GRETA Valance and Louise Flowers were delighted to organise an afternoon for U3A members to look at verges, the nature strips outside people’s homes, which have been planted and made to look much more interesting than plain old grass. Greta explained that she and Louise has attended a shire-run Community Capacity-Building event and happened to sit at the same table. The attendees were encouraged to explore ideas and work through how to make it happen. Among the ideas was Greta’s concept of exploring verge gardens, and the idea stuck. Greta explained, “What we wanted to do was just raise awareness of the benefits of having verge gardens.” They decided to organise a walk around Alexandra to look at them, working with U3A. They were particularly keen for verge planting to be encouraged in Murrindindi Shire and spoke about what other councils are doing on the topic around Australia. They are keen to have another walk in the future, and strongly encouraged people to plant their verges, particularly with native plants, to help creates an even more beautiful town.
