Taranaki landscape designer Michael Mansvelt has transformed a high-profile space in the heart of New Plymouth’s CBD into a subtropical rainforest.

The landscape design project, Return to Paradise, is part of the 35th Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, on from October 28 to November 6.

The pop-up garden in the Huatoki Plaza on Devon St West is on for the duration of the TAFT-run festival and is free for everyone to enjoy.

This year’s creation flows on from his last highly successful landscape design project in 2016.

“Last time we called it Lost Paradise because it was tucked away in a little corner of Pukekura Park,” says Michael of the installation that had huge visitor numbers driven by word of mouth.

“This time it’s a lot more public. I wanted to create something just as inspiring, just as natural and just as beautiful, but in an urban setting this time, hence the name Return to Paradise.”

Michael, a landscape, interior and house designer, along with a trained horticulturalist, says he has been inspired by the New Zealand rainforest, particularly in places like Rātāpihipihi and Meeting of the Waters, on the outskirts of New Plymouth.

“You go in there and there are these ancient native trees, and the trunks are covered with lichen, mosses, native ferns and orchids,” he says.

The creative man and his crew from his Colson Rd nursery, Jungle, have created their own lush subtropical rainforest.

Tree ferns, palms, a mix of exotics and native plants are packed in to create a soothing space where people can sit and soak in the beauty of nature.

“The higher concentration of different species and plants, I think the more exciting it is. My hope is it’s a tranquil and lush place to be,” Michael says.

“One of the key ingredients I’m always looking at as a garden designer and a landscaper is trying to get people to be at one with their environment and enjoy a space. One of those ways is by introducing seating.”

The project is dotted with places to sit and there are also conversation areas where groups of people can gather and chat.

Michael hopes Return to Paradise inspires people to look at blank spaces that aren’t being used in their own gardens and environment and imagine what could be.

As a landscape designer, he has starred in television gardening shows, Back to Basics and Mucking In. He is a regular writer for Your Home & Garden and many of his design projects have featured in national magazines. He’s now working on a book, which covers a selection of his house, garden and interior design projects.

The landscape design project is close to his heart. “This is about being fun and beautiful and I believe in plants as a way of bringing joy to people.”

Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival Manager Tetsu Garnett welcomes the return of the landscape design project, which last appeared in 2019, but was put on hold for the last two years because of the pandemic.

“Now, this year, we have created a space for people to come together, for free, where they can sit and appreciate each other and nature,” she says.

“We are basically putting a festival garden right in the middle of the town for everyone to enjoy.”

Return to Paradise has been able to go ahead because of support from the New Plymouth District Council, which owns the plaza space, and the generosity of the TAFT Board.

“We had a great festival last year and the TAFT Board decided to give something back to the community,” Tetsu says.

“NPDC’s Ngāmotu New Plymouth City Centre Strategy sets a path for a more vibrant and sustainable city centre and the Return to Paradise project aligns well with that and is a great example of how a greener city could be,” says NPDC Senior Policy Advisor – Strategic Partnerships, Kathryn Scown.

“It will also bring garden festival visitors into the social, cultural and commercial heart of New Plymouth district.”

The council contributed towards the cost of the project with a grant from its Community Partnerships Fund.

The official launch of Return to Paradise is being held at the Festival Hub, in the premises of gold sponsor W.R. Phillips Volkswagen Taranaki on Thursday evening, October 27. Then guests will head to the Huatoki Plaza to view the installation, which opens to the public from Friday October 28.

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