Di Morrow planted rosemary bushes on the nature strip when she moved into her Wickham cottage nearly 20 years ago.
The retired naturopath says the Church Street garden has been a way of connecting with neighbours and passersby ever since.
"People pick the rosemary for their lamb dinner," Ms Morrow said.
"Anzac Day I can't tell you the number of people who come in and pick rosemary.
"I've got a florist who comes here because they can't get it anywhere else.
"It's for everybody. It's a privilege."
The future of Ms Morrow's "healing" garden is now up in the air after Newcastle council received a single complaint and deemed the plants had to be removed.
"A council worker knocked on my door this week and said the plants would be removed in one or two months," Ms Morrow said.
"We should be encouraging those ways of connecting with community, not discouraging them."
After inquiries from the Newcastle Herald, City of Newcastle has given the garden a stay of execution.
"CN provides guidelines around the positioning of gardens to allow for pedestrian access, including setbacks from the street kerb, design requirements for garbage truck access and to allow for people entering and exiting from parked vehicles," a council spokesperson said.
"CN contacted the resident in relation to the issues surrounding their historic verge garden, following a complaint, and informed them that it impedes access to cars and garbage trucks parking in this area.
"Due to the unique nature of this site, CN has paused removal works and will attempt to engage with the resident to resolve the issue."
Ms Morrow's garden prevents a parked car's passenger door from opening but does not obstruct the footpath.
The council's street garden guidelines encourage households to plant on suburban nature strips but not in the inner-city and Wickham due to "site constraints".
"There's plenty of other places around Wickham where you can't open your passenger-side door, and they're trees put in by council," Ms Morrow said.
"It's always kept neat and tidy. I buy all the plants, I pay for the water I use on it and I meet fantastic people on the way through as they walk past.
"It is about creating spaces where people can absolutely enjoy what they're doing.
"After such a long time, surely that shows a precedence of what's here."
Deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen said he had asked for an "urgent review" of Ms Morrow's case and "requested consideration of alternative options that could enable Di's garden to be protected for years to come".
"Gardens can flourish provided the commonsense guidelines are applied that manage pedestrian and car accessibility and protect underground and overground utilities," he said.
The council has approved a Wickham public domain plan which includes investing in footpaths, community gardens, cycleways and tree planting in the suburb.
