Reflecting on region's beauty

The Pukaha Mount Bruce Wairarapa Garden

Wairarapa has a great deal going for it and one of its major assets is its gardens and trees.

The district is, thankfully, largely free from concrete jungle landscapes and on a scale of one to 10 would score fairly highly on the environment barometer.

Sure, our rivers are not as clean as they should be, fly dumping remains an aggravation and sometimes we have air pollution problems, especially in parts of urban Masterton during winter.

But, all in all, we are standing up fairly well to the rigours of modern-day living and all the problems it brings, helped enormously by our passion for gardens and trees.

That Wairarapa people are passionate about their gardens and maintaining their properties was very evident last weekend when two events again got the public out and about.

The Pukaha Mount Bruce Wairarapa Garden Tour was again highly successful, giving pleasure and enjoyment to hundreds who came from all over the country to see what our top gardens had to offer.

They put money into the coffers too, something the national wildlife centre relies on to help in the fight against pests and to carry forward its forest restoration work.

On Sunday the Opaki School garden party and plant sale was an astonishing success.

My wife and I arrived 20 minutes ahead of the time the gates were officially to open, believing we would be first to arrive.

Not so, there was a queue of dozens ahead of us and by the time the countdown to 8.30am was made many more were stretched out behind us and carloads were arriving.

The garden party is no small venture and must be quite a logistical exercise to organise but perhaps the most satisfying aspect - at least from a customer's viewpoint - is the realisation the pupils are right in the front line working behind the scenes and dealing with the public also.

It really is a great credit to them and of course the school management and community.

One of the spin-offs from the involvement of the children will, hopefully, be that it will spark an interest in them in the product they are producing and selling.

In other words that they will develop into the next generation of garden and tree lovers.