Karen Hurndell takes out Whanganui s Most Beautiful Garden Competition
18 Jan, 2021 04:00 PM
3 minutes to read
Winner Karen Hurndell was awarded her prize at the Wanganui Garden Centre on Monday. From left, Vanessa Cvitanovich, Karen Hurndell, Chris Cvitanovich and Karen Cvitanovich. Photo / Ethan Griffiths
Winner Karen Hurndell was awarded her prize at the Wanganui Garden Centre on Monday. From left, Vanessa Cvitanovich, Karen Hurndell, Chris Cvitanovich and Karen Cvitanovich. Photo / Ethan Griffiths
And the Springvale gardener is already using her prize to help give back to the community.
The Whanganui Chronicle competition was sponsored by Wanganui Garden Centre with a $500 garden voucher for the winner.
Whanganui s Most Beautiful Garden finalist: Anna O Leary s garden extends ever outward
8 Jan, 2021 04:00 PM
4 minutes to read
Anna O Leary would rather be out in the garden than in the house. Photo / Bevan Conley
Laurel Stowell is a reporter for the Whanganui Chroniclelaurel.stowell@whanganuichronicle.co.nzWhangaChron
Anna O Leary s garden at Fairfield Farm in the Whangaehu Valley has twice extended out into paddocks and is her happy place .
Her sisters-in-law entered it in the Whanganui s Most Beautiful Garden Competition because they thought more people should see its 700 roses, sweeping lawn and many smaller rooms .
It started when O Leary and her husband Shaun moved to the house 23 years ago. It s lush dairy farming country, with heavy clay soil and a gentle slope. The addition of topsoil and sand made it diggable . Thousands of plants and stony paths were added.
Whanganui s Most Beautiful Garden finalist: Penny Daddy s Japanese-themed garden hosts weddings
7 Jan, 2021 04:00 PM
4 minutes to read
Penny Daddy is the boss of the Shuringi garden, with husband Andrew as the Ministry of Works . Photo / Bevan Conley
Laurel Stowell is a reporter for the Whanganui Chroniclelaurel.stowell@whanganuichronicle.co.nzWhangaChron
A bride getting married at Whanganui s Shūringi garden can arrive under a pergola of pink roses to a lawn where doves coo and flowers tone with the bridesmaids dresses.
The Kaitoke Rd garden has hosted two weddings since Penny and Andrew Daddy bought the property three years ago. When they left Auckland for Whanganui, Penny wanted a garden, one that already had good bones .
Whanganui s Most Beautiful Garden finalist: Karen Hurndell s garden is also art
3 Jan, 2021 04:00 PM
3 minutes to read
Laurel Stowell is a reporter for the Whanganui Chroniclelaurel.stowell@whanganuichronicle.co.nzWhangaChron
Karen Hurndell wishes she had done more art at school because it s the art in her garden that she likes the most.
She credits inspirational Whanganui teachers Rei Hendry and Peter Donne for the figures she makes to populate her extensive Springvale garden. There they are, sitting on a bench at one edge and strolling with a spade near the house.
She makes their ceramic faces and hands herself, and fills out their clothing.