The Landscape student team who got stuck into a trim and tidy of the courtyard garden in B170 – make sure you visit this special space!
Before today’s strict health and safety regulations, there was a time when our landscape students would head up ladders that were balanced on the back of a truck, brandishing petrol hedge trimmers as they learnt how to prune a tree. Sue Wake, Senior Lecturer – Landscape Architecture, remembers being regularly out-and-about on campus, doing practical teaching, which alongside pruning, plant identification and garden design, included how to create a ‘pleached’ hedge – some may recall the carpark near building 25 that featured this unique gardening technique.
Practical teaching on campus is more restricted now as Government health and safety regulations dictate a more conservative approach. However, there are still many valuable learning opportunities when caring for our campus and whenua, and a recent practical pruning session was a great hands-on experience for some Certificate in Landscape Design students.
Sue’s students worked on the courtyard garden within building 170 (do go and explore this unique sheltered spot), which was originally designed by a former Lecturer, Rob Barnett, with students. The focus of Sue’s practical session was learning how to prune (cut and trim), as well giving the garden a general tidy-up to return the space to its original form.
Sue says “Pruning is key to maintain shape and form, and to maintain the original design concept. I always emphasise to my students and all home gardeners not to make the common mistake of under-pruning, so the neglected courtyard was ideal to demonstrate this.”
The courtyard garden features Australian frangipani, which provided the learning experience, and students learnt how to hard-prune these semi-tropical specimens, to encourage new growth, and a shapely and bushy plant for the long term.
The students really enjoyed getting hands-on as they could see the how their work re-shaped this space, bringing it closer to its original design concept.
Nick Hanvey, from the Infrastructure Operations team (who manage the maintenance programmes for our campuses), said it was great to be able to support this collaboration, allowing students to get practical experience on our whenua, and making improvements for us to all enjoy while learning. Nick also said that the garden contains some fairly impressive plants that you don’t get to see that often, so make sure you visit the B170 courtyard.
Gardening really is great therapy, physically and mentally – it’s good for your mental health and it’s the right time of the year to do some spring pruning. So sharpen your pruning shears, head out into the garden and enjoy the sunshine and warmer temperatures.
The courtyard garden was opened on 7 August 1996 to commemorate the Faculty of Humanities new wing. The planting of the first tree was made by the Hon. Wyatt Creek, Minister of Education, at the formal opening ceremony.
Went and had a look, great, freshly pruned. Some lovely palms also.