The biennial Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition in Hastings is back for a fifth year. Since it started the event has raised more than $150,000 for Cranford Hospice.
Made with assistance from NZ On Air.
Made with assistance from NZ On Air.
In Flanders field poppies blow, but at Mike and Julie Russell's Hastings home they're encouraged to grow.
Mr Russell says, "we're growers through and through".
At the Round Pond garden, in the grounds of their Hastings home, they are hosting the fifth biennialWildflower Sculpture Exhibition.
"I love to share the garden with people. I think it's wonderful to do this," Mrs Russell says.
The keen horticulturists were inspired by the meadows they saw while travelling through Europe, and have worked hard to emulate them ever since.
Mrs Russell says that 22 years ago they built their house and started the garden.
"Fortunately I'd grown a lot of plants, the buxus that you see here today and we were able to start with this blank canvas."
After having grown so many wildflowers over the years, Mr Russell says many of the wildflowers self-sow and sprout on their own. But that doesn't mean it is not hard work.
"It's about timing, and this year I'm really quite chuffed we've got the timing right. There's nothing worse than having a wild flower exhibition and no flowers," Mr Russell says.
"Wild flowers are pretty much a weed you can't see a field of wheat in France without a rogue poppy growing through it."
"They are relatively inexpensive to grow and they're great for the bee population and bumble bee population and they're just attractive, people like to see them."
The exhibition is an opportunity not only to share this extraordinary garden with the community, but also to give back, with all proceeds donated to Cranford Hospice.
Adding to the fundraising effort are artists from around the country who showcase their sculptures in the Russell's garden with 20 per cent of their sale donated to the hospice as well.
Mr Russell says Cranford Hospice is dear to both he and his wife.
"It's not just about cancer it's about palliative care."
Over the years, more than $150,000 has been raised through the exhibition for Cranford Hospice.
With another year almost over, the Russell's already have idea on how the next garden is going to look.
