Best verge-the pride of Prestondale

RESIDENT, Peter Tavener did Prestondale proud when he won the annual eThekwini Municipality Verge Competition recently. Tavener accepted his first-place prize for the residential category of the competition at Botanic Gardens on Thursday, 28 February.

Over 100 entries were received this year and the best verge was chosen based on the Wow! Factor, civic pride, sustainability, aesthetic appeal, water-wise consideration, maintenance design and that it was invasive alien plant free.

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“We got a very high score of 92,5 out of 100. I think we fitted most of the criteria the judges were looking for. We used colour and texture to create a place of interest. We used succulents to be water wise and also because of all the interesting colours and shapes. I haven’t given this garden a drop of water since October, last year since 90 percent of the plants are indigenous. They don’t like a lot of water,” said Tavener.

Tavener was delighted by the wildlife that his indigenous verge garden had attracted.

“There was no wildlife here before, we never saw anything. Now there are a lot of lizards here and a lot of butterflies and sun birds as well.  When my son and I created our verge garden, we created an eco-system,” he said.

“I’ve noticed that if you go into gardens with a lot of indigenous trees, you will see butterflies and creatures that you will not find in exotic gardens. I do believe that that is important, but it’s only in the last few years that people have started to go the indigenous route. It’s just better. You create an ecosystem and cost wise its cheaper and requires far less water,” he added.

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eThekwini Parks and Recreation head, Thembinkosi Ngcobo said the competition encouraged civic pride.

“Without the participation of our residents within our cleaning and environmental management programmes, there is no way that the city will be clean. No matter how hard 23000 of our staff members work, if our residents are not party to that, it is not going to work. This project is about civic pride because we know how central our residents, in their own individual efforts and collectively, will contribute towards a greener city, a better city and a friendlier city that will attract investments and tourism,” added Ngcobo.

The verges were judged by a panel of judges made up mostly of horticulturists.

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