Eden Project highlights local Bastia Hill enterprise

Ixia viridiflora, or turquoise ixia, a rare South African plant imported and grown on Bastia Hill by Jean Stevens. Photo / Supplied

On Friday, June 11, Tim Smit, famous for his pioneering work on the Lost Gardens of Heligan and the Eden Project, prefaced a showing of Robin Kewell's Eden documentary, with a glowing, video endorsement of Whanganui's own "Save the Blooms on Bastia" project.

That on its own was worth going to hear. What followed, however, was a masterfully produced, two-hour film, that highlighted just what can happen when vision meets electric enthusiasm.

The 90 people who filled the Davis Lecture Theatre were enthralled with Robin's slick documentary, filmed over the seven-year period of construction that transformed an empty quarry into two huge, climate-controlled ecosystems.

These fantastical greenhouses were constructed using eight geodesic domes, built to contain a diversity of plant species grown in climates far away from Cornwall.

This was a "warts and all" production filled with hope, despair, tension, and finally exuberance. To produce something unique and on such a large scale is bound to be both difficult and daunting. To succeed, and so well, was a triumph.

The Eden Project has now been open for more than 20 years and many millions of visitors have wondered over the construction and viewed the plants inside. The idea was born out of a desire to connect people with plants, and the environments that they inhabit.

That, in many ways, is what our Whanganui's "Save the Blooms on Bastia" project is about too. It will showcase how a far-sighted plant enthusiast and plant breeder, Jean Stevens, was able to create new plant varieties that had a major, worldwide impact on gardening and floristry, and how saving plants that may be endangered today can be so important to our future.

We are determined to get the job done, but we need help and time is short. We urgently need finance to secure the property while we fundraise. That's the first hurdle, and we intend to jump it.

Please visit https://www.115mtview.onbastia.co.nz/