Why You Should Plant a Sustainable Garden (and How)
A landscaper's compelling reasons to create a sustainable backyard... and how to go about it
Gary Winter
27 January 2018
The Gary Winter Story
Gary Winter’s consultation services offer a level on insight well beyond design. With over 25 years experience running a successful landscape construction business in Melbourne’s affluent suburbs, Gary’s landscape knowledge runs deep across the entire process.
Gary is deeply passionate about connecting people to their gardens, creating liveable zones that fulfill lifestyle goals and practical needs. His design approach is first and foremost about providing a functional and well-formed solution for your lifestyle and the space.
With a long and successful career in landscape construction and design, Gary is known for his ability to deftly balance big ideas with the more practical details for residential, community and commercial gardens.
Gary is a people person and...
The Gary Winter Story
Gary Winter’s consultation services offer a level on insight... More
Australia’s the smallest continent in the world. It’s also the driest, aside from Antarctica, which means it’s even drier than Africa! You would think that conserving water would be on the top of our list when it comes to creating gardens and parklands. Instead, there has been an emphasis on ‘controlling’ the land rather than working in harmony with our soil.
In our attempt to make our lives easier, faster and more convenient, we have covered land with roads, paving, buildings and car parks, particularly in our major cities. Fortunately, some of our forebears saw the wisdom of making parklands available to the people. This gave us places where people could create a wonderful connection with nature that is so vital to our wellbeing.
In our attempt to make our lives easier, faster and more convenient, we have covered land with roads, paving, buildings and car parks, particularly in our major cities. Fortunately, some of our forebears saw the wisdom of making parklands available to the people. This gave us places where people could create a wonderful connection with nature that is so vital to our wellbeing.
Choose indigenous species for their water-saving abilities
When drawing up a plan for your own garden, there are a number of water-saving features you can include in your design. Australia’s landscape is covered with indigenous plants and grasses that conserve water to survive times when rainfall is low and days are long and hot. They provide an excellent example of how we can better use our limited water supply to grow lush, green areas.
Generally speaking, these Australian natives are a better choice than their exotic counterparts, given they are indigenous, have finer leaves, less surface area, and include certain species that can extract water from the surface below. By way of contrast, exotics – and in particular English plants – are conditioned to summers that are not as hot, have higher rainfall and wetter grounds, and therefore rely on more water application.
See more drought-tolerant gardens from around the world
When drawing up a plan for your own garden, there are a number of water-saving features you can include in your design. Australia’s landscape is covered with indigenous plants and grasses that conserve water to survive times when rainfall is low and days are long and hot. They provide an excellent example of how we can better use our limited water supply to grow lush, green areas.
Generally speaking, these Australian natives are a better choice than their exotic counterparts, given they are indigenous, have finer leaves, less surface area, and include certain species that can extract water from the surface below. By way of contrast, exotics – and in particular English plants – are conditioned to summers that are not as hot, have higher rainfall and wetter grounds, and therefore rely on more water application.
See more drought-tolerant gardens from around the world
Indigenous plants were used for this rural property in Woodend, Victoria and include:
- Lomandra seascape, Dianella revoluta, Poa labillardieri and Leucophyta brownii; all of which have narrow leaves. The reduced surface area of the foliage further reduces their need to suck up a lot of water, and means the foliage has less contact with the sun.
- Brachyscome multifida, Scleranthus biflorus and Myoporum parvifolium ground-covers; these assist in keeping the soil beneath them cooler and damper, as less evaporation occurs due to increased coverage. These plants also tend to capture the rainfall/water for better ingress, rather than skipping and running off the surface.
This suburban property in Bulleen, Victoria had a tangled collection of European plantings, now replaced by indigenous plants as well as other permeable materials.
Plants used in this project include:
Plants used in this project include:
- Eucalyptus caesia ‘Silver Princess’ and Agonis ‘After Dark’; these trees provide shade to the lower levels and other parts of the garden, which assists with reducing heating of the soil and slowing evaporation.
- Grevillea ‘Birthday Candles’ and Lomandra ‘Lime Tuff’; with their narrow leaves, they add colour and texture and tend to survive with rainfall and little additional watering.
Tip: Water conservation is just as important in metropolitan areas of Australia, particularly as suburbs spread further across the land. Once again, selecting indigenous plants can assist in creating a garden that is lovely to look at and easy to maintain.
Houzz Tour: A Super-Sustainable Home Houses Three Generations
Houzz Tour: A Super-Sustainable Home Houses Three Generations
Employ other ways to conserve water
According to advisory body Archicentre Australia, water conservation indoors and outdoors is an important component of sustainable living. “As with all sustainability measures, water conservation is enhanced by considering a site’s natural attributes, including soil type, climate and compatibility with the dwelling,” says Archicentre Australia director Peter Georgiev. He recommends, where appropriate:
According to advisory body Archicentre Australia, water conservation indoors and outdoors is an important component of sustainable living. “As with all sustainability measures, water conservation is enhanced by considering a site’s natural attributes, including soil type, climate and compatibility with the dwelling,” says Archicentre Australia director Peter Georgiev. He recommends, where appropriate:
- grey water systems
- rainwater tanks
- suitable guttering and downpipes
- water-efficient gardens, possibly even feature ponds.
Choose recycled or upcycled materials
Materials naturally found on a property can be reused to create areas for human passage. This may include large branches from the bases of trees, stones and rocks, natural mulches, and discarded wood pieces. By utilising organic materials in this way, you are not introducing materials that may need to be replaced and replenished. You can create interesting designs and features that look at home in the environment.
Tip: Use timber that is naturally discarded by surrounding trees, which can be used to create bridges, path edges and interesting organic structures. This saves time and money importing materials from suppliers. With a little creativity, organic materials become features that add to the ambiance of the area, providing features that please the eye.
Lessons We Can Learn From Vernacular Housing
Materials naturally found on a property can be reused to create areas for human passage. This may include large branches from the bases of trees, stones and rocks, natural mulches, and discarded wood pieces. By utilising organic materials in this way, you are not introducing materials that may need to be replaced and replenished. You can create interesting designs and features that look at home in the environment.
Tip: Use timber that is naturally discarded by surrounding trees, which can be used to create bridges, path edges and interesting organic structures. This saves time and money importing materials from suppliers. With a little creativity, organic materials become features that add to the ambiance of the area, providing features that please the eye.
Lessons We Can Learn From Vernacular Housing
The importance of permeable surfaces
Permeable surfaces include indigenous grasses, pathways constructed of permeable substances such as rocks, recycled timbers, and specially designed permeable paving. These add a decorative feature to the garden or parkland while allowing water to flow back into the soil.
Permeable surfaces include indigenous grasses, pathways constructed of permeable substances such as rocks, recycled timbers, and specially designed permeable paving. These add a decorative feature to the garden or parkland while allowing water to flow back into the soil.
Create zones
Instead of designing a garden that requires constant maintenance and watering, you can create zones that are used for different purposes. This enables water collection and distribution systems to be localised to where they are most needed.
Tip: Design for collection tanks, natural water areas and implement water distribution systems at the construction stage.
Careful design and thoughtful planning enables you to maintain your garden area, gain the greatest benefit from the space that you have, and use water wisely without causing pollution or wastage.
Tell us
Does this story convince you of the need to plan your garden for sustainability? Have you chosen to incorporate any of these tips into your plot? Share your thoughts in the Comments below and join the conversation.
More
Browse more stories about how to embrace sustainable living
Instead of designing a garden that requires constant maintenance and watering, you can create zones that are used for different purposes. This enables water collection and distribution systems to be localised to where they are most needed.
Tip: Design for collection tanks, natural water areas and implement water distribution systems at the construction stage.
Careful design and thoughtful planning enables you to maintain your garden area, gain the greatest benefit from the space that you have, and use water wisely without causing pollution or wastage.
Tell us
Does this story convince you of the need to plan your garden for sustainability? Have you chosen to incorporate any of these tips into your plot? Share your thoughts in the Comments below and join the conversation.
More
Browse more stories about how to embrace sustainable living
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I’ve found that an underlay/Geofabric eg jute has helped thus
- permeable
- breaks down over approx 18-24months to organic mulch improving soil
- Reduces evap while increasing micro and macro soil orgs
- creates layer of humidity for those who want chip mulch in fire prone areas- smoulder not burn
- readily available and relatively inexpensive esp when in bulk (geofabrics aust has the best price per roll)
- weed suppression for maintenance free
- cover (aka Christo’s wrapped coast) area required cut hole for plants (cheap industrial shears required) , mulch , water, walk away ,beer.
Thanks for your help PC, we are in the process of laying geofabric right now..... beer after sounds like an excellent idea!
Why is it my weeds always seem to grow in the middle of my plants? Nothing stops that, you can't spray them and digging them out is a very delicate operation. The birds all drop seeds on the mulch and they grow freely in that too. I have a very large native bird population. At least they are easier to pull out from mulch, but I have to have a weekly inspection to really keep weeds at bay.