BACKYARD BLISS
They say changing the world starts in one’s own backyard. Making your own little patch of dirt flourish with colour, fragrance, and life can represent a slice of you, in your very own space. Summer is the most rewarding time to get amongst your greenery, where the myriad of benefits is well known and seemingly endless.
Whether it’s perfecting a patio scene or a yard peppered with dulcet neighbourhood noise, or simply a herb garden in your apartment window – you can bring a perennial feeling with you, regardless of where you reside.
By now, you’ve undoubtedly seen that plants are a mainstay rather than a trend, and our new favourite destination for foliage and flora is Monstera and Men.
Based out of Greenlane, a weekend market on Southwark Street, Ben and Ben (Ben Squared if you will) are the boys behind the brand – they offer established houseplants, natives, workshops, and all without chemicals and plastic. Good work, Bens. Not of sound green thumb? Their workshops are the way to go.
Someone who does happen to have green thumbs in spades (excuse the pun) is gardening legend Kim Odering. Kim’s firm grasp on the how-to of her craft comes from her background years within the family owned Oderings garden centre business. She could probably coax nature’s finest rewards from the surface of the Moon. Pragmatic, her refreshing spade-is-a-spade approach is accompanied by reassuring traces of
soil beneath her fingernails.
Her genuine care and respect for nature’s offerings are matched only by that for her clients and everything that matters to them. Her latest venture Ko & co is growing from strength to strength, much like her clients’ gardens.
If you don’t share Kim’s affinity for saplings and seedlings, you may wish to attend a tour organised by The Christchurch Beautifying Association.
The association has been a strong advocate to make this city one where beauty is respected and encouraged, since being established all the way back in 1897. It continues to have an influence on the development of modern Christchurch by organising street and garden competitions and promoting Christchurch as the Garden City of New Zealand.
Did you know that the association has provided many gifts to the city – including the Floral Clock, the original Peacock Fountain, Millbrook Reserve, the Water Wheel in the Avon River, and the Daffodil Plantings in Hagley Park?
