By Catherine Watson
IS THIS Wonthaggi’s most beautiful nature strip? The big trees were there when the current residents moved in a couple of years ago but they have taken it to a whole new level with understorey plantings of shrubs and ground cover.
I love walking through this miniature woodland. It’s deliciously cool on a hot summer day and sheltered from the brutal south-westerlies in winter. (The only drawback is the colony of noisy miners that consider it their territory.)
There are multiple benefits to urban plantings. They cool their surroundings, they absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen. They provide habitat and food for birds, lizards and invertebrates. They look good and they make us feel good.
IS THIS Wonthaggi’s most beautiful nature strip? The big trees were there when the current residents moved in a couple of years ago but they have taken it to a whole new level with understorey plantings of shrubs and ground cover.
I love walking through this miniature woodland. It’s deliciously cool on a hot summer day and sheltered from the brutal south-westerlies in winter. (The only drawback is the colony of noisy miners that consider it their territory.)
There are multiple benefits to urban plantings. They cool their surroundings, they absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen. They provide habitat and food for birds, lizards and invertebrates. They look good and they make us feel good.
When it comes to nature strips, residents have all the responsibility and very few rights. While they have to maintain the nature strip outside their properties, a Bass Coast local law specifies that they must not remove or plant vegetation other than grass on the road reserve without a permit, which currently costs $200. The application must be accompanied by a detailed landscape plan of the proposed planting, along with a plant list, which must first be approved.
After multiple emails and visits, Leonie and Ross got a permit to plant on their nature strip in 2013. They paid $100 for it back then. Leonie said it started when the council planted a couple of trees on the nature strip. They didn’t do well.
“Then I wanted to plant an understorey so we got a permit. Now we’ve got blue tongued lizards and birds. People often comment on it.”
“Then I wanted to plant an understorey so we got a permit. Now we’ve got blue tongued lizards and birds. People often comment on it.”
Although I know many people who have planted on their nature strip, I know of only two who obtained a permit to do so. (Another friend applied for a permit and was told by a council officer that there was no such thing, not surprising given that it’s called a Road Occupation Permit.)
Charge me with unauthorised planting on my nature strip and I will happily plead guilty. This is my own modest contribution to the future food security of my neighbourhood: it includes six feijoa trees, a quince tree, two loquats and a pin cushion hakea for the honeyeaters and black cockatoos.
Charge me with unauthorised planting on my nature strip and I will happily plead guilty. This is my own modest contribution to the future food security of my neighbourhood: it includes six feijoa trees, a quince tree, two loquats and a pin cushion hakea for the honeyeaters and black cockatoos.
There is an etiquette to harvesting from fruit trees on nature strips: passersby may take some fruit but they should not strip the tree bare, as some delinquent once did to the neighbourhood quince tree. S/he obviously knew it was a breach of etiquette as the stripping happened at night.
Wonthaggi’s got some great nature strips but when it comes to my favourite streetscapes, I head to Inverloch.
Wonthaggi’s got some great nature strips but when it comes to my favourite streetscapes, I head to Inverloch.
Victoria Street, Inverloch. Is this Bass Coast's most beautiful streetscape?
Many of the older streets in Inverloch are shared carriageways. There are no formal pathways and pedestrians share the quiet back streets with cyclists, vehicles and the occasional koala, which leaves the nature strips free for planting.
Sophie and John obtained a permit to plant out their nature strip back in 2001, when it cost just $50. The original prompt for planting was the removal from the nature strip of a large gum which had been compromised by regular and fairly brutal pruning to keep it clear of the power lines. Now they have hazel pomaderris, leucopogon, lomandra, poas, correas – all low-maintenance and hardy plants.
Sophie and John obtained a permit to plant out their nature strip back in 2001, when it cost just $50. The original prompt for planting was the removal from the nature strip of a large gum which had been compromised by regular and fairly brutal pruning to keep it clear of the power lines. Now they have hazel pomaderris, leucopogon, lomandra, poas, correas – all low-maintenance and hardy plants.
“We said we’d plant low-growing trees and shrubs because we had to be mindful of the power lines,” Sophie says.
Since they planted their nature strip, many others in the street have followed suit, forming a virtual wildlife corridor along View Street. A koala is a regular visitor. “We often have him in the back yard. He uses this peppermint gum for a night’s stopover then proceeds on his way.”
Sophie says there are multiple benefits to planting nature strips. “It’s habitat for the birds. It’s protection for our house. It adds to the privacy. The shire doesn’t have to worry about any maintenance. No lawn to mow. The shire felt it was a good way of utilising my energy and skills and reducing their maintenance and costs and contributing to our urban forest that we keep hearing about.”
Since they planted their nature strip, many others in the street have followed suit, forming a virtual wildlife corridor along View Street. A koala is a regular visitor. “We often have him in the back yard. He uses this peppermint gum for a night’s stopover then proceeds on his way.”
Sophie says there are multiple benefits to planting nature strips. “It’s habitat for the birds. It’s protection for our house. It adds to the privacy. The shire doesn’t have to worry about any maintenance. No lawn to mow. The shire felt it was a good way of utilising my energy and skills and reducing their maintenance and costs and contributing to our urban forest that we keep hearing about.”
*****
Bass Coast’s urban forest strategy, adopted in May this year, aims for 40 per cent urban forest cover in our towns. That includes street and park trees but also trees and vegetation in backyards, along waterways, in industrial areas and in conservation areas. Currently it sits at 30 per cent on public land but just 21 per cent on private land.
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Small houses on quarter acre blocks left a lot of room for gardens that contributed to the streetscape. Living front fences are the norm in the older parts of our towns.
That 21 per cent is probably declining when you compare the new housing estates with the old suburbs. In times past, you would have said of a raw new suburb “Come back in 20 years when the trees have grown!” but with big houses on small blocks that’s not going to happen.
Yucca trees, polished pebbles and dyed mulch chips aren’t going to cut it if we want to green our towns. An increasing number of residents are also choosing to imprison themselves behind two-metre front palisades.
Clearly we will be relying on street trees and other plantings to soften the new estates and to meet our shire-wide targets.
Clearly we will be relying on street trees and other plantings to soften the new estates and to meet our shire-wide targets.
| A desktop study using aerial imagery has identified almost 40,000 council-managed trees across the shire, and about 8500 potential vacant street tree sites in Wonthaggi, Cowes, Inverloch, Grantville and San Remo. Under the urban forest strategy, the council aims to plant 1500 extra trees a year. While increasing the number of trees in our towns is welcome, trees alone do not make wildlife habitat. The understorey and mid storey are also essential biodiverse elements for lizards, small birds and invertebrates. The forest strategy also recommends updating guidelines for planting nature strips. Rather than making residents jump through the bureaucratic hoops to obtain a “road occupancy permit”, and pay $200 for it, how about a rates rebate for residents who plant and nurture their nature strips? There is already a precedent for this with the Bass Coast Rural Land Management Scheme which provides rebates for farmers who enrich the environment and practise sustainable agriculture. | The numbers
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Do you have a favourite nature strip, whether it’s your own or your neighbour’s? Email a photo and description to [email protected].
The dreaded mulched nature strip, good for neither man nor beast. 1 out of 10 because at least the mulch hasn't been dyed black or red.