Plants for rocks (includes some plant ideas for any verge though.
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45292
Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: Nature strips without lawns 89Jul 14, 2011 9:30 pm I do agree, it might definitely be a good idea for water conservation. It was only now that we started to see this idea and the kind of potential behind different ways of thinking. Thanks again for the homeone posts. Re: Nature strips without lawns 90Sep 14, 2011 10:08 pm Why the hell are we so compelled to have a lawn? Seriously, why???? How is at all essential for a home? There is a reason why we do what we do and it is just silly. We are all totally blinded by generations of following a ridiculous fashion. The lawn became a big thing after the second world war. We adopted the Californian urban dream. We mimicked blindly what the US did. We urbanised differently, we built our homes more like those in the US. We adopted the lawn in the way we do now. The US used lawns as a representation of sorts of the great plains of the Midwest. Now why the hell do we need to continue to do that? Totally blind that there are actually other ways to landscape and bugger me, they produce far more interesting and valuable landscape investments than the miles of lawn rubbish we see so much of. Anyone who thinks plastic grass is an option is kidding themselves. Just some man made version of something natural to ween ourselves off our addiction to lawn. The toupee of the landscape world really. You know its not real and but don't have the heart to say something to the owner, all the while feeling compelled to stare hypnotically at it. Lemmings or something better? It's easy as to chose. Re: Nature strips without lawns 91Sep 14, 2011 10:23 pm Hi Fu-long time no see! Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Nature strips without lawns 92Sep 19, 2011 12:35 am Had to stop the car and take a few pics of this verge. Lawn after wasted useless lawn and then this. An absolute stand out of the entire street! Who ever you are, you're doing it right. (well one version of right anyway ) Re: Nature strips without lawns 93Sep 19, 2011 4:51 am Stunning, if only..... I lol when I see the old guys out there with a stinking loud whipper snipper trimming the edges. Apart from the costs its just a waste of time. I go out once a month, pull a few weeds done.. Recently I felt like a change so I got out the shovel, heaved out heaps of plants (almost all - lol) and started with small native flowers, small shrubs, thinly branched and heaps of Erica. Part experiment, part fun, I mean - what the hell, why not! Lets make a new canvass, enrich the soil, dig it through (just saw mill scraps as mulch - $5 a bag = 4 bags) and plant away. New plants, seeds, seedlings. Cheap stuff. Paper daisy white, pink, yellow, Brachyscome deep purple, white, pink, Erica red, dark pink, mixed white and red 'heathy stuff' and that little hidden jewel, Hibbertia microphylla yellow - amazing! Scraggly little insignificant nothing growing these amazing glossy, waxy buttercup yellow flowers in abundant profusion. Purple wax flowers, purple pea flower, bacon and eggs, Yellow "honey gem" Grevillia prostrate, verticordia yellow, boronia and so on. 2 verticle layers seperated by stems and "wirery heath", all smashing colours and all flowering like nuts. Daperia purple is growing, flowering without water as is everything planted over winter. Grass? You're kidding me? Re: Nature strips without lawns 96Nov 04, 2011 12:46 pm If they want me to purchase a $500 lawn mower for the sake of 1.8 x 7 meters of lawn then they can provide it. I am in Moreland, a slightly more progressive council (had a solar group buy 2 year ago) which has extensively done such treatments all over Brunswick and parts of Coburg. There are around 12 to 15 houses near here with such nature strips, some of them have boulders and look stunning. They also put LED marker lights in the bike trails nearby, which is awesome at night. Moreland also remade an entire street nearby, bringing it down to 2 lanes from a road capable of having 4 lanes. They made parking pays and a bike path separate fro the road. The bike path included road verge plantings of Eucalyptus, bottle brush, Paper barks, Tea Tree, Lomdra longifolia, tanika and purple flax lilly with Grevilia ground covers, Correa, Salt bush, Poa.sp and myoporum. The entire street was mulched and the bike path itself is tan in colour. The speed was reduced from 60 to 40 for the entire street. It is now safe, hoons don't use it and locals I would imagine would be happy with the work. In the more affluent Brunswick west, roundabouts and their 4 corners, street side plantings and even shopping strips have been in part or full, planted out with natives, indigenous grasses, pea flowers, Correa and flax. Many of the South American, English and American street trees have been ripped out and replaced with paper barks, banksia, hakea and gums. There are also groups and clubs sponsored by MCC which provide plants and assistance to local corridors, guerrilla groups and gardening clubs. I can't say this treatment is consistent everywhere, mop tops were planted near here for some quick covering I think (New Factory) but some streets are all giant Lilly pilly which forms a tunnel in parts. It might be dark in winter but in summer its awesome. I think I am fairly safe and there are guidelines to follow at the councils website, most are obvious. You can raise the bed but not significantly, you can't put trip hazards there like planks to retain soils (though I know of 2 places that have). I think anyone going into this should stop at the councils website or the office itself and get the guidelines to follow. You need to be a little aware that silly people do silly things and lawyers chase ambulances as a business model. (Great huh?) So just be aware. Not all gardens need rocks and raised beds. The problem with mine is I have the roadbase from a dirt road that led to the dairy where cows once walked. Its all railway sized rock, quite a challenge. You need to consider that you can't dig below 80mm or the level of the concrete. After that you risk hitting Telstra pipes, Electrical cables and Plumbing. http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/parking- ... nting.html Quote: Safety Beautification works must maintain clearances and visibility for pedestrian, cycle and vehicular traffic when using, entering or exiting an intersection, driveway or footpath. Anyworks considered hazardous will be required by Council to be removed or made safe. • A minimum footpath width of 1.5 metres (about 5 feet) is to be retained. • Vegetation is to be maintained below a height of 0.5 metres (about 18 inches) to ensure that it does not cause a line of sight problem. Medium to large shrubs are not to be planted unless the naturestrip is very long and wide. • Hard landscaping elements, such as rocks, timber (including edging) must not be used as they can become trip hazards to pedestrians or obstacles if they happen to fall. • Mulch material must be kept stable and properly contained. Recommended treatments include granitic sand and finely ground mulch, such as ‘softfall’ materials. Larger materials such as stones or chunky woodchips can get kicked onto paths or into gutters. • Granitic sand is a popular alternative to mown turfgrass. Specific guidelines for the establishment of a granitic sand naturestrip are included in Appendix 3. • Residents must not park or store any type of vehicle or trailer on the naturestrip (registered or unregistered). Vehicles on naturestrips lead to soil compaction, wheel ruts, damage to underground services, erosion and spoil the look of the street. • Plants must not have prickly leaves or parts that might hurt pedestrians. • Generally, it is better to limit the variety of plant species that are selected. Design guidelines • The design of the naturestrip should complement the elements or gardening style of the property. For example, formal versus natural themes, mulch or gravel treatments, straight lines versus curves, colours or types of plants. • Simplicity is more effective than complexity – it is better to keep to small numbers of themes, elements, plants and colours. • Surfaces such as grass, mulch or small plants result in lower levels of stormwater run-off than occur over paved surfaces. The conversion of a grass naturestrip to asphalt or concrete is inconsistent with this strategy and will not be permitted. • Design constraints include the following. – Some flat space must be retained for garbage, recycling and green waste bins. – Some flat space must be allowed for door opening and pedestrian, pram, pusher and wheelchair traffic between road and footpath. – Planting must be kept well back from the kerb, gutter, footpath and driveway so that when plants grow and spread they are not in the way. – Low growing plants must be used to ensure visibility for motorists and pedestrians in such locations. – Any material likely to become dislodged or to become a trip hazard, obstacle or look ugly must not be used, for example, chunky mulch or rocks, coarse sand, timber edging, bollards or logs, black plastic, or carpet . – Changes to naturestrip levels or retaining walls that might interfere with drainage will not be permitted. Re: Nature strips without lawns 97Nov 08, 2011 11:30 am Re: Nature strips without lawns 98Nov 13, 2011 1:37 pm Fu Manchu Why the hell are we so compelled to have a lawn? Seriously, why???? Anyone who thinks plastic grass is an option is kidding themselves. Just some man made version of something natural to ween ourselves off our addiction to lawn. The toupee of the landscape world really. You know its not real and but don't have the heart to say something to the owner, all the while feeling compelled to stare hypnotically at it. Lemmings or something better? It's easy as to chose. Good point, Fu. But take a look at the bottom of the page: paid ads for fake turf. There is another disconnect here. LOL Re: Nature strips without lawns 99Nov 13, 2011 5:16 pm Fu, your pic above of the random persons verge, are they Swan River daisies? That is pretty much how I want my verge, or at least with a fairly large clump of daisies and maybe some other natives mixed in. I can't wait to see all our neighbours' faces when they see our native, daisy laden, mulched verge amongst their professionally landscaped, pristinely mowed & edged turfed verges.. i think there might be a bit of this happening --> Oceanic with Nautilus upgrades. Handover 8 September 2010 Nature strips without lawns 100Nov 13, 2011 6:47 pm They are paper daisies. A seasonal burst of wonderful color and form for any landscape. A mate of mine knows of someone who sows them into her lawn each winter. So the lawn looks rubbish but the paper daisies look great. Then mow them back into the lawn for late spring. That's about when the lawn looks great again. Elvis has left the building... The site supervisor quit after 2 month on the project. I guess he was just instructed to bark at people, but didn't like when he was… 26 21665 Hi, I contracted a Builder to do a Garage to Bedroom + ensuite conversion (Class 1a), the Builder engaged the Certifier and Engineer and received BDA from the Certifier… 0 5677 |