Should weeds be embraced in built-up
urban environments to provide resilient
plantings that can thrive in the toughest
conditions?THE EMPEROR’S
NEW CLOTHES:
QUESTIONING
THE WAR ON
WEEDS IN URBAN
STREETSCAPES
TEXT ALISTAIR KIRKPATRICK1U
rban streetscapes are increasingly import-
ant civic spaces that need to perform many
roles, now and in the future. However, there
is a very powerful ideology that affects the
vegetative composition, design and species selec-
tion of streetscapes – the “war on weeds.” Landscape
architects, planners, architects and engineers have
an opportunity to challenge such unquestioned
ideologies, which prevent effective design in urban
streetscapes.
The war on weeds is a well-intentioned, and in
most cases very valuable, environmental movement
in Australia. When a weed is a genuine threat to an
intact seed bank and healthy indigenous vegetation
community, the removal of that weed becomes para-
mount. But what of the urban landscapes in which
the majority of Australians reside? The seed bank has
long been corrupted, and the hydrology, geomorphol-
ogy, permeability and floral composition have so
radically been altered – is it even a valuable construct
to be calling plants weeds? Could they be the unsungheroes in the hostile disturbance ecology that we call
the city?
The median strip on the southern side of the
intersection at Victoria and Hoddle Streets on the
border of several inner-Melbourne suburbs is an
interesting case study that is reflective of an insidious
and alarmingly common phenomenon. For about
twenty years the median strip was mass-planted with
Agapanthus orientalis (agapanthus), which grew
happily despite extremely hostile growing conditions.
The agapanthuses sent up flowers every summer,
providing something of beauty for the thousands of
drivers passing by each week. They outcompeted any
other plants and the maintenance was virtually
non-existent, which translates into a cost-effective
planting for the authorities that managed it.
A few years ago the agapanthus plantings were
removed and replaced with artificial turf. The use of
artificial turf had become common during the last
drought, so much so that the public was now accept-
ing it on public land. The rationale is likely to have1–2. Agapanthus orientalis
(agapanthus) once grew happily
along this median strip in Melbourne
despite extremely hostile growing
conditions. It was removed some
years ago and replaced with artificial
turf. The strip now supports a suite of
weed species, while the turf is barely
visible. Photos: Alistair KirkpatrickAGENDA
26 MAY 2017 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AUSTRALIA