END NOTE
—
Text and photography Mark GillinghamAt GLAS we like to experiment with gardening, but our inner-Melbourne office
has limited space. Fitting out a footpath planter as a veggie box was fun, but
a lack of water made it a graveyard, even for succulents. Concerned about
urban biodiversity, we decided to transform it into a wetland. We refitted the
box with a pond liner and created a series of soil terraces to experiment with
different marginal species. A friendly client loaned us some plants. Our first
problems were brown water and a mosquito infestation, so we installed a
water fountain and four goldfish. Now we have a tiny, thriving urban wetland
with seven species of plants engaged in a constant battle for supremacy.
Our current favourite is the water plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica), which,
almost every week shoots up a fresh flower spike around half-a-metre tall,
with a spray of miniature white flowers. Our tiny wetland has become a local
celebrity – kids love the fish, neighbours stop by it for a chat, and bees and
other insects hover overhead. We love watching the plants grow and change.
Small can be beautiful, social and perhaps ecological.
Instagram @tinywetland