Raingardens in Docklands

Every visit to Melbourne's changing Docklands reveals something new.

Today I saw these raingardens in front of Mirvac's new townhouse development on the south side of the Yarra River. I liked them because they sit very easily in the landscape right on the Yarra River and for the high quality materials used for the borders and pavers. The raingardens are planted with Ficinia nodosa, or Knobby Club-rush - a coastal plant well suited to the filtering task.

Melbourne Water is encouraging householders to introduce raingardens into their gardens to clean and filter stormwater before it reaches waterways. For more information, click here.

Green Wall: ANZ building in Docklands

I absolutely love the green wall on the ANZ building in Docklands which is featured in the banner of Ideas for cities from cities.

I particiulary like the use of ficinia nodosa, or knobby club sedge. This plant is found on the dunes at Port Melbourne and also looks good as a landscape plant in front of the Beacon Cove towers where it has just had a tidy trim.

detail photo: Lyn Allison

Combining two great interests: casaurinas and water sensitive urban design

I love this stand of casaurina trees in a carpark in Frankston - a fine demonstration of water sensitive urban design [wsud] This approach treats stormwater runoff before it makes its way to Port Phillip Bay.

Members of the Tree Reference Group at the City of Port Phillip said they would like to see more examples of different configurations of trees, rather than a 'staple gun' approach, and I thought this was a great example.

Water tank wall in Elwood