A public housing building in Hamilton South that once was littered with rubbish and vandalism has been transformed into a “garden paradise”.

Public housing’s Namoi Units are surrounded with a variety of different gardens – cactus, native Australian, veggie and rose.

These gardens are created and maintained by about 60 residents who live in the social housing units.

They were started ten years ago, when resident Faye Rothero became fed-up with the unit’s bad reputation in the community.

“Then one day, I stepped on a syringe and just thought, that’s it, this has got to be cleaned up,” Ms Rothero said

“The place was trashed. There were broken bottles and rubbish everywhere. I started a small garden at first.”

After Ms Rothero’s initial garden, other residents became involved then the Namoi Flower Garden Club Incorporated was founded.

The group pledged to beautify the property, which it did one garden at a time.

It started from scratch using a lot of recycled materials, which are still used and sourced for tools and garden beds.

Even some of the garden furniture has been collected from the tip and restored while other pieces have been donated by residents or their families.

The garden’s picnic enclosure was built by one of the residents, Errol Smith, who is now the garden’s handyman.

Ms Rothero said residents get together every week to put in new plants or weed the gardens.

“We take pride in ourselves and where we live.

“People can come down here and enjoy the gardens – they can read a book or sit here and drink a cup of coffee.

“Since the gardens have been established we have seen a lot of birds come to the area such as owls, kookaburras, rosellas and mountain parrots.”

Residents in the club voluntarily donate $2 a fortnight to pay for refurbishing and maintaining the gardens.

The club has won various awards such as the NSW Green Thumb award and a Keep Australia Beautiful award.