Sustainability website helps gardens grow greener

Edward O'Daly

24 October 2006: Australia's gardeners will be able to have gardens as green as their thumbs thanks to a new sustainable gardening website produced by the University's landscape architecture students.

The fourth-year project, supported by the Open Gardens Scheme and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture, puts the sustainability expertise of practicing landscape architects within a few clicks of amateur gardeners.

ABC radio gardener Genevieve Jacobs, Andrew MacKenzie, students Katie Earle and Nick Jamont and Emeritus Professor Ian Lawrence, launched the site at Lyndfield Park last week

"There is a real need to communicate how to practice sustainable garden design to the wider Australian gardening community," said lecturer Andrew MacKenzie.

"Every time you do something in your garden, there is an element of design and the design decisions you make have an impact on sustainability.

"Sustainability is not about doing without, it's about making more intelligent use of what you have."

The website offers advice on a range of issues including energy efficiency, water use and the selection of plants and materials. The students gathered the information through interviews with professional landscape architects - bringing the latest industry practice to the public.

Mr MacKenzie said he hoped backing could be found to develop and maintain the website in the future.

For Katie Earle, one of the students behind the site, it was an opportunity to learn more about her future profession, as well as develop expertise in composing and analysing surveys.

"Individual gardeners can make a difference by adopting sustainability principles in their gardens," she said.

"Both at a local, regional and global scale, creating environmentally sustainable gardens can ultimately help replenish natural resources such as water and reduce the impact on the ozone layer via energy reduction, affecting the way we will live in the future."

Visit the site for green gardening tips