The Shady Lanes Project

The Shady Lanes Project

What if just half the residents of our city planted native verge gardens to support the council street trees?

How much shade and biodiversity would that create? How much cooler and more inviting would our streets be to walk along?

Whose lives might it change?

When we collaborate, everyone wins

✅ Council street trees thrive

✅ Residents have native gardens instead of mowing

✅ Natural biodiversity gets a much-needed boost

This is the fastest way to bring shade and biodiversity to our streets — and we can do it now without competing for funding.

Drawing on practical experience and wide research, the Shady Lanes approach brings councils and residents together with a shared purpose.

Local action creates hope and optimism. Our strategic framework builds the trust and relationships needed to reimagine our streets and cities.

The book, Garden on the Verge: A New Approach, will help you avoid the pitfalls and give you the confidence to start.

The book, Essential Skills in a Networked World, is about running community-based groups and networks, including verge garden projects.

Buy the Books

Resources

Three Guiding Principles

These Guiding Principles keep your project on track, avoid disputes, and are essential for collaboration and scale.

1. Comply with your local council policy

2. Respect the needs and views of all potential users and uses of the space

3. Plant predominantly local native plants

Read more or find out why in the book.

Directory of Council Policies

Directory of Council Policies contains all the policies I know about. Every policy is different so you need to make sure you know which one is yours.

Shady Lanes Substack

See the Substack for articles and many issues related to verge gardening, running projects, and the opportunities that arise.

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Go to the Shady Lanes Substack

Substack Articles and Newsletter

Can verge gardens really change the world?

When I have a bad day, a day where I’ve read too much news, or accidentally waded into the wrong part of the internet, the idea that planting a verge garden could change the world seems absurd. Surely we need big actions and big money to tackle big problems.

Of course, any single action and any single verge garden in itself will barely make a dent in the complex problems we face. But every bit makes a difference, and the more bits the better. More importantly, nurturing even a tiny patch of land, seeing the results when we work with nature to increase biodiversity and habitat, helps maintains the hope that we humans can get our act together and the motivation to do our tiny bit.

Read Can Verge Gardens Really Change the World? on the Shady Lanes Substack

Big Bold Plans

Nobody is interested in our 400, 600, or even 800 sqm suburban block. It’s not big or bold or newsworthy. It’s the effective and incremental change using the resources we have at hand. What’s more, the distributed labour of individual residents and community groups means that it could be done in less than a year if we all get cracking.

The desire for big, bold, shiny things doesn’t just apply to planting. It applies to transport - think of all the highway upgrades and overpasses that are election promises. And our big houses and big vehicles. And the Olympics. All huff and puff and all sides of politics.

Read Big Bold Plans on the Shady Lanes Substack

Connecting ideas on the verge

There was a lot more, and many side conversations along the way. Who knows where those conversations will lead.

The verge offers us this unusual space that brings all sorts of people together, and everyone’s contribution matters. Could we have assembled such a group without the place and topic that brought us together?

Read Connecting ideas on the verge on the Shady Lanes Substack

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Country and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay respect to their Elders past and present and to the pivotal role that First Nations Peoples continue to play in caring for Country across Australia.

(c) The Shady Lanes Project, Online Encounters Pty Ltd, 2026

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