Spring has sprung in Marlborough’s premier parks
Blenheim’s Pollard Park is primed and ready for the influx of visitors for Garden Marlborough
It’s a wonderful time to be out and about in Marlborough.
Mayor Nadine Taylor said the region was blessed with some of the highest sunshine hours in the country, good soils and excellent growing conditions for a wide variety of trees, shrubs and flowers.
“Council’s gardens team do an excellent job looking after our parks and reserves. Pollard Park in Blenheim looks particularly magnificent right now - the annual beds are stunning with the tulips flowering. The rose gardens have been weeded, fertilised and mulched. The camellia gardens, cottage garden and perennial border are all looking great too with spring growth,” she said.
In Seymour Square, staff have just finished working through the annual beds weeding and dead heading. The border and rose gardens have also been given a tidy up and a layer of mulch added to help retain moisture over summer.
A recent visitor to the province wrote to Council to say the annual beds at both Seymour Square and Pollard Park were nothing short of magnificent. “Best I've ever seen and I have been involved in parks and horticulture for a couple of decades,” the visitor said. “Your gardeners are doing an amazing job! Please pass on my thanks.”
This bodes well as both gardens are the backdrop to one of Marlborough’s biggest events in early November - Garden Marlborough.
“Now in its 31st year, it brings in thousands of visitors and generates over $1 million in economic benefit. Last year more than 6,000 people attended the Garden Fête in Pollard Park and 4,000 tickets were sold for events and workshops,” Mayor Taylor said.
She thanked the Garden Marlborough committee and major sponsors Bayleys and extended a special acknowledgement to the original committee members for their vision all those years ago: Carolyn Ferraby, Jeremy Jones, David Robinson, Keren Mitchell, Tim Crawford, Puddi Shields, Richard MacFarlane and Ralph Ballinger. “They had an idea for a garden show like no other - a long weekend of tours and workshops culminating in a fête, showing off everything and anything to do with gardening.”
“I am particularly proud of the support Council provides to Garden Marlborough, primarily by our garden team who ensure our parks look their absolute best. My thanks to that team for their professional gardening excellence - here’s to another successful Garden Marlborough,” she said.
