Key Facts:
- Melbourne garden company Must Have Maintenance reports that conversion to native and drought-tolerant gardens is the most significant landscaping trend across Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs, though poorly executed conversions often result in gardens requiring more maintenance than the lawns they replaced.
- Research and water storage data support the shift, with a 2024 peer-reviewed study recommending a 60/40 ratio of native vegetation to watered lawn for optimal long-term savings, and Melbourne’s water storages recording their steepest annual decline since the Millennium Drought.
- Common errors in DIY conversions include failing to remove root systems before replanting, selecting species without accounting for a site’s aspect, soil drainage, and microclimate, and retaining irrigation schedules suited to lawns rather than the deep, infrequent watering native plants require.
- Founder Lukas James emphasises that proper soil assessment and species selection before any planting begins is essential, noting that plants suitable for one Melbourne suburb may be entirely wrong for another due to differing local conditions.
- Must Have Maintenance offers native garden planning and maintenance services across Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs, including site assessment, species selection, irrigation reconfiguration, and turf removal, operating seven days a week.
MELBOURNE, Australia – 23 October 2026 – Must Have Maintenance, a Melbourne garden and lawn maintenance company completing more than 15,000 jobs per year, says the move toward native and drought-tolerant gardens is one of the strongest shifts it is seeing across Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs, and that the most common outcome of an incorrectly executed conversion is a garden that requires more intervention than the lawn it replaced.
Native and drought-tolerant planting is the dominant landscaping shift across Australian residential properties in 2025 and 2026, driven by water pressure, rising maintenance costs, and growing preference for gardens suited to the local climate. A 2024 peer-reviewed study in the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, using Perth park data applicable to Melbourne conditions, found that a 60 to 40 ratio of native vegetation to watered lawn delivers the highest net benefits for garden retrofits, accounting for both establishment costs and long-term maintenance savings. Melbourne’s water storages fell from 86% to 75.1% in the 12 months to June 2025, the steepest annual decline since the Millennium Drought, making water-efficient garden design more relevant than it has been in years.
The practical problem Must Have Maintenance sees on-site is the gap between the goal and the execution. A conversion that removes existing turf without addressing the root system leaves a bed that competes with new plantings for soil and moisture for up to two seasons. Species selected without reference to the block’s aspect, soil drainage, and microclimate produce plants that underperform or fail within 12 months, creating the need for replanting that erases any cost saving. Irrigation systems configured for a lawn watering schedule do not suit native gardens, which typically require deep, infrequent watering rather than frequent shallow application. A converted garden with the wrong irrigation schedule can be more water-intensive than the lawn it replaced.
“The plants that work in a native garden in Brighton are not the same ones that work in Ringwood. Aspect, drainage, soil type, wind exposure: these all determine what will establish and what won’t. The most common thing we see after a DIY conversion is someone who planted the right idea in the wrong way for their specific block. The garden looks fine for a season and then the failures start appearing. Doing the soil assessment and species selection properly before anything goes in is what makes the difference between a garden that genuinely needs less work and one that needs constant replacement,” said Lukas James, founder of Must Have Maintenance.
Must Have Maintenance provides garden maintenance and native garden planning across Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs, including site assessment, species selection, irrigation reconfiguration, and turf removal. The company holds approvals as an NDIS Home Help Services Provider and a WorkSafe and TAC Services Provider, and operates seven days a week.
About us:
About Must Have Maintenance
Founded in 2018, Must Have Maintenance provides garden and lawn maintenance services to homes and businesses across Melbourne. The company completes more than 15,000 jobs per year, holds a 4.8-star Google rating from 109 reviews, and services clients across residential, commercial, NDIS, and government portfolios.
