Verge Garden visit at Deception Bay
This was the third demonstration garden for the Moreton Bay Council initiative to encourage residents to plant verge gardens to create corridors for biodiversity and habitat.
In November, we visited the Moreton Bay Council demonstration garden at Brendale (story here) and in February we checked out their garden at Sorrento Street, Margate.
This week we visit the third demonstration garden at George St, Deception Bay.
Moreton Bay Council is encouraging residents to focus on planting local native plants for biodiversity and provide a haven for bees, lizards, birds, and other wildlife with their new Information Pack. Details of each garden and a plant list are in the information pack.
All council verge garden policies are different and Moreton Bay requires two metres by the kerb to be kept clear. Brisbane is less restrictive but you still need to ensure that you consider people getting out of parked cars or crossing from the road. Check which council area you are in, and follow your council’s guidelines.
The long corridor view. The recent rain has likely given the plants quite a boost. Most were too young for flowering but the Melaleuca thymifolia (Thyme-Leaf Honey Myrtle) already had flowers. Imagine streets like this as pollinator corridors - and such interesting places to walk.
The council has done well with the signage - two information signs like this as well as the “PUTTING NATURE BACK INTO NATURE STRIPS” message painted on the kerbing.
Pathways for pedestrians to walk through to access the park and scout hut match the gaps in the fencing.
The design at the approach also clearly allows pedestrians to pass through unimpeded. As well as being considered to people, it makes it less likely that your plants will be walked on.
Whether there is a concrete path or not, verge gardens will almost always be rectangular. Despite the need to use plants and mulch to indicate the boundaries between the path and the garden, this garden was described by Penny as being “slightly more naturalistic [than the one we saw last month] … with a rhythm to the planting… It’s quite beautifully haphazard, but thoughtful.”
Councils can only do so much
Unlike individual resident’s verge gardens, these gardens aren’t in front of homes. For that to happen, residents and community groups need to step up. Our ACF Community Brisbane Northside group encourages members to plant their own verge gardens and holds monthly verge visits to share ideas and information, and to raise public awareness of what is possible.
When enough residents and community groups do that, those gardens will become connecting corridors between larger areas of parks, creeks, and bushland. They’ll also make our streets a lot cooler and more interesting to walk along.
You’ll find links to the verge garden policy and the information pack on the Moreton Bay Council website. Moreton Bay Council is also offering funding for group verge projects.
Casual Coffee
Afterwards, four of us went to Zesty Lemon Cafe for some excellent coffee and conversation, by the bay.
Verge gardens are public land, so if you missed this event, you can still visit any time. Subscribe to get notifications for future events.
Next Event
BCC Tree Planting at Bridgeman Downs Brisbane City Council is holding a community street tree planting event at Bridgeman Downs on Saturday 28th March. We’ll have a stall where you can find out more about our plans for 2026, the Wendon Way Bushcare group, and let us know about your interests and concerns. New members are welcome. There are many different ways to be involved.
The garden was almost weed free, we pulled out a cobbler's peg plant, so the mulch was doing a good job. The plants were thriving and expanding to cover the area eventually. On the other side of the road an embankment of a continuous line of more mature, shrubby trees largely hid the backs of homes in the housing development behind them from view and cast pleasant shade.
I love this. There’s something quietly radical about verge gardens. Taking back a piece of public space for nature and turning it into habitat and connection. Its feels like such a gentle but powerful form of change. It’s visible, and deeply local, which is often exactly what the big environmental conversation is missing. These “small” interventions are actually how culture shifts.