When you look closely at a healthy Indigenous grassland small plants and herbs grow in the spaces between the grasses
Prior to the European settlement, It is estimated by the Victorian Department of Sustainability & Environment (DSE) that much of the land upon which Melbourne has been built would have been an open, grassy woodland with a canopy cover of around 10%. The exception being areas directly impacted by localized environmental conditions such as creeks, rivers and flood plains.
The DSE mapping shows that to find a significant vegetation typology change prior to 1750, you’d have needed to travel 13km East from the CBD to where the open grassy plains gave way to dry forests, low hills and canopy densities of closer to 30%. If you’d continued East through the dry forests, the canopy would have thickened, the hills gotten bigger and the forest wetter until you ended up in Great Dividing Ranges.
Sadly, most of this original vegetation of Melbourne is gone.
Fortunately, the plants are not, and the people who love and nurture them across the city continues to grow.
As a Landscape Architect, I am sharing this knowledge because I think this is a great starting point for anyone involved in designing a garden. Once you know your gardens pre 1750s vegetation there is no longer a problem finding a starting point as the most basic design already exists. Original vegetation replacement.
Even if what you end up with is a garden space that has very few Indigenous plants in it… well that is ok. No garden of any sort succeeds without people being passionate so you have to plant what you love. But in between those plants maybe there are spaces. Spaces for Indigenous plants?
In the above picture, you can see the vegetation change from EVC 55 to EVC 22 as you travel East from Boroondara into Whitehorse. Much of suburban Melbourne is on the Western side of this vegetation change and would have once been a variation of plains grassy woodland.
Understanding 1750s Environmental Vegetation Classes(EVCs) and garden design
The estimated pre 1750s vegetation types have been mapped by the Victorian Government. EVCs are benchmarks to which tracts of remnant vegetation are evaluated & EVC maps help to guide revegetation projects across the state. Basically the closer that a tract of vegetation is to representing its EVC typology, the higher the value the tract of vegetation is deemed to be.
In the following example, I using the pre 1750s vegetation estimate as spatial guidance for a backyard design.
The backyard area is 140m2 (roughly 12m x 12m). The site is located in an area of Melbourne mapped as plains grassy woodland (EVC 55). To successfully apply an EVC you need to understand your gardens conditions. I recommend going through a detailed site assessment as it will help you to sought through the available plant choices and guide you towards plants most likely to work in your garden.
Designing with EVC 55 (DSE Guidance)
DSE description:
An open, eucalypt woodland to 15 m tall. Occupies poorly drained, fertile soils on flat or gently undulating plains at low elevations. The under storey consists of a few sparse shrubs over a species-rich grassy and herbaceous ground layer. This variant occupies areas receiving approximately 500 – 700 mm annual rainfall.
Large trees:
Eucalyptus spp. 80 cm 8 / ha
Tree Canopy Cover:
10% Eucalyptus camaldulensis (River Red Gum)
Understorey:
| Immature Canopy Tree | 5% | IT |
| Understorey Tree or Large Shrub | 15% | T |
| Medium Shrub | 10% | MS |
| Small Shrub | 1% | SS |
| Prostrate Shrub | 1% | PS |
| Large Herb | 5% | LH |
| Medium Herb | 15% | MH |
| Small or Prostrate Herb | 5% | SH |
| Large Tufted Graminoid | 5% | SH |
| Medium to Small Tufted Graminoid | 45% | MTG |
| Medium to Tiny Non-tufted Graminoid | 5% | MNG |
| Bryophytes/Lichens na | 10% | BL |
| Soil Crust | 10% | S/C |
Species typical of at least part of EVC range
| MS | Acacia pycnantha | Golden Wattle |
| MS | Acacia paradoxa | Hedge Wattle |
| SS | Pimelea humilis | Common Rice-flower |
| PS | Astroloma humifusum | Cranberry Heath |
| PS | Bossiaea prostrata | Creeping Bossiaea |
| MH | Oxalis perennans | Grassland sorrel |
| MH | Gonocarpus tetragynus | Common Raspwort |
| MH | Acaena echinata | Sheep’s Burr |
| SH | Dichondra repens | Kidney-weed |
| SH | Hydrocotyle laxiflora | Stinking Pennywort |
| LTG | Austrostipa mollis | Supple Spear-grass |
| LTG | Austrostipa bigeniculata | Kneed Spear-grass |
| MTG | Themeda triandra | Kangaroo Grass |
| MTG | Elymus scaber var. scaber | Wheat-grass |
| MTG | Austrodanthonia setacea | Bristly Wallaby-grass |
| MTG | Austrodanthonia racemosa var. racemosa | Stiped Wallaby-grass |
| MNG | Microlaena stipoides var. stipoides | Weeping Grass |
Organic Litter:
10 % cover
Logs:
1 % cover
Information courtesy of the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment website © The State of Victoria Department of Sustainability and Environment 2004
Indigenous Revegetation Design Melbourne EVC 55
The spatial layout of EVC 55 when applied as a garden design. Without the fauna and natural fire events required to maintain this vegetation type you may struggle to maintain species diversity
Design Notes:
- The design does not include any mature canopy trees. Most suburban backyards of 140m2 are not large enough to accommodate a mature River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis).
- This design is for a backyard and includes informal pathways not associated with EVC mapping.
- This type of design strategy is a great idea for the areas of your garden that you may not use or which may adjoin a parkland, wildlife corridor, waterway or reserve.
If you are using this information for commercial purposes please consider making a donation to either Bush Heritage Australia or FAME to the value of the information you have received. If you do please let me know. Share and share alike
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