Two Whakatipu gardens were recognised at the recent New Zealand Landscape of Distinction Awards, including one at Mt Creighton, named supreme winner.
Created by Christchurch’s Green Therapy, the sustainable project, dubbed ‘Bob’s Cove Retreat’, includes 98% native planting.
It was praised by the judging panel as a harmonious space alongside Lake Whakatipu, with strong environmental practices, like eco-
sourcing, pest control, reuse of on-site resources, water management and client education.
Judges say many of the natives planted on the site are eco-sourced seeds from the area, while mulch came from locally wind-felled trees, and cut-down species were left on site to rot away.
‘‘During the development process, the client has become an eco-warrior, with a great desire to continue the pest weed clean-up on the adjoining Te Papa Atawhai (Department of Conservation) land.
‘‘The owner has become so invested in the garden and its connection to the wider landscape around it that he is now committed to clearing many exotic weeds from the surrounding DoC land and river edges.’’
Arrowtown landscaping business Kate Campbell Gardens also won one of the elite awards for its work on The Elms, Lake Hayes Residences.
That project won the premier award for garden management/maintenance, and a gold medal in the residential project garden management/
maintenance for properties of more than 400 square metres.
The Elms’ gardens, designed by Suzanne Turley, are formed around three apartments and sympathetically complement an historic horizontal elm in the formal common entrance.
Three other Whakatipu gardens were recognised — the Edgars’ residence, at Kelvin Heights, and Thorsen residence, at Speargrass Flat, both by Diva Landscapes, and Arrowtown Lifestyle Retirement Village, by Natural Habitats Ltd.
