Beautification projects encouraged by TDC

March 21st, 2014
[by David Armstrong]

Keep Motueka Beautiful is firming up several small to medium-sized improvement projects for the remainder of this year, encouraged by TDC's Horticultural Officer Kathy Curnow.

Kathy spoke with the KMB committee this week about several environmental works that she would encourage if KMB agreed as near-term priorities.

These include landscaping of the Rest-a-while reserve at the southern town entrance, partly opening up the Kiyosato Japanese Gardens' surrounding hedge, making the Sanctuary Garden more usable, tree planting along southern High Street if power line undergrounding goes ahead, and daffodil planting opposite Thorps Bush.

Kathy said she would like Motueka people to make submissions to TDC's Annual Plan to include work on removing some parts of the hedge around the Japanese garden.

With the present thick hedge making it impossible to see the gardens from Wallace Street and Decks Reserve and for tourists even to know it is a beautiful public garden, safety and vandalism are now serious concerns. Some youths have been stealing from garden visitors, and vandalism of the summer house is commonplace.

Kathy also said she would be happy to work with KMB members, led by Isobel Mosley, to plan for a more user-friendly Sanctuary Pond Garden (off Old Wharf Road, beside Goodman Park).

Apart from some maintenance work on trees, the first steps would likely be building paths around the garden area to make it negotiable by elderly people after wet weather, and a car parking area that is level and easy to use, again by elderly or disabled people.

The committee agreed that Sanctuary Garden, along with the nearby Recreation Reserve, sports fields, community garden and estuary gardens (Adopt-a-plot) had the potential to be a beautiful and well-used recreation area.

Kathy also wants help from KMB to work up a landscaping and planting plan for the Rest-a-While picnic area, hoping to organise a community planting effort on Arbour Day in June.

Another big planting effort planned for late autumn is a new, broad daffodil verge on the western side Woodland Avenue opposite the entrance to Thorps Bush.

A large number of bulbs have been donated by Ann Devereux, whose daffodil displays each spring attract visitors from afar. KMB also would appreciate donations of bulbs from anyone who has some to spare.

Kathy said Council's two main projects for Motueka reserves for 2014 are upgrades to the playground equipment in Decks Reserve and re-landscaping the Motueka Cemetery car paring area.

The Keep Motueka Beautiful committee were heartened to hear the news of early success from one of their current projects, the restoration of a piece of the estuary alongside what was called the Adopt-a-Plot area.

Under Mike Tooker's and John Fisher's management, the area of approximately 500 sq metres has been reshaped and a wider connecting culvert installed to allow tidal movement, and with the help of Neil Jackson removed a lot of dumped hard-fill.

Last week some eels were spotted nosing around this new coastal habitat, which was recently little more than a stagnant dumping area.

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