.

Key rules to remember:

600mm clearance from the edge of the kerb (for car doors to open)
1m clearance around letterboxes (for the postie!)
Max height of plants is 700mm (to maintain sight lines)
Maintain a safe level pathway 1500mm wide (for pedestrian access)
Talk to your neighbours about your plans (the verge is a public space)
NO structures or hard surfaces are allowed (use plants and organic mulch only).

Inspiration

The above images are of some of the demonstration verge gardens we've created. You can check them out in person by visiting the locations below.

See something you like? We've included the plans (officially called 'planting schemes') used to create these gardens, and examples of some of the plants used.

Bellambi Neighbourhood Centre (bushfoods garden)

49A Cawley Street, Bellambi

Coledale Community Hall (native garden)

745 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Coledale

Kemblawarra Community Hall (bushfoods garden)

Cnr Shellharbour Road and Parkes Street, Port Kembla

Mount Ousley (sensory garden)

Bass Park, Dumfries Ave, Mount Ousley

Plant examples

Port Kembla Community Centre (mixed produce garden)

Cnr Wentworth and Church Streets, Port Kembla

More verge gardens coming soon...

Corrimal Short Street Occasional Child Care Centre, 18 Short St, Corrimal (Mixed native and produce garden)

More gardening tips

Check out these pages for more handy information about gardening:

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