Gisborne Botanical Gardens pond unkempt: residents

“BOG”: Residents have complained about the smell coming from the pond in the Botanical Gardens, using such words as “bog”, “stench”, “shocker” and “toxic”. One resident said the gardens did not deserve to win an award. Picture by Liam Clayton

More residents have raised concerns about the dire state of ponds and trees at the Botanical Gardens.

Last month Gisborne couple Barbara and Leigh Searle spoke to the Herald about the “toxic” smell coming from one of the ponds at the gardens, especially since it had been awarded the internationally recognised Green Flag Award for the third year in a row in January.

Resident Ani Bingham said she had been voicing her concerns with Gisborne District Council regarding the state of the ponds for nearly a decade but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

“The stench is a big worry and with all the mud in the pond and ivy that has grown over everything it’s not a sign of an area well cared for,” she said.

Mrs Bingham said she recalled how the now broken pathway leading to the pond was once a well-shaped and clean pathway.

“I also remember back in the 60s the pond used to have these big goldfish swimming around and as a kid I loved to feed them from time to time,” she said.

Her neighbour Bridget Hampson, who also lives opposite to the gardens, said like other residents her biggest sadness was the condition of the old pond.

“That’s where all the photos used to be taken and that’s where the baby ducks used to hatch and now it’s just a bog. It’s just horrific,” she said.

Mrs Hampson said having lived near the garden for decades, they too had seen the change from a beautiful garden to “a shocker”.

“We were expecting the pond to be dredged about two years ago but nothing has happened so far,” she said.

Mrs Bingham studied horticulture and nursery management at Massey University years ago, and she said she was “astounded” how the garden was so badly managed, with some areas not being cleaned for 20 years.

“If this was my garden I would be feeling upset and stressed. The weeds have been here so long that they are actually seeding and spreading around.

“You have loads of illegal weeds such as privet coming out of everywhere, it just shows how neglected the garden really is,” she said.

With dried-out long stems and leaves still clinging to trees, and untidy pruning, the gardens did not deserve to be called a Botanical Gardens or win an award, she said.

Besides the poorly maintained trees, she said the council had not done anything about the drain near the entrance, which had been overflowing, and had flooded in parts, for 30 years.

“It seems that the council doesn’t listen, they don’t see or acknowledge and residents like Barbara among others who have been here for some time feel the same,” she said.

The council has been contacted for comment.