Across the city, our horticulture apprentices are gearing up to share their carefully crafted gardens with the always popular Hidden Gardens project – if you can find them!

In its fourth year, five of Wellington City Council’s horticulture apprentices have been working hard planning, planting and tending to gardens nestled throughout Wellington with support from experienced mentors.

The apprentices, who are all involved in the Council’s 3-year horticulture apprenticeship, have been developing their unique themed gardens since January, with creative themes ranging from witches, ferns and fungi, to tipu toi, the power of the soil, and an alpine adventure.

Everyone is invited to spend time at the gardens and enjoy the space with a picnic with friends and whānau.

As these gardens are hidden, Council will be posting hints about the whereabouts of these gardens on wellington.govt.nz/hidden-gardens section of the website from Wednesday 15 November, and there’ll be more information on Facebook and Instagram throughout the month.

Elspeth McMillan, Apprentice Coordinator says there are many positive elements of the Hidden Gardens project.

“The Hidden Gardens are passion projects for the apprentices. It provides them with a great opportunity to hone their project management and teamwork skills, while applying their creativity and horticulture knowledge gained through their day-to-day work experience and study for their NZ Certificate in Horticulture Services – Amenity.

“The project was also designed to encourage Wellingtonians to explore spaces that they may not have been to within our parks and reserves.”

The public will be able to vote for their favourite garden in the People’s Choice award by scanning the QR code at the garden or visiting the Hidden Gardens page of the Council website at wellington.govt.nz/hidden-gardens.

But there will be more than one winner harvesting rewards – by voting for the People’s Choice, everyone will go in the draw to win a prize pack from the Treehouse Visitor Centre.

Clues will be revealed on the website and voting starts on Wednesday 15 November and closes Tuesday 12 December 2023.

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