Festival a time to escape into nature
Visiting the Powerco Taranaki Garden Spectacular gives people the chance to be nurtured by nature, says festival manager Lisa Ekdahl.
‘‘I think it’s a great opportunity to focus on the beauty of our world as an antidote to the things we have no control over,’’ she says.
This year’s festival, launched in New Plymouth on July 20, features 45 glorious gardens dotted all around Mt Taranaki. It runs from October 28 to November 6. Of these open gardens, 10 are new properties. ‘‘The fact we have 10 new gardens helps keep the festival fresh and the fact that the other gardens have longevity gives the festival depth,’’ Ekdahl says. ‘‘We have got a good mix of experience and vitality.’’
Ekdahl says gardeners are nurtured by the garden and vice versa, so when people visit one, they in turn are nurtured.
In keeping with that is the landscape design project, Lost Paradise, created by Plantation’s Michael Mansvelt. ‘‘That fits in quite nicely with the idea of being nurtured and escaping,’’ Ekdahl says.
Lost Paradise involves embellishing an already beautiful area in the Totara Dell at Pukekura Park to create a paradise-like space, which invites viewers to use all their senses.
‘‘People can ponder what paradise truly means to them.’’
New this year, will be a festival hub based in the White Hart courtyard, where people can buy tickets, get help planning their itinerary and learn what else Taranaki has to offer.
‘‘I think this year it’s about encouraging people to connect with each other and what they can do to sustain our environment,’’ Ekdahl says.
Intertwined with the open gardens are a variety of events, including a night with TVNZ food host, Michael Van de Elzen, the in-demand Chapman-Taylor tours and a house and garden tour.
Other events, include the garden speaker series featuring seedkeeper Jodi Roebuck on biodiversity, Jenny Oakley on propagating and hanging baskets, Alan Morris on hillside gardening and florist Pip Jones on creating a terrarium. The life-changing and uplifting movie, Polyfaces, is also being played in the Len Lye Centre. Innovative farmer Joel Salatin, whose family the movie is about, says: ‘‘As the problems of the world become more and more complex, the solutions become clear and simple.’’