Garden Ramble comes to southern lake

22 Oct

**Garden ramblers can visit 10 gardens in the Tūrangi, Motuoapa and Oruatua area.**

Tūrangi Garden club is hosting its biennial garden ramble on Sunday, November 9 when 10 gardens will be on show in Tūrangi, Motuoapa and Oruatua on the eastern and southern shores of Lake Taupō.

Organiser Janet Hird says the strength of this year’s ramble is in showing how quickly a new section can be turned into a beautiful and productive space.

“The owners of these suburban gardens have used clever landscaping techniques, plant choices and labour-saving ideas to produce gardens that will delight everyone.”

She says a valuable part of a garden ramble is discovering the plants that grow successfully in an area and the site that the gardener has chosen to put them in.

“There will be some surprises too, showing how passion and energy can make dramatic changes to an area.”

She says a good example of this is the Oruatua Reserve. The 14 hectares of weed-infested land has been slowly transformed with the planting of 42,000 native trees over 10 years or so.

Some gardens will have artists’ work and plants for sale.

Tūrangi Garden Club was established by enthusiastic gardeners 37 years ago and meets monthly.

The ramble is a longstanding feature of the club’s calendar.

The benefactor of this year’s event will be Pihanga Health, a not-for-profit primary care practice that provides essential healthcare services to the southern lake communities.

Patient fees are capped to keep healthcare affordable so any donations it receives enable the practice to purchase those ‘icing on the cake’ items that enhance the care they provide.

Tickets to this year’s ramble cost $25 and can be purchased through trybooking.com/nz or by contacting turangigardenclub@gmail.com

Bayleys Real Estate has been the major sponsor of this event for more than 20 years.