# 4.1 Planting Palette
Providing a diverse and resilient planting palette in new subdivisions supports healthy landscapes, local biodiversity, and long-term sustainability. Well-considered plant selection helps create attractive, low-maintenance public spaces that respond to local conditions and climate.
The Victorian Planning Provisions include the following objectives for planting palette (at 56.05-1):
- To implement any relevant streetscape, landscape, urban design or native vegetation precinct plan, strategy or policy for the area.
- To respond to the site and context description for the site and surrounding area.
- To take account of the physical features of the land including landform, soil and climate.
- To promote the use of drought-tolerant and low-maintenance plants and avoid species likely to spread into the surrounding environment.
- To create low-maintenance, durable landscapes that are capable of a long life.
- To include a maintenance plan that sets out maintenance responsibilities, requirements and costs.
BESS rewards subdivisions that consider planting palette by:
- Providing at least 50% native and indigenous planting for public realm areas. [https://staging.bess.net.au/admin/sd_engine/sddocumentationmodel/67/change/]
- Ensuring all planting is climate change tolerant. [https://staging.bess.net.au/admin/sd_engine/sddocumentationmodel/69/change/]
- Creating habitat opportunities, such as providing hollow logs or bird boxes in parks. [https://staging.bess.net.au/admin/sd_engine/sddocumentationmodel/70/change/]
- Managing or removing all environmental weeds (including weeds of national significance and noxious weeds) from the subdivision.[https://staging.bess.net.au/admin/sd_engine/sddocumentationmodel/71/change/]
- Ensuring no environmental weeds are specified in the planting palette. [https://staging.bess.net.au/admin/sd_engine/sddocumentationmodel/72/change/]