The Native verge

The Native verge garden is underway and, in true Ligaya Garden form, everything is edible or medicinal as well as being drought tolerant.

I’ve put in seedlings of Acacia retionoides (wirilda) Myoporum insulare (Boobiala) and Dodonea viscosa (Sticky Hop Bush).

The Acacia is a fast growing legume to stabilize and replenish the soil that was disturbed during the neighbour’s building. It will shade part of the garden in Summer and provide us with tasty seeds and seed pods. The seeds can be roasted and ground to give a nutty, slightly aniseed flavoured powder.

It’s the least drought tolerant of the three and so is planted closest to our neighbours drive where he waters every day.

Boobiala is a dense, fast growing tree that it would take a nuclear incident to knock off. That’s why it’s in the centre, to provide lots of protection for the garden throughout the year. It will also provide us with tons of little berries that taste like juniper berries.

The Sticky Hop Bush is another fast grower. It is rich in tannins and a natural pain killer. It has been used traditionally for relief from tooth aches.

This is the smallest of the three and so is planted closest to the gate and driveway so that we can see down the road when backing out.

I’ll give these a couple of weeks to get established before planting some of our favourite ground covers.

We decided to go ahead and plant the verge after two Mallee trees were damaged and killed during recent earthworks. The plants on the verge will, hopefully, give passersby some insight into the incredible range of plants around us.