Garden overdue and over-budget

A multimillion-dollar children’s garden, five years in the making, finally has an opening date - albeit after several missed deadlines.

The garden, which will open in September, was due to be completed early last year. However, construction was pushed back twice to allow for further funds to be found by the Friends of the Wellington Botanic Garden.

Wellington City Council figures show the cost of the garden, to the end of phase two, has been $3.1 million – with about $400,000 more required to finish it.

The initial campaign aimed to raise $2.5m for the garden, with $1.5m of that for the build and $1m for an educational programme.

While burgeoning costs and delays to the 1500-square-metre project had been unexpected, council’s natural environment portfolio leader Peter Gilberd was confident everything was on track for a September opening.

‘‘I visited a few months ago when contractors were finishing off the centre and it was looking great, so I think it will be a really good educational resource.’’

Once open, the space will be used for hands-on activities that help students understand the importance of plants in their lives.

Gilberd inherited the project from former city councillor Helene Ritchie, who still saw the children’s garden as one of her ‘‘babies’’.

‘‘I really worked hard to get the funding which it has now and I was able to achieve that in a way to ensure that there was unanimous support from the council, which there was.’’

While she was happy to hear an opening date had been announced, Ritchie said the time it had taken to get to this stage was frustrating.

‘‘It really has taken some time which is why I didn’t stand for council again everything takes too long.’’

The new garden is the largest significant investment in the Wellington Botanic Garden since the duck pond was built more than 18 years ago.

So far, $1.6m of the total spend had come from council, $1.4m from the Plimmer Trust and $250,000 had been raised by Friends of the Wellington Botanic Garden.

While a final $250,000 still needed to be raised, the garden is due to be finished and officially opened at a Kids’ Day Out event on September 30. However, a family open day is planned this Sunday.

More than five years after it was first mooted, a new children’s garden at the Wellington Botanic Garden is finally set to open in September. Among its features will be an oak tree island where people can survey the garden and lessons can take place.