Good Roadside Gardening Practices

29 SEP 2023

Roadside gardening is a fun way to add colour and character to your roadside verge. Gardening in this small space needs a keen eye for aesthetics, knowledge of hardy plants and lots of passion to keep your green space neat and tidy. Because road verges are near foot traffic and vehicles, it is important to keep your garden safe and accessible.

Download our Good Roadside Gardening Practices here.

If done well, roadside gardens can bring your neighbourhood together. If you would like to start a roadside community garden within your estate, you can read about the starting process and contact NParks to get guidance and advice.


Designing your roadside garden to be safe

Here are the golden rules to keeping your roadside garden safe:

  1. Do not garden along road junctions as your plants can obstruct the view of oncoming traffic
  2. Choose plants that are smaller than 1m to ensure that pedestrians remain visible for drivers
  3. Choose plants that don’t have thorns, irritating sap, or other characteristics that could harm passerby
  4. Keep pedestrian walkways and bin areas clear of pots, plants and other materials so that passerby can walk past your garden, and so that you have space to squat, move plants and prune as you garden

Maintaining your roadside garden

A garden is only as good as its maintenance schedule, and since your roadside garden is often the first thing visitors see of your home, it is worth taking time to groom your garden regularly.

The most important things you can do for your roadside garden are:

  1. Regular pruning to keep your plants lush and bushy
  2. Fertilising your plants to encourage more leaves and flowers
  3. Removing mosquito breeding habitats within your verge

Choosing plants for your roadside garden

Roadside garden plants should ideally be smaller than 1m, be colourful and easy to maintain. Do take note of how much light and space your plants will get and factor that into your plant choice to aid your planning.

Because roadsides have a lot of traffic, it is also important to choose plants that are not thorny, sharp, or otherwise dangerous to keep you and your neighbours safe.

Here are some plants to grow along your roadside: