One of the big reasons I love gardens is because as is well known but mostly taken for granted, it is plants that produce the oxygen we breathe. Whether that plant be a rose, or an indigenous grass or a tomato, all plants photosynthesise and produce oxygen in the process. It is plants and in particular trees that shade our streets and create ‘liveable cities’. Pedestrians and cyclists…where would we be without trees? They are our air-conditioning, our protection from harmful UV rays, our nesting place when we are tired. And as much as I love beautiful architecturally designed buildings, and gorgeous landscaped spaces, without the green of trees and shrubs and grasses and climbers, even the best architectural landscapes pale in significance. So no matter how small your home or apartment is, no matter how little you think you can contribute, plant a herb or a native grass or a shrub as soon as you can because our cities need more green…arrivederci cari amici, mara

Even the smallest addition of vegetation transforms a space for me. Someone is lovingly tending this climber. They will have watched it grow over many years and slowly trained it to follow the line of the veranda. Trimming here and there to keep its shape.

A lonely tree in a sea of paving: neat and tidy it is but this garden does little to mitigate summers scorching heat.

Small amounts of paving create an intimate path and even more importantly make room for more oxygen producing plants.

A simple rugged fence, rusty and open to let plants work their way through it and to let passers by enjoy a view to the garden within.

This walkway benefits aesthetically from the green small tentacles that shoot up from the gaps in the paving.

It is always the colour green that transforms for me a cold concrete environment into a little oasis.

My favourite gardens are a blur of green, with a few strong structural forms and shapes, but mostly bleeding lines, overhanging branches, and few colours.

I prefer a weedy garden full of nutritional herbs like dandelions, than a sterile, highly controlled environment of meticulously few plants.

Paper bark trees are great for building cubby houses with. Just peel a few layers from various trees on the street and not too many from any one tree.
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