Verges Alive – Bringing Your Nature Strip to Life

Where to start?

The City of Charles Sturt encourages and supports our residents to rediscover the joy of gardening in our urban landscape. However, before you go ahead and start planting there are a few things you should consider detailed here in our Community Verge/Nature Strip Development Guidelines.

There is a Community Verge/Nature Strip Development Permit that will assist in planning your verge planting and obtaining a Permit to do so.

Community Verge/Nature Strip Development Guidelines

Talking to neighbours and the home owner

Verge/nature strip gardens do not require complex management structures, however, if the garden is proposed to extend over someone else’s verge/nature strip, they should be projects that are supported and jointly planned/developed by adjacent neighbours.

What support can Council offer?

Council staff may support verge/nature strip garden projects in the following ways:

help with design ideas;
advice on Council policies and requirements;
provide limited horticultural advice.

Gardening Australia, ABC. In episode 1, series 23 of ABC’s Gardening Australia, presenter Costa Georgiadis takes viewers through his journey to create a verge garden: On the Verge: Starting Your Own Verge Garden

Download our Verges Alive booklet here.

Across Australia, verge/nature strip gardens have become an increasingly popular form of community gardening. Verge/nature strip gardens are gardens that people establish in the strip of council land beside the footpath at the front of their house.

Establishing and maintaining verge/nature strip gardens can be an excellent way of getting to know your neighbours, building a strong sense of community, and adding to the biodiversity and beauty of your local street.

Need more information? Get in touch with us.

Janet Willoughby
Open Space Community Planner
E: jwilloughby@charlessturt.sa.gov.au

Species	Common name	Habit and form	Height (mm)	Spread (mm)	Flower colour	Flowering time	Further information
Ficinia nodosa	Knobby Club Rush	Clumping, Grass Sedge or Flax	15 - 220	600	Brown	All year	Click here
Lobelia anceps	Angled Lobelia	Ground Cover	300	600	Blue/Purple/White	All year (Peak - Nov-Apr)	Click here
Anigozanthos 'Big red'	Kangaroo Paw	Evergreen, Clumping	600	600	Red	Spring, Summer	Click here
Anigozanthos 'Yellow gem'	Kangaroo Paw	Evergreen, Clumping	600	600	Yellow	Spring, Summer	Click here
Brachyscome multifida	Native Daisy	Evergreen, Mound Shaped	200	300	Blue	All year	Click here
Calocephalus citrinus	Lemon Beauty Heads	Tufted, Dwarf	500	600	Yellow	Spring, Summer	Click here
Carpobrotus rossii	Pig Face	Evergreen, Spreading	300	1000-3000	Pink	Spring, Summer	Click here
Chrysocephulum apiculatum	Desert Flame	Evergreen, Spreading	300	500	Yellow	All year	Click here
Correa 'Pink Mist'	Correa Pink Mist	Dense Spreading	600	1000-3000	Pink	Autumn, Winter	Click here
Correa alba prostrate form	Native Fuschia	Evergreen, Dense foliage, Spreading,	300	600	White	Spring, Autumn, Winter	Click here
Correa dusky bells	Native Fuschia - Dusky Bells	Evergreen, Mound Shaped	600	2000	Pink	All year	Click here
Dianella revoluta	Black Anther Flax Lily	Clumping, Spreading	600	1200	Purple	Autumn, Spring	Click here
Disphyma crassifolium	Round Leafed Pig Face	Spreading, Prostrate	200	1500	Pink	Spring, Summer	Click here
Eremophila kalberri carpet	Tar Bush	Ground Cover	200	1500	Gold	All year	Click here
Goodenia ovata prostrate	Goodenia	Ground Cover	300	900	Yellow	Spring, Summer	Click here
Leucophyta brownii	Cushion Bush	Evergreen, Dense , Mounded foliage	600	600	White, Cream, Yellow	Summer	Click here
Lomandra multiflora ssp dura	Lomandra	Perennial Tussock	400	400	Cream	Winter, Spring	Click here
Myoporum insulare prostrate	Creeping Boobialla	Ground Cover	300	1500	White	Spring, Summer	Click here
Rhagodia spinescens	Spiny Saltbush	Spreading, Prostrate	600	2000	Cream	Summer	Click here
Scaevola mauve clusters	Scaevola mauve clusters	Ground Cover	200	1500	Mauve	Spring, Summer	Click here
Vittadinia blackii	Western New Holland Daisy	Evergreen, Dense , Mounded foliage	200	300	Blue	Spring	Click here
Wahlenbergia stricta	Wahlenbergia stricta	Evergreen	300	300	Blue	Spring, Summer, Autumn	Click here