{"id":117065,"date":"2025-07-09T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/?p=117065"},"modified":"2025-07-03T14:19:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T04:19:24","slug":"nature-strip-gardening-buzz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/nature-strip-gardening-buzz\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature strip gardening buzz"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROTARIANS from four different clubs around Geelong are banding together to transform nature strips from pieces of grass to pollinator pathways.<\/p>\n

Rotary secured a community environment grant from the City of Greater Geelong, allowing the clubs to fund 20 nature strips.<\/p>\n

Project leader Barb Sheehan said the initiative, inspired by a Rotary Club in Balwyn, was being run as a pilot program to show people what could be done.<\/p>\n

“[Balwyn has] done over 56 nature strips in their local area, and I knew about their project and through them all the advantages of planting Indigenous gardens in nature strips,” Ms Sheehan said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve followed them and brought their project to Geelong.”<\/p>\n

The Geelong group has almost completed 20 gardens, choosing people who understood the learning experience of the project for the pilot.<\/p>\n

As part of transforming the spaces, the team has helped people remove their old grass, provided mulch and supplied vouchers for people to purchase plants and design their nature strips.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Rotary groups around the region have worked together to transform 20 nature strips around Geelong into pollinator pathways.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The council allows a wide variety of plants to be used, however, the pilot project focuses on Indigenous plants to improve the biodiversity in Geelong.<\/p>\n

Ms Sheehan said there are lots of advantages to using this style of garden.<\/p>\n

“Costa Georgiadis from Gardening Australia is a strong advocate for nature strip gardens because they use this land in a much better way to attract pollinators and bees, make pollinator pathways, help reduce flooding risk [and] by having a garden there, you retain water if it rains.<\/p>\n

“It’s all about bringing back the birds and the bees and the butterflies and the lizards and all the little creatures.”<\/p>\n

The city has recently changed the guidelines around nature strip gardens, with previous restrictions only permitting grass or very low ground cover.<\/p>\n

New guidelines provide more options, including three different height zones, with people asked to select species that support local ecology and biodiversity.<\/p>\n

Ms Sheehan encouraged more people to get involved with the concept and think about planting for local species that are going to be more tolerant of the region’s weather conditions.<\/p>\n

For more information and to view the city’s nature strip guidelines, head to geelongaustralia.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROTARIANS from four different clubs around Geelong are banding together to transform nature strips from pieces of grass to pollinator pathways. Rotary secured a community environment grant from the City of Greater Geelong, allowing the clubs to fund 20 nature strips. Project leader Barb Sheehan said the initiative, inspired by a Rotary Club in Balwyn, […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":117066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-117065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNature strip gardening buzz - Geelong Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Geelong Rotary clubs transform 20 nature strips into vibrant pollinator pathways using Indigenous plants to boost local biodiversity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/nature-strip-gardening-buzz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nature strip gardening buzz - 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