With events being struck from the calendar all around them, the Taranaki Garden Festival has defied the odds to get to the start line today.
Taranaki Garden Festival manager Tetsu Garnett. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
It's promising a celebration of spring colour, perfect for chasing the Covid blues away.
Already facing the loss of its Auckland and Waikato patrons, organisers of the Taranaki Garden Festival had watched anxiously as Christmas at the Bowl, the Stratford A&P Show and the Taranaki Masters Games were cancelled.
Festival manager Tetsu Garnett said it was lucky that its format meant large crowds did not gather in one place at one time.
"Because we've got 43 gardens dotted around the mountain we can go underneath those restrictions and then we've got in place scanning, everybody is going to be scanning in, we're encouraging mask wearing, using hand sanitiser and social distancing from people you don't know."
She said those that could make it would not be disappointed.
"The gardens are looking amazing. I'm standing here in Three Elms at the moment in Westown and they have prepared all year. They've been looking forward to our visitors coming, sharing their gardening stories and showing our Taranaki manaakitanga."
Garnett was hard pressed to pick a favourite garden this year.
"We are bringing peace and harmony in a time of turmoil in New Zealand, so I think that just promoting beauty in the garden is probably my favourite thing at the moment."
Lisa McNab is the co-creator of the Three Elms Garden with husband Shane.
Lisa McNab created the Three Elms Garden in New Plymouth with husband Shane. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
A steep, multilayered suburban New Plymouth creation, the garden was full of surprises, Lisa said.
"We have a love of all sorts of things and our has quite a tropical and traditional base, so if there is something that you like you probably will find it here. But we like to think that we have some combinations and things that maybe you might not see anywhere else. So, we just love it. It's fun."
And then there are the hand-built rock walls.
"So there's Shane babies ... they've all come in by hand or wheelbarrow. Some of them came up through the neighbour's hedges and were rolled in and sometimes he could only do a few in a day because they are so big and so heavy. He had the odd bit of help from a neighbour or a friend when they were just way too heavy to manhandle."
The festival also incorportates the open studios of 84 artists taking part in the Taranaki Arts Trail.
Janette Theobald is showcasing felting in her New Plymouth studio.
"I do wet felting, which involves basically using the natural properties of wool plus water plus friction to turn it into fabric. It's one of the the oldest textiles in the world."
Felter Janette Leobald in her New Plymouth studio. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Leobold will be be running classes and preaching the virtues of wool.
"It's a chance to talk about the natural properties of wool contrasting it with things that are non-biodegradable, the fibres and textiles used these days, and the opportunity we have to easily make things ourselves. The pleasure of making and using what we are really good at in New Zealand, and that's making wool."
And if that wasn't enough, there are also 27 properties in a Sustainable Taranaki Backyards Trial.
Karen Newbrook was braving the rain at her sustainable garden on Mangorei Road, outside New Plymouth.
Karen Newbrook braves the rain at her sustainable garden on Mangorei Road, outside New Plymouth. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
"Well, I have a photo book in the dry inside ... but we started off with one acre of cow paddock with a trough in the middle 10 years ago and we've been in the house eight years as of next week and everything here has been put in by us."
As well as an orchard and extensive vegetable gardens Karen and husband Mark were one of the first people in the region to embrace the power of tiger worms for wastewater treatment.
"The Wormorator in that big tank, that's the first big tank there and down in the paddock is the fall off and it's the ideal situation because it's on a slope, so that it slopes away from the house and where it's green out there. You can see where it's green that's the wastewater outlet overflow."
During the festival, the Newbrooks will be offering workshops crunching the numbers on solar power which helps heat their home and charge their car.
Last year the 10-day garden festival generated $4.2 million the Taranaki economy up from $2.6m in 2019.
