Garden designed by Peter Brady and landscaper Mark van Katthoven in Mt Eden Heroic Gardens has handed over $51,500 to Auckland hospices and is declaring the 2010 event a great success. The 14th Heroic Gardens Festival at the beginning of March included 32 urban and rural gardens from Whangaparaoa to Waiuku. It showcased the work of more than 50 of the Auckland region's gay and lesbian gardeners. The gardens attracted more than 17,000 people, with two gardens recording close to 1,300 visitors each and another six gardens receiving 900 or more visitors. Heroic Gardens says the festival entailed a huge contribution of volunteer time and effort. They says it is possibly the only and certainly the biggest festival worldwide to feature gay and lesbian gardeners and their gardens. It is also now the only region-wide garden festival that occurs within Auckland. "No one else is crazy enough to attempt it, especially with a total expenditure of $2,043.78," says Heroic Gardens chair Gill Franklin. "Not all the gardens are sub-tropical extravaganzas, though many do fit this description. The festival also included the quirky, the different, the formal and the organic side to gardening." Franklin is declaring the event a great success, saying while the $30 two-day ticket price was maintained from previous years, the number of people through the gates increased by 57 percent from last year and an incredible increase of 71 percent was made in the amount handed over to the Auckland hospices. She says it is a big festival, but it is also about the personal and the particular. "Unlike many festivals, the gardeners are on-hand to meet and talk with visitors. Because of the nature and style of the festival, many visitors are drawn to share very personal stories and memories, and wonderful letters of gratitude turn up in our mailboxes after the event." The 2010 donation to Auckland hospices of $51,500 brings to over half a million the total amount raised by Heroic Gardens for charities over the past 14 years.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 27th April 2010 - 11:04am