01-08-2025
Council praised for 'brilliant' decision as tide turns on kerbside gardens in Aussie suburb
A council has been praised for making it easier for residents to plant flowers and shrubs in nature strips along suburban roads, with permits now easy to obtain and completely free.
The move shows a clear shift by authorities, with many other councils across the country grappling with tensions caused among neighbours after some planted kerbside gardens on council-owned land. Some have even been threatened with fines.
Jac Semmler, a garden designer who resides in Frankston, Melbourne, first planted her nature strip several years ago and said the process of getting a permit was "quite lengthy" and cost her more than $110 at the time. While she believes it was worth it, she is full of praise for Frankston City Council now making nature strip planting more accessible for everyone.
"I think it's really brilliant that the council is providing this so residents can have something that's beautiful, but that also is more low-maintenance," she told Yahoo News. Her nature strip extends 30 metres outside the front of her home.
"I'm very passionate about gardening as a practice, but also for us on a corner block like that, it's quite a significant stretch of lawn to care for and maintain," she told Yahoo News. "Why have lawn when you can have this beautiful diversity of species and all this complexity in your nature strip. It's doing so much more for the neighbourhood and for all the critters as well."
Jac explained she planted a mixture of native and "climate compatible" plants that will be capable of withstanding the heat in the hotter months. Others on her street have followed suit, and she praised Frankston City Council for its "admirable" call to encourage residents to adapt nature strips.
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Nature strips have long caused contention in Aussie suburbs
While the nature strips adapted by residents usually transform the green space, some don't like neighbours messing with the communal land. This was the case in Sydney's southwest suburb of Elderslie in May, where the local council received an anonymous complaint about a long-established kerbside garden. It was called a "visual hazard" and Thelma Kilfeather, who planted the nature strip, told Yahoo News it was ridiculous her "lovely wee flowers" had been "targeted remorsefully".
"We should be attracting nature to our nature strips. People should be able to plant trees and shrubs and flowers and even vegetables," Thelma's friend and horticulturalist Tim Pickles, told Yahoo. "Instead they want it to be turned into a grass slope... or weed-infested mess."
Neil "Mac" McPherson, a resident in Mornington Peninsula, was urged to rip out his agapanthus plants from outside his home or face an almost $8,000 fine last April.
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