WATERWISE GARDEN COMPETITION

Waterwise Garden Competition 2003

This year's Waterwise Garden Competition was a great success with 29 entries. This year's competition particularly focussed on waterwise gardens and the overall appearance, colour and tidiness of gardens and verges.

$1000 worth of Waldecks-Kalgoorlie gardening vouchers and 7 trailer loads of mulch donated by the Water Corporation were available to be won.

Landcare Officer, Kylie Payne said she was particularly impressed with the gardens with Goldfields native plants, mulch and weed free verges. Travelling around and judging the gardens we were able to see that many Kalgoorlie-Boulder residents are making an effort to have gardens which are suitable to our semi-arid climatic conditions but also attractive, well-maintained and aesthetically pleasing. It was great to see that a number of residents are also maintaining their verges and reducing or removing altogether high water use lawns and gardens.

The winners were Robin Lonsdale and Morrie Goodz of 134 Lyall Street. Their waterwise garden full of Goldfields native plants has been developed over less than two years. They have used lipia grass as a waterwise alternative to lawn and mulched all of the garden beds with coarse enviro-mulch. Plants included a number of varieties of Eremophila (which means "desert loving"), also known as emu bushes. These come in a variety of flower colours including yellow, red, purple and pink, and a variety of leaf shapes and colours. The garden attracts many birds and butterflies.

The winner was presented with their prize by the Minister for Works, Housing and Government Enterprises, Mr Nick Griffiths.

The Kalgoorlie-Boulder Urban Landcare Group wishes to thank all the entrants for participating in the Waterwise Garden Competition and all the sponsors for making the competition possible.

Winners

The winners of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Urban Landcare Group Waterwise Garden Competition for 2003 are:

RESIDENTIAL

1. Robin Lonsdale and Morrie Goodz - 134 Lyall Street, Kalgoorlie
2. Jim and Andrea Williams – 3 Emery Close, Kalgoorlie
3. Peter and Jan Broadbent – 38 Balfour Street, Kalgoorlie

TENANT MAINTAINED

• K Aue – 229 Wittenoom Street, Boulder

COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL/COMMUNITY — Highly Commended

• Kalgoorlie-Boulder Business Development Centre - 171 Piccadilly Street
• Goldfields Telephone Service - 24 Percy Road
• City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder - Hannan Street and Burt Street streetscape plantings

Sponsors

• Waldecks
• The Golden Mail
• City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder
• KCGM
• MPI Mines
• Placer Dome Asia Pacific
• Water Corporation
• Western Power
• WMC Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter