Grow your own community

Creating and maintaining award-winning gardens and growing a friendly community.

When Brian and Janet Lovelock moved to Ryman’s Ngaio Marsh village in Christchurch last year, they knew some things would change and some would stay the same. One thing they knew would stay 100 percent the same was their passion for creating and maintaining award-winning gardens and sharing the beauty with as many people as possible. They chose Ngaio Marsh village because not only does it have beautiful and established communal gardens, but residents are encouraged to make the most of the space around their townhouses if they wish. Once they moved in, the couple didn’t waste any time getting stuck into what they love doing most. First, they unpacked the more than 300 potted begonias they had brought with them, then they set about designing a new garden. “We came here in July last year, by September we had established a garden, by October we had entered our first competition here, and by February we had changed the garden to a summer garden and won a trophy for the best townhouse garden in a village,” says Janet. Winning that award in the Christchurch Beautifying Association’s summer garden competition was another in a long line of accolades for Brian and Janet, and confirmation that while they’d changed location, gardening was still as big a part of their lives as ever. In fact, in many ways moving to Ngaio Marsh has given them more time to indulge in their favourite pastime than before. With all the mundane home and property maintenance taken care of, they can spend as much time as they want in the garden. Janet says the regular fish and chip evenings and other evening meal events at the village are always welcome after a long day working outside. “Everyone always asks me how long we spend in the garden, but I’ve never written up a timesheet! But we’re usually scratching around out there most days.” The wonderful thing about gardening, says Brian, is that it brings people together. Other residents and their visitors often wander past Brian and Janet’s place to catch up for a chat and to see the latest things they’ve planted. “We don’t just garden for ourselves, we do it to share with others. The main thing that attracts people is colour and we go in for a lot of it. I think it lifts people’s spirits when they see that” he says. “We spend a lot of time talking to people about gardens and share any knowledge we have.” There are so many keen gardeners at Ngaio Marsh that

Brian and Janet decided to set up a gardening group which meets each month. Here fellow passionate gardeners enjoy sharing advice, ideas and also get stuck in with the Ryman gardening team to ensure the communal garden spaces are looking their best. The group has grown over the months and a couple of new village residents joined as soon as they arrived after hearing such good things about it. “The group is just one of the many activities going on here that you can join if you want,” says Janet. “It’s a great place to live with very sociable people.” Fellow garden club member Mary Mills says one of the benefits of living in the village is that there are a variety of different types of gardeners with different ways of doing things in their own patch. “The joy of being here is that we are allowed to garden, and we are able to be individuals because we are all so different. I know there are some retirement villages that don’t allow individual gardens, so they wouldn’t have been right for us,” says Mary, who has been gardening for most of her life. “Here, they wanted to satisfy who I was, and I appreciate that.” Mary’s garden at Ngaio Marsh is predominantly filled with plants grown from cuttings she brought from her former property, including a rose first planted in the 1990s. She loves being able to grow her own vegetables and making compost to keep the soil healthy. “I feel that gardening is an activity that keeps you fit, out in the open and satisfies a creative mind. I love to see my vegetables growing and being able to go out and pick them for dinner.” For Mary, village life has meant more time to do the type of gardening she enjoys the most. “I have more time for gardening and more time for other things. I play bowls and do other outdoor activities. I don’t have to worry about all the hard jobs – I can just play.”