Angel Gardeners

From: 15/10/2024 - Ongoing

City Centre 4

Street Address

There are little gardens, beds and planters all over the city.

Our Angel Gardeners are a work-in-progress!

The Angel Gardeners are a group of volunteers who commit to help with some planting around the city, as well as upkeep. They meet up about one a week, do some tidying and transplanting, lots of watering and general nature nurturing, as well as the obligatory coffee to finish.

The gardens a mix of beds, pocket parks, and planter pots. Sometimes they’re owned by private property owner, sometimes it’s not quite clear who owns them. Either way, every garden deserves to be loved, and they certainly all respond to a bit of TLC.

It all started in 2024 at our first Spring Clean campaign, when a group of gardeners refreshed the giant planters along Bridge St. They also completely transformed the gardens outside Nelson Library along Halifax St by spreading out the clivias. Meanwhile across the road, outside the old petrol station, the team from RMM Landscape Architects got down and dirty and completely transformed the gardens beds with edibles – the artichokes are still self-seeding!

Now that they’ve been going for a couple of years, the Angel Gardeners definitely have their own systems, as well as hi-vis – very smart! Once a month they visit Nikau House, and have been slowly, with the help of some Nikau folk, turning it into a really lovely courtyard that’s getting a lot of use as a peaceful place to sit.

They have a list of spots around town that they visit for regular upkeep, as well as a list of “what-to-do-next”. It’s pretty obvious that a little bit of garden goes a long way in giving the city some colour, as well as a bit of parsley being extremely helpful for giving your dinner some fresh flavour.

Angel Gardening isn’t just about volunteering some time to put in some plants. It’s also about being willing to commit to making sure the garden flourish. It’s also something that anyone can do – maybe emptying your water bottle on a thirsty plant once a week, giving the bed a quick tidy when you see some weeds popping up, and generally taking notice of how plants are doing.