Machine Efficient Biodiverse Installations (MEBI)
A smarter way to plant for maintenance realities
By Daniel Fuller
After more than a decade leading maintenance crews, I’ve seen firsthand how landscapes can decline, not because of poor design, but due to poor maintenance. One of the most common killers? Improper pruning by undertrained operators who don’t understand the nuances of plant care: what to cut, when, and how much.
Specifiers typically have little control over how their landscapes are maintained once a project is handed over. Accountability is often vague. When plants fail, the blame is conveniently assigned to weather or assumed lifespans. But the truth is, many plants are finicky, especially when it comes to pruning.
Take Lomandra, for example. These tough natives thrive when cut back every few years, but only to a point. Cut too low (say, flush with the ground), and the plant may not recover. Cut about 15 cm above the ground, however, and most will bounce back just fine. The problem is maintenance crews don’t carry rulers or tape measures, and as a result, a significant percentage are cut too short and die.
To help solve this problem, Ozbreed has developed a palette of plants designed specifically for high-risk, low-accountability maintenance environments. These Machine Efficient Biodiverse Installations (MEBI) combine resilience with ecological value. They’re ideal for large-scale landscapes like parklands, roadsides, and urban developments, where it’s unrealistic to expect precision pruning.
The MEBI palette features six rugged, biodiversity-boosting plants selected for their ability to tolerate rough cutbacks and thrive in mixed plantings.
Click here to download MEBI palette
Dianella caerulea ‘DCMP02’ PBR intended, Trade Name: Little Jess™ (NEW IMPROVED)
A tough, rhizomatous groundcover that stabilises soil, supports buzz pollinators, and serves as a butterfly host plant. This improved cultivar handles cutbacks better than ever.
Lomandra longifolia ‘LM360’ PBR, Trade Name: Lady Tanika®
Another rhizomatous plant, ideal for boggy or sunken low-lying areas. It also acts as a host plant for butterflies, and performs reliably under low maintenance conditions.
Callistemon viminalis ‘CV01’ PBR, Trade Name: Slim™
With its narrow form and year-round flowering (peaking in spring), this plant offers visual screening, bird perches, and extended nectar availability.
Scaevola humilis ‘PFS200’ PBR, Trade Name: Pink Fusion™
A low-growing, flower-heavy groundcover that doubles as a living mulch. It blooms almost all year, even in winter, while enriching soil health.
Eremophila sp. ‘EREM01’ PBR Intended, Trade Name: Thriver™
An ornamental standout, Thriver™ Eremophila is bird and insect-friendly and thrives on periodic hard cutbacks. In colder climates like QLD and ACT, it’s a substitute for Syzygium australe ‘SAN01’ PBR, Trade Name: Straight and Narrow™ but requires frost protection.
Grevillea rosmarinifolia ‘H16’ PBR, Trade Name: Crimson Villea™
One of the brightest winter-flowering plants available, it supports pollinators during seasonal resource gaps. In QLD, swap it for Acmena smithii ‘DOW30’ PBR, Trade Name: Sublime™ for best results.
This collection is designed for mixed beds, combining a variety of shapes, textures, and ecological roles. Every 3 to 7 years, the beds can be rejuvenated using hedge trimmers for strappy or herbaceous plants, and chainsaws or handsaws for woody species. No delicate pruning is required.
In a perfect world, landscape budgets would support comprehensive training and higher standards for maintenance crews. Unfortunately, the real world is often governed by the lowest bid.
That’s why specifiers and project managers need options like the MEBI palette: plants that are hard to kill, ecologically beneficial, and compatible with machine-level maintenance.
Nursery wholesalers can support better project outcomes by recommending these resilient performers. Retailers can promote them by grouping MEBI selections together in-store, with signage explaining their benefits and purpose.
In short, MEBI isn’t just a plant list, it’s a design strategy for today’s maintenance realities.