Goya Dmytryshchak
Two Hobsons Bay residents are runners up in a competition to find Victoria’s best nature strip garden.
Open Gardens Victoria named Susanna Starr of North Fitzroy as the winner, with six close runners up including Anne Thompson from Newport and Peter Weaver from Seaholme.
Competition judge Karen Sutherland said gardeners were increasingly seeing nature strips as an under-developed resource.
“This competition has been a joy to be part of, sharing each gardener’s enthusiastic work on their nature strip gardens, bringing flowers for local insects, birds and wildlife, joy to passers-by and connection with their local communities, as well as herbs and edibles.“
Ms Thompson’s garden has yellow helianthus angustifolius (swamp sunflower) and other bright flowering plants.
Mr Weaver’s garden provides food with olive and cumquat trees, fennel, daikon, rhubarb, borage, nasturtium edible flowers, strawberries, parsnips, broad beans, zucchini, Japanese taro, sweet potato, garlic and herbs for the community to pick.
He said the garden started about five years ago as a three-metre patch.
“It’s been so good, I’ve just expanded it to the whole nature strip now and there’s more I want to do,“ Mr Weaver said.
“We spend all this money and everything else mowing our lawns whereas it can be a productive space.
“I get messages every week, like one local around the corner said, ’Oh, thanks Pete, I just went round and picked some spring onions and some sage to cook dinner tonight’. There’s nothing better for the community.
“I work on it every Sunday and I probably talk to two or three people every Sunday, at length, about how we used to garden more and we used to vegetable garden more, and what a great idea it is.“
