FUTURE GARDENS – RIGHT PLANT, GLOBAL PLACE
In Melbourne's layered climate, we're used to working with extremes. Dry summers, wet winters, and the occasional long heatwave can upend years of planning and nurturing – the failure of the eucalypts at Federation Square during the millennium drought highlights why horticulture and landscape design must be viewed holistically, especially with our climate future in mind. With evidence pointing to more heatwaves and extremes ahead, we need to create gardens and public green spaces not just for the cities we have, but for the ones our children and grandchildren will inherit.
Just north of the Birrarung/Yarra River is the Laak Boorndap Test Garden; a trial planting tackling the interconnected challenges of climate change, habitat loss, and cultural resilience. It's a biodiverse, climate-resilient space that integrates native Victorian flora with exotic species. Its purpose is to test species viability, then upscale these findings to influence an 18,000-square-metre urban garden in central Melbourne. With its environmental credentials and esoteric nature, I believe Laak Boorndap will prove influential in Australian garden design, and perhaps go on to inform global landscapes in similarly stressed climates. Literally and figuratively, the buzz is unmistakable.
We shouldn't feel guilty mixing local plants with well-chosen exotics – even if the neighbours grumble, or local council policies suggest otherwise. ‘Native where it works, not native for its own sake’ should be the twenty-first-century sequel to 'right plant, right place', since native may no longer always be viable or wise in the context of climate breakdown. By using the most suitable and adaptable plants from around the world, we can support more insects and help sustain a diverse biosphere. Globally biodiverse planting offers a counter to suburban sterility, ensuring we can design landscapes to deliver adaptive ecosystem services that can still perform in our climate future – and I believe it works best when we’re comfortable adding resilient global species to our planting vernacular. Carbon sequestration, infiltration and permeability management, as well as urban heat island mitigation will be even more important as the world warms up.
A hard truth is that there will be winners and losers in this century of warming, and despite our best conservation efforts, some species won't make it. Some insects have co-evolved with specific natives; the Bright Copper butterfly depends on Bursaria spinosa, for instance. Many others including native bees, hoverflies, and predatory wasps are opportunists, just as happy on late-summer Sedum as they are on Billy Buttons. This doesn't make biodiverse planting futile, it simply means that it must be diverse, resilient, and water-wise, to support as much life as possible.
If you’re interested in planting for biodiversity and habitat, start low with groundcovers and grasses. One of my favourites is Themeda triandra, a beautiful and hardy species with several useful forms and cultivars, along with drought-tolerant species from the Austrostipa, Festuca, and Carex genera. These establish efficient water-use patterns while creating space for habitat. Include flowering midstorey shrubs which attract feeding insects that in turn support birdlife, then anchor the planting with the right deciduous canopy tree.
I love ornamental exotic trees, not only for their seasonal interest, but for what they provide when considering passive solar design. Our domestic trees can't offer that necessary versatility. A well-placed Acer, Fraxinus or Lagerstroemia throws dense, cooling shade in summer – essential for reducing heat stress on humans, wildlife, and soil biology while also mitigating urban heat islands. Sclerophyllous natives such as Acacia, Eucalyptus and Corymbia shape the Australian landscape and psyche, but their high canopies and dappled shade often can't cool tight urban spaces besieged by bitumen and concrete.
You don't need a state park to support biodiversity. We all contribute to a healthy ecosystem by the choices we make. Just plan and plant with care, and layer your garden with life. Any urban space – whether a Southbank balcony, a Fitzroy courtyard, or a quarter-acre in Box Hill – can contribute to a climate-resilient tapestry across our cities, providing a haven not just for insects and birds, but for us too.