The pollinator driveway

14 metres of bare gravel turned into a nectar-rich, three-season border for a city townhouse.

The brief was simple: make the front of the house look less like a car park. The driveway itself needed to stay, but there was a 14-metre strip along the boundary wall that was doing nothing but collecting litter and foxglove seedlings.

We stripped the existing gravel, improved the soil with green waste compost, and planted a dense, layered border designed around three rules: something in flower every month from March to October, at least 60% native or near-native species, and nothing that would outgrow the space within five years.

The result was visible by late June of the first year. Neighbours started asking questions by August. By the following spring, the strip was alive with mining bees and early butterflies — a small but tangible piece of urban biodiversity on a residential street.