The solution seems simple:

1. Owner fills in the online form. Gets a phone call to arrange a pick-up time.

2. Tow company collects the car and takes it to the local auction house.

3. Owner deregisters the car and hands in the plates. Their work is done.

4. The car goes to auction, the money is sent to Kids Under Cover (KUC).

5. Owner receives a notice of how much they got for it. It’s even tax-deductible.

It’s not just people with old cars that donate; check out this post on their LinkedIn page. A donation of eight fleet vehicles raised an amazing $194,000. According to their website, this scheme has raised over 23 million dollars so far. (Kids Under Cover - Donate Your Car)

Innovation for creative solutions

The common practice is for charities to compete for donations and grants. That takes time and money. Supporters, even newsletter subscribers, get inundated with requests especially leading up to the end of the financial year.

Here, someone has taken two unconnected problems — KUC needs money for their work in Melbourne (and now Adelaide); car owners around the country need an easy way to dispose of unwanted cars — and come up with a solution that solves both problems.

Rather than KUC trying to manage the collection and sales themselves in Melbourne, it’s all done by businesses that are already doing that work in that space. It’s a win for everyone, even for the buyers of those cars.

That mindset of creating opportunities by combining existing assets (e.g. networks, skills, equipment, proximity) within a network to create something that can’t be done alone is what innovative collaborations are all about. It changes the conversation from “Please give to our good cause,” to “Let’s do this together.” The project has an overall purpose of raising money to help teenagers at risk, which can contain the individual purposes of every participant.

What’s this got to do with verge gardens?

Nurturing this creative thinking to find innovative solutions is something we can all learn and practice on the verge. At its simplest, a native verge garden is a collaboration between councils, residents, and nature.

Councils bring the experience for managing the governance and risk, residents bring their proximity and time, nature brings the biodiversity. The Shady Lanes approach changes the conversation from “You should,” to “Let’s do this together” using our existing assets (e.g. land, networks, skills, proximity) so that everyone wins.

A clear shared purpose that accommodates all participants provides the foundation needed for single and group projects and keeps everyone on track. This is how we shift from arguing about environment versus housing, or environment versus jobs to finding collaborative solutions that are beneficial to environment and housing and jobs and other sustainability issues.

Start with small steps

When viewed on the surface, these solutions look simple. What doesn’t get noticed is the steady and relentless work building the skills, networks, trust and relationships. That takes time, patience, and practice with every carefully-chosen step taking you closer to your shared purpose.

That’s what I will be talking about at the annual TREENET symposium in Adelaide this week. TREENET’s theme this year is Trees Connecting Communities. There will be presentations from different disciplines as we all grapple with the challenge of working collaboratively across disciplines and sectors, including the community sector. There’s still time to register, and papers and recordings will be available.

Next time you want to dispose of a vehicle, please consider donating it to Kids Under Cover.

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This division means that discussions about verge gardens usually focus on what the resident should plant. Street trees are either not considered, are something to plant around, or are even considered a nuisance. When street trees are mentioned, it is often as a complaint - the council planted the wrong tree, planted under power lines, and so on.

Apron or Corridor

By including street trees as an intrinsic part of verge gardens, you shift the idea of the verge garden from being your patch in front of your home (an apron to your house) to being part of the longer street corridor, urban forest, or suburban long paddock. It’s no longer yours, it’s everyone’s, and the stewardship of that space is now shared between you and your council.

That’s a change to the way you see the physical space and is the beginnings of a change in the way you see the relationships between you, your community, and government.

Trees as Connectors

A tree-lined street creates a feeling of being in a connected place and plays a vital role in reducing heat and sun exposure. The verge gardens below the trees reflect the preferences of the individual residents who maintain them. That creates variety and interest and more biodiversity as each resident chooses from a palette of appropriate plants.

The activity pulls the residents out into the public space as stewards of the urban forest in collaboration with their council and with each other.

Collaborations aren’t easy. It means having to understand other viewpoints of people who aren’t like yourself. They have different backgrounds, different knowledge, and different motivations. It means instead of complaining about people, you get curious about what might be shaping their ideas and actions.

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Hidden Complexities

“Stupid council put the trees under power lines,” is something I hear too often.

I’d say half a tree is better than no tree even if it’s that V-shape. These trees are pruned by the power companies and their main priority is safety. Schedules and costs also play a part. If more frequency means less harsh pruning, would you be willing to fund that through your electricity bill?

All the services plus transport squeezed together in our streets means that you have multiple government departments and organisations inserting competing standards and practices into what can seem like a simple decision.

That’s the world of wicked problems where there is no simple answer, and no recipe for success.

What do you want to grow on your verge?

Battles on the verge are local versions of the climate wars. Successful collaborations on the verge are the starting point for successful collaborations to transition to a more sustainable future.

Lone verge gardeners and small groups of like-minded people can plant within the limits allowed by their council. That’s all many people want to do but it doesn’t scale and has ongoing issues with mission creep and compliance. Verge policies, information campaigns, and group projects can help manage this.

However, for scale and impact, we need to grow more than plants on the verge. We grow understanding of the different worldviews of all involved. We grow the conversations that build the relationships and trust between diverse people. We grow the skills of collaboration in a messy world, and the networks to do it. This doesn’t happen automatically - we have to be intentional and strategic.

The combination of council street trees with resident verge gardens is an important step to more sustainable cities. That’s where we act as participants with a shared purpose of nurturing corridors of street trees supported by biodiverse verge gardens as part of the urban forest. It’s where we learn from each other and start exploring the interconnectedness of the problems and of the solutions needed. Check Robyn’s story below about how you can relate verge gardening to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Curious Blue.

Verge gardens address almost all SDGs

I am involved in a number of sustainability groups which promote verge gardens in our city to support, street trees, increase biodiversity and cool our city (and much more). What’s a verge garden I hear you ask. Find out more at Shady Lanes and check out this lovely…

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2 years ago · 1 like · Robyn

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The workshop is part of the Peaks to Points Festival and will be at the Wetlands Community Hub at Durack. Participants will come from Brisbane, Ipswich, and Logan council areas.

Three Different Policies

In Brisbane, you can go ahead and plant as long as you follow their guidelines: the usual things like low-growing plants, no rocks or garden edges, clear sight-lines and safety for pedestrians. They recommend native plants but don’t insist. This policy is written in easy-to-understand language. Yet, I know there are many residents who ignore the guidelines and complain about the sensible restrictions.

In Ipswich, you can plant adjacent to the property boundary and no wider than 500mm without a permit if you follow guidelines. Beyond that, you need to apply for a permit and provide a sketch plan and list of plants you intend to use. The requirement for a permit is under review. Many verge garden advocates complain that permits stop people planting. I see benefits and drawbacks for both sides of this argument. That’s something we’ll discuss at the workshop.

In Logan, you need to apply for a permit online but they are self-assessable and you don't need to provide drawings if they are constructed in accordance with the guidelines and plant list. However, you can’t plant gardens on a verge less than three metres wide. You need to submit your plan with your application if your garden does not meet Council’s requirements, or uses plants that are not on the approved plant list. They provide a Standard drawing for landscaping areas on footpaths(PDF, 395KB) which most residents, including me, would find overwhelming.

What the Differences Show

I’ve been watching policies as they emerge and change over the past eight years. After a dispute, they can become more detailed and more restrictive. On the other hand, positive outcomes and good communication can mean they become more flexible. Every council is at a different point in this journey.

Local factors come into play. An inner-city Sydney council is quite different to a council like Brisbane that has to accommodate a range from high-density to semi-rural properties within one policy. Logan council allows some car parking on the verge in narrow streets which presumably affects the verge options on those streets.

Analysis of council policies can show which sections of council have had input. Some are influenced heavily by planning, others by legal liability, community development, and urban forestry. That’s a sign of how complex and contested this area is, and how we are all on a journey to find new governance models to fit shared stewardship of nature in our cities.

Compare for Ideas, not a Scorecard

There is no point claiming that another council’s policy is better, or worse, than yours. They all have different contexts and history, and the view from outside won’t be complete or accurate. Councils may share ideas and experiences with each other but still need to come up with what suits their situation best.

For residents, the only policy that matters for your verge garden is with your local council. If you think that your council’s policy should be more flexible, community members working co-operatively with their council to reinforce the need for following policies and guidelines is the most effective way to get that.

If we learn and practice building the trust and relationships needed for collaboration to regenerate nature on the verges in front of our homes, we can scale out to do much more to address the issues of biodiversity loss and climate change.

Verge gardening is a first small, doable step. How we approach that activity and all the people involved will determine what comes next.

If you’re in Brisbane, click on the image below for the workshop. Others are on the Shady Lanes What’s on page.

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As part of the Peaks to Points Festival in the Brisbane, Logan, and Ipswich area:

Workshop - Verge Gardens for People and Planet
Fri, 31 July 2026 at Wetlands Community Hub
Learn how to navigate the conflicting views of many users and uses of this space. You’ll get practical tips on which plants work and why

See the Festival Program with many diverse events from 25 July to 9 August 2026

then, in August on the northside of Brisbane:

Verge Gardens to Bushcare: It’s all connected
Sunday 9 August 2026 - 3:00pm to 5:00pm at Bracken Ridge Library
Wherever you live, the stormwater from your garden ends up in the creeks and beyond. Verge gardens are the very public, connecting space between private gardens and the often hidden-from-view bushcare sites. They are a place where people connect with each other and with nature. In this workshop, we’ll explore the connections for nature and the connections within communities

and

Using Substack for groups, advocacy, and networking
Sunday 23 August 2026 - 3:00pm to 5:00pm at Bracken Ridge Library
Discussion, Q&A, and demonstration about how we use the Internet for communication, advocacy, and building our networks.

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FAQ section on the website

Verge gardening is not as simple as it looks. The Shady Lanes website, this Substack and the books are designed to help you avoid the pitfalls, and then go on to gain the greatest impact and scale from your group projects and collaborations.

I’m adding a new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to the website with the questions I am often asked about verge gardening and Shady Lanes. These are questions that group project leaders will face - and most start with Why should, Why don’t, and Why not. They include questions about council policies, plant choice, starting a group.

I need your help to make it useful to people starting out—or stuck.

What questions do you have, or need help answering? Suggestions in the comments below are best (so others can also read and discuss), and I’ll add the questions I get at workshops and direct.

If there are questions that you had, and Shady Lanes has helped answer them, please share those as well.

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27th National Street Tree Symposium
3 & 4 September 2026
National Wine Centre, Adelaide

Trees do more than shade our streets – they’re essential urban infrastructure for bringing people together, supporting health and wellbeing, and providing spaces where individuals and communities thrive and grow side by side with nature. This year’s expert speakers will explore how urban trees connect us socially, culturally and ecologically and will lead inspiring discussions to improve Australian urban forestry into the future.

The program is online now.

My presentation is “Community: obstacle or opportunity?” I’m looking forward to hearing some of the others, including:

• Sarah Allchurch: “From canopy crisis to community movement: how trees became a political issue in Western Australia.”

• Ming Hui Choy: “Encouraging resident stewardship of street trees in Canberra.”

• Reb Rowe: “Thinking like a landscape for regenerative resilience.”

• Samantha Titheradge: “Connecting Canberra’s community through trees.”
  

You can subscribe to the TREENET newsletter via their website, or follow them on Facebook or LinkedIn for updates.

Please let me know if you’ll be in Adelaide that week and would like to catch up.

TREENET Symposium

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I’m looking forward to hearing the conversation at this event. You might too.

Cool Paths and Places: Online Event

On Wednesday, the Queensland Heat Health Community of Practice is hosting an online session on how heat is shaping walking, active travel, and public transport use. Here’s the flyer as .jpg and .pdf, and details in the text below.

Qhhcop Qld Walks July Event Flyer

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This interactive online session, delivered by Queensland Walks, will explore how heat is shaping walking, active travel, and public transport use.

Event Details: Cool Paths and Places

Date: Wednesday, 8 July 2026

Time: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM (AEST)

Location: Online via Microsoft Teams

Agenda

12:00pm: Welcome and introduction

12:05pm: Queensland Walking Alliance’s Call to action & community engagement campaign.

12:50pm: Group discussion

1:20pm: Closing remarks

This event free to attend and offers a unique opportunity to connect evidence, policy, and lived experience to support more heat-safe, equitable communities. Feel free to share this invitation and the attached flyer with colleagues or anyone who may be interested. The event is open to all.

Register here to reserve your sport.

FAQs:

Will this session be recorded?

Yes. We will share the recording with anyone who has registered for the event.

Do I need prior knowledge or experience?

No. The session is open to all, whether you are a professional or a community member, your participation and perspective is valued.

Will there be an opportunity to ask questions or contribute?

Yes. This will be an interactive workshop - participation is highly encouraged, and you are welcome to share your own experiences.

Is this session focused only on Queensland?

While the examples may be drawn from Queensland, insights may be broadly relevant to other regions experiencing heat-related challenges.

Will there be opportunities for ongoing involvement after the session?

Yes. Participants are highly encouraged to become a member of the QHHCoP and stay connected for future events and initiatives.

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Cultural Creativity, Imagination and Innovation.

While the idea of triple bottom line, “people, planet, profit”, has gained some ground, Thiele added a fourth dimension, cultural creativity:

Translate that into verge gardens and you have the reimagining of our streets and the relationships between councils and residents, the governance and shared responsibility for common land, and our relationship to nature in our cities. That reimagining and reframing is what my book, Garden on the Verge, is about. Annabelle Lukin recognises it in her article, Changing language in the #climatecrisis

Reimagining Housing

How to tackle Brisbane’s housing crisis was a panel discussion with Matthew Bowes, Grattan Institute housing policy researcher, Dr Rachel Gallagher (Lecturer in Real Estate and Property Development, Griffith University) and Natalie Rayment (Managing Director of Therefor Group, Co-founder of YIMBY Qld and a passionate advocate for positive development and striving towards the global goal of ‘housing for all’.) It was an interesting discussion, and gave some insights into the perspectives of planning professionals and how our cities got the way they are - but the session left me with two major questions.

1. Where are the environmental voices in this discussion? Are they excluded, not invited, or are they choosing not to participate? Surely both housing and environmental advocates want more sustainable cities with less land and habitat lost to the roads and big houses of urban sprawl.

2. Why do we skirt around the transport issue? Everyone acknowledges that the dominance of cars has influenced the way our cities have developed. Yet, the ongoing effect of today’s transport decisions on efforts for change doesn’t get much scrutiny.

THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN DREAM is a “documentary and research project about the homes, neighbourhoods and communities we create for the future.” It includes many of the insights from the panel discussion.

Here’s the trailer below. The full video (55 minutes) is worth watching.

It’s a good start to initiate more public conversations and provide a better understanding of housing development. I hope it will get us beyond the “greedy developer versus NIMBY” shouting matches. Which brings us to politics and budgets.

Politics and Budgets

While much commentary is about how the pie is split up - not enough for my passion, too much for yours - could we apply some of that cultural creativity and imagine how every project should contribute to people, plus planet, plus profit?

That means some challenging conversations where no sector or discipline has all the answers, where we all have to listen and learn from people who are not like ourselves. Establishing that mutual regard, and shared purpose of creating a city where all people and nature thrive, and an economy that supports it, is the foundation to shifting from competition to collaboration to create something better than any of us can do alone.

We start with that mutual regard on the verge where everyone is equal. It is the “swampy lowlands” where we build trust and relationships as people first, regardless of our various expertise and experience. The conversations, the listening, the sharing of worldviews are how we begin that imaginative journey.

My second book, Essential Skills in a Networked World, helps you build the skills needed to contribute to the public discourse: how you nurture and leverage the sort of conversations around your local actions, and the conversations this documentary is hoping to trigger. Better public conversations in the community are the key to shifting from never-ending battles to imagination and innovation.

That leads to the book I am working on now: how we construct those complex collaborations. Can we have a developer, an environmentalist, and a housing advocate walk into a bar and create a better future? I’d say: Yes, but let’s add a few more voices. And then only if we have built the conversations, trust, and networks to imagine and innovate towards more sustainable cities where both people and koalas have homes and can thrive. Are you ready for that journey?

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Although verge gardens might seem a bit removed from creek catchments, they are connected. What you do in your garden and on your verge affects the stormwater that ends up in the creeks, the rivers, and then the Bay or ocean.

Verge gardens also provide a way to contribute to biodiversity if you can’t fit volunteering with bushcare groups into your life. In the other direction, bushcare provides a place to learn about native plants, habitat, and all those invasive plants that come from surrounding gardens.

Both are collaborative projects which rely on residents and council officers building trust and respectful relationships. Alignment with a shared purpose is essential. That means shifting from blame and criticism to negotiating diverse perspectives and interests to find constructive solutions.

Alignment with a shared purpose

For verges, the need for alignment is crucial because that land is more open to the public. I’m reminded of that every time there’s a dispute and I read the vitriol towards councils and whoever made the complaint in the social media pile-on. Understanding who must be included, and who you might unwittingly exclude, is covered in my book: Garden on the Verge: A New Approach.

For people running verge garden group projects, Garden on the Verge is a handbook they can give to participants. It reinforces the message that resident gardeners can’t just do what they want. It shows why it matters what they plant. You need that basic alignment and shared purpose as a foundation.

I also use the book as a filtering device when people approach me wanting to start big planting projects to transform their street or city. If they are not interested enough to read the book and put it into practice by creating their own native verge garden first, there’s no point going further. For successful group projects that scale, leaders need a deep understanding of the alignment and commitment to collaboration. Group leaders set the tone for their members and other stakeholders. They need to be able to spot the warning signs that someone is likely to spark a neighbourhood dispute.

Online Workshops

In-person presentations and workshops are good but they are limited by geography and they cost me a lot of time. That’s why I publish free resources for you to read online on this Shady Lanes Project Substack and the shadylanes.com.au website.

I’m planning to add some online sessions starting in July for those who want more. Please fill in this survey if you are interested.

Buy online - buy both books and save

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Cooperation and coordination are needed to make joint activities and events possible. We hold the event and then it’s over until next time.

Collaboration increases the outcomes, and nurtures ongoing innovation and emerging opportunities. The event becomes a milestone that makes your next step visible.

Putting Theory into Practice

If you’re into the theory of collaboration, especially in the community space, is worth following.

In this recent post, Ed describes the difference between cooperation, coordination, and collaboration.

Ed Morrison | Notes from the Swampy Lowlands

Cooperation Aligns. Coordination Adds. Collaboration Multiplies.

For more than seventy years, management scholars have tried to say clearly what separates cooperation from coordination from collaboration. They have not managed it. The words still slide into one another — in the journals, in grant proposals, in strategy decks. People reach for them as if they were three settings on one dial, more of this and less of t…

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3 months ago · 1 like · Ed Morrison

Often theories only make sense when you’ve seen them applied in practice. This is what it looks like with the Shady Lanes approach to verge gardens.

Cooperation

Cooperation is residents following council guidelines (often begrudgingly) where everyone does their own thing. If you stop here, verge gardening remains a niche activity.

Coordination

Coordination is when we start to see that our interests align and we start learning more about each other’s worlds.
Street trees + native verge gardens = better results for shade and biodiversity.
The focus is on the activity and outcomes for natural ecosystems. This is where many funded group projects stop.

However, the activity also provides the space for conversations to start, and trust and relationships between diverse participants begin to grow - if we know how, or are eager to learn.

My book, Garden on the Verge: A New Approach moves us from cooperation to coordination, and to start building the relationships and trust that form the invisible connections for networks. It prepares us with our first, relatively-simple, collaboration between council, resident, and nature to transform that first patch of land.

The second book, Essential Skills in a Networked World, has the practical skills needed to do this in today’s messy world where the Internet and public discourse is dominated by conflict and blame. You can see many of the practices described in the book in action here in Shady Lanes, and in the Substacks of our evolving network.

Collaboration

Collaboration becomes possible when we’ve nurtured the people ecosystems as well as the natural ecosystem around the one activity. That’s when the ideas and opportunities begin to emerge. We see the connections between interlinked issues and scale outwards through loose networks.

It’s what everyone wants, but few realise what goes into making it happen. That’s the topic of the post below, and will be part of my presentation at the TREENET Symposium in September.

The Shady Lanes Project is about creating the conditions and connections to make cross-discipline and cross-sector collaborations possible. I wrote about that last year, inspired by Jim Williams and his idea of a nursery layer for regeneration.

How to create and manage more complex collaborations (across sectors and disciplines) is in the next book.

The Shady Lanes approach is not bottom-up or grass-roots change. The contested nature of that shared space inspired my hope that conversations and collaboration starting on the verge were a key to transitions to a more sustainable world. ‘s insights and his work with Strategic Doing have been invaluable in working out how we can make it happen.

We’re all in this together in the swampy lowlands.

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We’re working on some new posters. What do you think of this?
(updated to version 2)

Readers of my Essential Skills in a Networked World book may recognise some of the key practices used to create this poster: drawing on media assets we’ve built up over time, recombining them and leveraging to create something new. The poster creates another signpost leading people back to these original posts.

Invisible Connections

Connecting local action to wider changes is one of our challenges. We need local, visible action but risk it being dismissed as small and irrelevant. We need the wider thinking but risk it being more talk with no way of turning big ideas into reality.

It’s the connections - between people, places, and issues - that make the difference.

The locations in the photos above are connected. The water from my verge garden runs down the hill to the rain garden, under the road into the small creek, then into the larger creek where the platypus live. This is where we have a new bushcare group, supported by , connecting with the catchment groups and the Council’s catchment officers. It’s all public land. The connections between community (residents and community groups) and Council are positive and constructive.

These are loose networks in action: working collaboratively in the messy community space to do more together than any of us could do alone.

(If you’re not in Brisbane, check your local council website for their bushcare and other volunteer information. Check for council verge garden policies in Australia here.)

Nurturing Networks

This week Ed Morrison shared a post on his Notes from the Swampy Lowlands Substack.

Ed Morrison | Notes from the Swampy Lowlands

The Two Levels of Complexity Nobody Talks About

The Okavango Delta in Botswana. A powerful metaphor for two levels of complexity. The Appendix explains…

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4 months ago · 17 likes · 3 comments · Ed Morrison

This is the approach needed in the climate and sustainability space. Many localised, collaborative, connected responses that also build that civic layer with countless ways for everyday people (i.e. all of us in our glorious diversity) to participate and contribute.

Our verges are where we start, with a shared space and a common purpose, to connect with people who aren’t necessarily like ourselves.

This approach and the diversity of our evolving networks will determine the level of innovation and opportunities that emerge from our small, tangible, verge garden projects. It doesn’t happen by magic, it takes practice and skills that we can learn and share.

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I hope to see some of you on the 24th May at the Sustainable BNE Festival, 31st May at this treeplanting event, or other events coming up.

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As always, the topic of going beyond the small patch on your own verge came up - median strips, parks, the many barren places you notice when you move about your city. It set me thinking about why the lure of guerrilla gardening is so strong in the world of verge gardening.

Guerrilla Gardening

The appeal of guerrilla gardening is clear. You can feel like one of the good guys, doing something to help the environment and sometimes finding or leading your tribe. There is nobody challenging your plant choices and no liability for the outcomes. No delays, no waiting. It gets things done - in the short term. In this way of thinking, council policies are merely bureaucratic restrictions to be resisted and broken.

In the long term, councils and bushcare groups often have to deal with the unintended consequences of waning interest or poor choice of plants.

Citizen Gardening

Being a citizen gardener working in alignment with councils doesn’t have the same vibe. In this world, council policies are the guide rails designed to keep us all working in the same direction. The people writing these policies want green, biodiverse streets too; they also have the experience and knowledge needed to manage risks and get the greatest benefit for biodiversity and shade. They’ve already thought about the many users and uses of these contested spaces, and they update the policies as community attitudes change.

A citizen gardener is not a hero - you’re just doing your bit in something bigger, while risking the ire of your neighbours who don’t want their street to change and the derision of climate warriors who think your verge garden is trivial.

Verge gardening is real life; you’re publicly challenging the cultural norms of your neighbourhood on an ongoing daily basis, not clicking “like” on social media and moving on, and not guerrilla gardening where you can pretend it’s nothing to do with you.

When you work in a community group, you don’t get the short-term heat of the guerrilla group or the big event. At best, it’s a quieter support from people who may not be like-minds but share that common purpose: transforming our streets into corridors for life where the neatly-mown grass verge is the exception.

Both residents above would be certain that theirs is better. We can’t change minds by talking at people. Imagine the vibes if they were neighbours.

The Importance of Loose Networks

The civic layer of local community groups that build the web of connections between individuals and the government and corporate world is important if we want verge gardens to scale, and to lead to wider systemic action on climate change.

That’s the long-term invisible work of collaboration, starting with a group to support individual gardeners and provide examples of different verges, then connecting with other diverse groups and organisations working to improve our cities and our world.

These groups don’t need to be formal incorporated organisations; what matters is how they are managed to help participants work strategically towards shared and sustainable solutions rather than be lured into short-term and often counterproductive tactics like guerrilla gardening.

At Friday’s workshop, we used the as an example of how groups can work. As part of their group project, they do regular verge visits (with coffee and chat afterwards) and post stories with photos and plant information. They use their project to show what biodiversity looks like and why it should be protected in their community. In the process they’ve become a stronger group and part of a larger network of local community groups and organisations.

But what about all that land?

The easiest place to start helping nature is inside the fence. Gardens for wildlife and biodiversity on private land is much easier than gardening on public land. You can do a lot more to create rich habitat. Like your verge, it’s right there where you see it every day and can do a few minutes here and there at any time to suit yourself.

For public land, the best place to look is for existing bushcare and catchment groups who work with your local council. This is where you can learn a lot about regenerating and caring for the natural urban environment from well-qualified experts who know much more about their respective fields than most of us ever will. You’re also covered by insurance, can meet new people in your community, and learn what it takes to start and manage community volunteer groups.

This is the pathway to finding sustainable ways to work on the many diverse areas of public land.

Updates to the Council Directory pages

It is much easier to hook into an existing group before thinking of starting your own so I’m adding links to community nurseries, catchment groups and bushcare groups, and other related verge garden groups to the directory on the Shady Lanes Project website - provided their approach is to work in collaboration with local councils.

Please let me know about your groups, or any in your area in the comments below or reply email.

Here’s the link to the directory - there’s a page for each state which leads to a page for each council within.

The Importance of Choosing Your Words

There are some who call what they do guerrilla gardening even though they work within council policies. This might make the project sound more appealing to your target audience but it sends out mixed messages. Being explicit about the space and your approach protects your project from being dragged off-track by well-intentioned people pulling in different directions.

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More Reading

The book Garden on the Verge: A New Approach and the free articles in the Understanding the Space section of this Substack have more on how to garden in a way that brings your neighbours onside. Start with:

Essential Skills in a Networked World is now available. These are the skills and strategies needed for collaborative projects.

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Thanks to Clancy from BeesandBlossoms.com and his extraordinary Instagram post about nature strips, a lot more people know about the directory of council policies on the main Shady Lanes website.

Every council has a different policy so you need to follow the right one. If your policy is missing, please let me know in the comments or send me a message here or on Linkedin. I will also add links to local verge gardening groups and projects in each council area if they are ongoing and committed to working with their local council.

Events: Out and About

1 May 2026 - Verge Gardens for People and Planet Workshop, Brisbane

Navigate the different views of the many conflicting users and uses of this space. You’ll get practical tips on which plants work and why. We explore the council policies and why they matter. (Moreton Bay and Brisbane council policies are different.)
9.30am till 11.30am, Yuraba Conference Centre, 240 Church Rd, Eatons Hill
Cost : $20/person or $50/person if you pre-buy the book
Book your place by emailing kumbartchoevents@gmail.com
More details on their Facebook post

24 May 2026 - Sustainable BNE Festival, Brisbane

Brisbane City Council’s Sustainable BNE Festival at Roma Street Parklands is the city’s leading sustainability event. We’ll have a stall again this year.
Come and say hello.
See https://www.sustainablebrisbane.com.au/sustainable-bne-festival/

16 August 2026 - Brisbane West Ecofest, The Gap

A fun and informative family day of displays, stalls, guest speakers and activities to highlight what’s happening in our community and how you can get involved! Look for the ACF Community Brisbane Northside & Shady Lanes Project combined stall.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2452808685150118

3 & 4 September 2026 - TREENET Symposium, Adelaide

The annual TREENET Symposium brings urban forest practitioners together in Adelaide. This year the theme is: Trees Connecting Communities
Speakers will explore how urban trees connect us socially, culturally and ecologically and will lead inspiring discussions to improve Australian urban forestry into the future. The draft program is now online. I’m on Thursday 3rd.
https://treenet.org/27th-national-street-tree-symposium/

Shady Lanes Events Page

Book Update

The first box of Essential Skills in a Networked World have arrived. Early orders will be posted today (Tuesday 28th).

Book Details

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The first book published last year, Garden on the Verge, gets the basics right: the activity and the building of alignment between residents and councils around a shared purpose - street trees and verge gardens to cool and increase biodiversity in our cities in a way that builds widespread support and becomes mainstream. It’s very practical and has photos.

This book, Essential Skills in a Networked World, is how you build on that activity to do much more: build your groups, nurture networks, and reach beyond the already converted. These skills apply to any community projects or collaborations for change. Your activity doesn’t have to be verge gardening: the verge is just a great example and learning place. It’s what goes on below the surface that matters.

Buy Paperback or eBook online

Connections: Online and in Real Life

The Internet is a big part of this book. It gets a chapter to itself and several mentions elsewhere because it has become part of everything we do. We combine that with real life. From Chapter 6:

The key inspiration for the Shady Lanes Project was an online course: Tech for Good: The Role of ICT [Internet Communications Technology] in Achieving the SDGs. The combination of the verge as our local physical commons and the Internet as the global virtual commons was key. Both provide contested public places (bumping spaces⁠) that enable conversations between strangers.

The Internet is how we have all connected here: using websites, various social media platforms, email, and Substack. The paperback books are print-on-demand using IngramSpark and their distribution networks to get them into libraries and bookstores worldwide. I deliver the ebook using platforms (Payhip, Bookfunnel) that aren’t as restrictive as the big ebook platforms and readers. These are deliberate choices that fit a fairer, more distributive economy.

The Platform for the Book

This is a book meant to be used. It’s also meant to lead you on to whatever pathways are needed for your own goals. To complement the strengths of the book as a static, structured document, I’m creating online resources that evolve over time and include diverse voices.

My website has a resources section for the book with a page for each chapter with subheadings, endnotes, and links to additional reading that I can update.

• Chapter 1: The Promise

• Chapter 2: A Networked World

• Chapter 3: Agree on a Shared Place and Purpose

• Chapter 4: Recognise Your Assets; Start with What You’ve Got

• Chapter 5: Plan to Thrive in an Uncertain World

• Chapter 6: Leverage and Communicate

• Chapter 7: Maintain Discipline and Momentum

• Conclusion

This Substack has a corresponding page for discussion for each chapter where you can comment, ask questions, share ideas, and let me know if any links in the book go out of date. They’ll all be in the Book Talk section of this Substack.

And, of course, they link to each other.

Reviews

I’ve broken with tradition by not including Testimonials in my books. The reviews that make a difference are the ones elsewhere: articles where the writer is talking to their readers within the context of their own work, posts on social media, and reviews on bookstore and library sites. That’s Chapter 6 in action - if you want to support a book, go and make some signposts.

How to Get the Book

Print and ebook direct from author (ebook can be read in any reader)

Order with secure payment from my Payhip online bookstore. Includes flat rate postage and tracking via Australia Post - direct print on demand in the UK and US. There’s a discount if you buy both books, and you save postage.

Online retailers

Booktopia (AU) and Barnes & Noble (US). The Ingram Spark network distributes the book globally. Prices vary and I have no control over what each store charges so it pays to look around.

Check your favourite independent bookstore. They can order through IngramSpark. The printable information sheet (PDF) has all the details they need for ordering via their usual distributors.

Libraries: Available in Australia through ALS Library Services and Peter Pal

Bulk Orders: Please contact me for bulk orders (20+) and reselling opportunities.

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Links

• Book information page: Essential Skills in a Networked World

• Resources for Chapter 1 page on the author website with subheadings, endnotes and further reading.

Reflections on Chapter 1

1. Monitor your automatic response to stories and the characters in media stories. Do you tend to take sides? Does your view change after you’ve had time to think about it?

2. What sort of conversations make you feel stuck and hopeless?

3. What sort of conversations make you feel more optimistic?

4. If you’ve read Garden on the Verge: A New Approach, can you see how reframing the verge from an extension of your garden to part of the corridor of the urban forest changes the wider conversation and relationships between participants?

5. Can you see other places and activities to apply this approach?

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This is a discussion space for Chapter 2 in the book, Essential Skills in a Networked World. You can start with the reflections at the end of the chapter, discuss your own topics, tell us what resonated with you, or ask questions.

Links:

• Book information page: Essential Skills in a Networked World

• Resources for Chapter 2 page on the author website with subheadings, endnotes and further reading.

Reflections on Chapter 2

1. Has this chapter changed your view of the Internet and its role? How?

2. Do you feel obliged to answer personal questions and give truthful answers just because a website asks? Why or why not?

3. Do you adopt different personas online? Why or why not?

4. Look at news stories about controversial topics and the websites and social media profiles of various advocacy groups online. Can you identify the frames and assumptions behind their words and images? How does it make you feel? Can you imagine why some other people might respond differently?

5. Can you think of examples of online technology influencing everyday actions and conversations between people?

6. How has the Internet changed the way you seek and receive information about the world?”

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This is a discussion space for Chapter 3 in the book, Essential Skills in a Networked World. You can start with the reflections at the end of the chapter, discuss your own topics, tell us what resonated with you, or ask questions.

Links:

• Book information page: Essential Skills in a Networked World

• Resources for Chapter 3 page on the author website with subheadings, endnotes and further reading.

Reflections on Chapter 3

1. Can you think of a time with committees, colleagues, or groups of friends or family, where you all assumed that you agreed until something happened and everything fell apart? What were the different directions people were pulling in? How might a shared purpose have been found? Would it have made a difference?

2. Where are the boundaries of your project?

3. Who does your language include or exclude?

4. Who and what does your shared purpose include or exclude?

5. Who might you want to include in your collaborative project? How do you talk about them?

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This is a discussion space for Chapter 4 in the book, Essential Skills in a Networked World. You can start with the reflections at the end of the chapter, discuss your own topics, tell us what resonated with you, or ask questions.

Links:

• Book information page: Essential Skills in a Networked World

• Resources for Chapter 4 page on the author website with subheadings, endnotes and further reading.

Reflections on Chapter 4

1. What are some of your personal assets and what you are willing and able to risk. Remember that you don’t have to offer them, and you can say no – especially your time, specialist skills, reputation, and network.

2. For groups, get together as a group and talk about your assets. Think about what might be complimentary. What assets could become relevant or more valuable in a new context?

3. Identify external assets and opportunities available to you even though you don’t own or control them.

4. How might different participant’s assets combine to provide something bigger?

5. How does the shift from “what we need” to “what we’ve got” affect the way you feel?”

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This is a discussion space for Chapter 5 in the book, Essential Skills in a Networked World. You can start with the reflections at the end of the chapter, discuss your own topics, tell us what resonated with you, or ask questions.

Links:

• Book information page: Essential Skills in a Networked World

• Resources for Chapter 5 page on the author website with subheadings, endnotes and further reading.

Reflections on Chapter 5

1. What projects have you worked on where these different planning methods were used?

2. How well did the planning fit the project?

3. How did you feel when the project was over?

4. Have you ever felt your project was drifting in the wrong direction, and nobody knew how to stop it?

5. Have you ever been surprised at how far you’ve come, and how much you have achieved, after a group reflection?

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This is a discussion space for Chapter 6 in the book, Essential Skills in a Networked World. You can start with the reflections at the end of the chapter, discuss your own topics, tell us what resonated with you, or ask questions.

Links:

• Book information page: Essential Skills in a Networked World

• Resources for Chapter 6 page on the author website with subheadings, endnotes and further reading.

Reflections on Chapter 6

1. What conversations, online or in person, have changed the way you see the world? Why do you think that happened?

2. People listen to those they feel they can trust. Can you see how that is used in advertising and politics? Can you feel when it works on you?

3. When have you recommended something to someone? What made you do it? What might make someone recommend your group or activities?

4. Who in your group is, by temperament, a crazy dancing guy? A second follower? Third? Which are you? Might that change in different circumstances?

5. What is your reaction when people talk about starting a movement?”

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This is a discussion space for Chapter 7 in the book, Essential Skills in a Networked World. You can start with the reflections at the end of the chapter, discuss your own topics, tell us what resonated with you, or ask questions.

Links:

• Book information page: Essential Skills in a Networked World

• Resources for Chapter 7 page on the author website with subheadings, endnotes and further reading.

Reflections on Chapter 7

1. Have you had to decide whether to speak up at a meeting and break the consensus? What did you choose? Why?

2. Have you worked on group projects that met their external goals but left you feeling flat?

3. Have you worked on group projects that failed to meet external goals but left everyone feeling that it was a success?

4. Have you seen funding affect the nature and direction of a project?

5. Can you think of other issues and projects where you could use this approach to change?

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