Award-winning garden finds new life on Docklands waterfront

An award-winning show garden from this year’s Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show has found a permanent new home in Docklands, bringing a burst of native planting, colour and biodiversity to Yanonung Quay on Harbour Esplanade.

Known as We the Wild, the garden was designed by Matt York of Ratio Consultants and was one of the standout attractions at the 2026 flower show, where it received the City of Melbourne Award of Excellence for Best in Show, a Gold Medal and the Horticultural Media Association Award for Best Use of Plant Life.

Now reimagined for the Docklands waterfront, the installation is helping activate another piece of public space in a precinct that continues to search for more greenery, softness and day-to-day vibrancy.

Originally conceived as a temporary showpiece, the garden has been adapted into a longer-lasting public realm project with support from Development Victoria and the City of Melbourne.

In doing so, it has also given a second life to plant stock and materials from the flower show, turning what could have been a short-lived display into something the broader community can continue to enjoy.

The design draws inspiration from Victoria’s southern coastline and explores how small, carefully designed landscapes can do much more than look good. The garden has been created to support biodiversity, encourage pollination, contribute to urban cooling and offer a stronger everyday connection to nature in the middle of the city.

That makes it particularly relevant in Docklands, where the challenge has long been how to make public spaces feel more inviting, more memorable and lived in.

Ratio delivered the project in collaboration with To Good Use and Studio Perspective, with plant supply led by Kuranga Native Nursery and Proven Winners.

Mr York, Ratio’s director of landscape architecture, said the installation was already helping shape the way people experienced the waterfront.

“Through these garden activations, Ratio is bringing a touch of the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show to Docklands, creating pockets of colour and joy across our Garden City that can be enjoyed during a ferry wait, a lunch break, and as a backyard for residents or a community event,” he said.

That idea of small but strategic activation was echoed by placemaking specialist and To Good Use director Bec McHenry, who said there was something powerful about giving a garden designed for a moment in time an ongoing role in the public realm.

“Its new home on the Docklands waterfront creates an ongoing opportunity for biodiversity, habitat and everyday connection with nature,” she said. •