Slow gardening on a verge

An inhospitable verge is transformed into a thriving garden by patiently nurturing the soil’s natural seed bank

Ican count more than 35 native species out on the verge at my place. It seems a miracle, considering five years ago this strip of hard, compacted subsoil full of rocks and devoid of organic matter had no plant cover at all. But over the past few years a diverse community of short- and long-lived native groundcovers and perennials has developed. It rivals any natural ecosystem in our area and highlights the resilience of our flora.

We live in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, on a bush property surrounded by grazing country. We jokingly refer to it as the Mongolian Steppe because of the strong winds that sweep through in early spring and the heavy frosts in winter.

When we started to build our house almost five years ago we built a 40m-long gabion wall to hold back the soil. In between the wall and the new driveway was a 2.5m-wide border of barren ground that looked impossible to revegetate. We didn’t have time to improve the soil or look after planted seedlings, or the water to irrigate regularly. Instead, we went on a slow-gardening journey, taking advantage of the area’s soil seed bank. We’ve all cursed the soil’s natural storage of seeds, often dormant weed seeds, that come to life after rain. In our case, the poor, rocky soil offered a silver lining: the conditions were too tough even for many weeds.

natural approach

The inspiration for our naturalistic and drought-resistant garden came from the book Planting Design for Dry Gardens by Olivier Filippi, a dry-gardening expert from the south of France. His books show many examples of Mediterranean landscapes with low evergreen groundcovers, mounding plants and gnarly trees and shrubs eking out an existence on cliffs and coastal plains.

Progress on the verge was slow in the beginning, with several hardenbergia (Hardenbergia violacea), grassland wood sorrel (Oxalis perennans), common raspwort (Gonocarpus tetragynus) and shrubby rice flower (Pimelea spp.) plants emerging first. The hardenbergia, in particular, did very well, covering several square metres in places. The protection and leaf litter from the hardenbergia then allowed other plants to colonise the verge. Microleana stipoides and other grasses started to grow among it. Then New Holland daisy (Vittadinia spp.), Patersonia spp. and hibbertia (Hibbertia scandens) popped up.

In addition, I collected seed of different everlastings from around our property and on the roadsides to randomly scatter along the verge. Tall-winged everlasting (Ammobium alatum), button everlasting (Coronidium scorpioides syn. Helichrysum scorpioides) and hoary sunray (Leucochrysum albicans) have now taken hold and happily self-seed.

care & maintenance

So far, the maintenance of the verge has been very simple. Twice a year, usually in spring and autumn, I remove all weeds, mostly cat’s ear and milk thistle, and tidy up any dead material and flower heads. This makes all the difference. After a tidy-up, the verge is transformed from what looks like a neglected patch of dirt to a diverse and colourful garden. You have to be ruthless in pulling out all the weeds, even if it means going back to bare ground. Most importantly, we haven’t watered the verge once.

You can also take it further and purposefully stylise some of the plants or the overall look. For example, I’ve woven the long hardenbergia runners around each other to form nests and round shapes, and the old wood forms a climbing structure for the annual new growth to climb on. I’ve also pruned the pimelea bushes so they are shaped nicely. Rocks and pebbles can be placed around plants to create a rock garden, too.

a rewarding outcome

Working on our verge has been a very rewarding journey. It’s amazing to see the plants thrive and survive our hot summers, and even in the recent drought, without being watered once. We would not have been able to establish 35 different species from seedlings, many of which are not available in nurseries.

The beauty of this verge is that it’s covered in groundcovers and perennials that are not just native but local to our area, and it’s constantly evolving. The plantings provide habitat and food for a variety of native animals. We’ve watched crimson rosellas nibble on the grass seed heads, and I’ve accidentally uncovered frogs, many insects and little jacky dragons (native lizards) that have been hiding underneath the dense hardenbergia.

Importantly, the verge forms a natural transition from the surrounding bush to our house without posing a fire risk. With some patience and imagination, and a little bit of help, you can create your own drought-resistant, low-maintenance garden that’s a one-off assembly of plants native to your area.

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Local wattle (Acacia spp.); a yellow wedge-pea (Gompholobium spp.); Inke weeds the verge next to her house, a modern take on a Nissen hut (a half-cylindrical corrugated iron hut used for military purposes).

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Native iris (Patersonia spp.); tableland mirbelia (Mirbelia platylobioides); twisted mat-rush (Lomandra obliqua); the verge between the gabion wall and driveway.

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e dense Hardenbergia violacea on the verge provides habitat for native lizards and frogs.