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Trees & verges

Street trees

Trees make the City of Subiaco a beautiful place, and are an important part of the ecology and environment in urban areas. 

Verge street trees are managed by the City. The City’s written approval is needed before pruning, damaging, or removing trees located on council property. Without this approval, you may be committing an offence.

As part of the Local Planning Scheme No. 5, the City maintains a Significant Tree Register. If you'd like to nominate a tree to be listed on the register, please fill out this form. 

The City systematically selects, plants and maintains street trees, considering both existing and future streetscapes and the City’s environmental goals. Balancing site limitations, climate factors, safety, adjacent land uses and vehicle traffic, as well as physical characteristics of native and exotic trees, the City creates a leafy and shady environment for the community to enjoy. 

For information about annual laneway pruning, please check the link below:

Around July each year, the City prunes or removes vegetation growing around laneways to create safe clearances around fence lines and remove dead vegetation.

Residents can opt-out of the City's laneway pruining program. If you choose to do so, you will need to maintain vegetation to the City’s requirements. Please visit Online Services to contact us or raise a request for tree pruining.

Online Services

For more information on street trees please refer to the City's Street and Reserve Tree Management Guidelines.

Your verge

Residents are welcomed to establish and maintain the verge next to their property. The City encourages landscaping with low water use plants.

Landscaping developments to the verge not involving paving or any constructed elements, and complying with the City’s verge policy and management guidelines, may be undertaken without the City’s permission. 

For more information about verges, please check the links below:

Infrastructure and verge protection bonds apply to development sites ensuring the City’s assets are not damaged by private development and construction. Bond costs are listed in the City’s schedule of fees and charges. For more information, please see Development Sites - Infrastructure and Verge Protection.

The City also provides information on verge compliance criteria, the verge development assistance scheme and tips on how you can green your verge: 

The City of Subiaco is a proud Gold Waterwise Council

The Waterwise Verge Rebate Program aims at helping residents to establish a waterwise verge adjacent to their property and achieve sustainability outcomes, such as water conservation and contributing to local biodiversity.

This initiative is proudly co-funded by Water Corporation’s Waterwise Greening Scheme and forms part of our ambition for Subiaco to be a leading waterwise city.

The City is now offering rebates up to $500, and a workshop with experts to help residents replace their verge with native plants.

The program timeline is scheduled around autumn planting, when cooler temperatures and seasonal rainfall help ensure the successful establishment and survival of new plants.

Friday 13 March 2026

Applications open

1 to 31 May 2026

Apace Natvve Plant Subsidy - up to 40 plants per residents
Until stocks run out

May 2026

Free workshop - date to be confirmed

Sunday 31 May 2026

Program online registration closes
Deadline to complate Waterwise Rebate program
Residents to send verge after photos
Before and after photos must be taken from the same angle
Submit rebate claim documents
Rebate claim can be submitted at any time prior to 31 May 2026

June 2026

Monetary rebates paid out to successful claimants

For your application, you will need to:

  1. Get the property owner's approval to do the makeover (if you are a tenant), or get agreement between owners (if a strata property)

  2. Measure the area to be transformed in m2

  3. Take a picture of the area(s) to be transformed and have it ready to be attached to your application.

The following conditions of the Waterwise Verge Rebate Program must be met:

  • Grass needs to be killed or removed prior to installation.

  • New plants must be Waterwise (such as Western Australian natives or those listed on the Water Corporation's Waterwise Plant Directory).

  • Applicants must transform a minimum of 20m2 or two-thirds of the available area, whichever is greater. Small verges (less than 20m2) must transform all of the available area.

  • ‘Before’ photos must be supplied with this application form and ‘after’ photos supplied by the 31 May 2026. Before and after photos must be taken from the same angle. Participants agree to photos potentially being used for promotional purposes.

  • Verge modifications must follow the City’s Verge Policy Management Guidelines and Policy (for example, plant height restrictions and acceptable materials).

  • Body corporate (or group of owners where body corporate doesn’t exist) must apply for strata properties, with pre-agreement from all owners. A strata property cannot submit partial verge applications, or multiple verge applications over time. The verge space of a strata property is classified as one entity under this program and so can be applied for once.

The City of Subiaco has the following requirements relating to landscaping on verges:

  • Verge treatments are limited to low growing plants and ground covers that are not hazardous.

  • Vegetation must be maintained to a maximum height of 500mm.

  • Plantings must maintain a clearance of 500mm from any existing and/or proposed footpath and crossover.

  • Please see the Verge Policy Management Guidelines for more information.

Apply for your rebate now

Please view the information provided by Water Corporation to assist with your native verge installation, and discover other waterwise offers:

Polyphagous shot-hole borer (PSHB)

The City encourages residents to monitor trees on their property for PSHB, as early detection is key to minimising further impact on neighbouring trees.

There are a number of symptoms that indicate a tree may be infested, including:

  • Beetle entry holes (approximately the size of a ballpoint pen tip)

  • Discolouration or staining of wood

  • ‘Gumming’; the appearance of thick resin or sap

  • ‘Galleries’; intricate tunnels or galleries where PSHB farm fungus

  • Frass; a noodling effect that can be present extruding from trees, produced by the beetle’s tunnelling

  • Dieback.

Important trees to check are maple, willow, plane, coral tree and avocado.

Residents who suspect they have borer damage to trees should call the DPIRD’s Pest and Disease Information Service on 9368 3080 or email padis@dpird.wa.gov.au. Further information can be found at www.agric.wa.gov.au/borer