For Walter Miller Rotorua is one big garden and he takes a lot of pride in his patch.
Walter is the Rotorua District Council's parks operations manager and has been employed at the council for almost 40 years _ he certainly has put his roots down in a city he is proud to call home.
Originally from Gore, Walter says he's been interested in plants and gardening since he was a young man working in a nursery store there.
He completed a nursery trade apprenticeship and has always worked with plants and gardens.
Walter's award for Rotorua Employee of the Year at the recent Westpac Rotorua Business Excellence Awards has certainly not gone to his head as he modestly explains how the city's gardens are tended by a large team of dedicated people.
He said he could not do the job he does without the support of his assistant Mark Paget and nursery supervisor Paul Keech.
"And we rely heavily on the Castlecorp team to plant and maintain our gardens.''
Walter runs the entire gardening operation from planning what's going in the hundreds of flower beds and gardens around the city to overseeing the nursery operation where the council grows many of its own plants and flowers.
The nursery also supplies plants to other local authorities such as Tauranga and Gisborne and his team is also responsible for the world class pitch at the Rotorua International Stadium.
A lot of meticulous planning goes into the design, flowers and plants that have helped Rotorua pick up the title of New Zealand's most beautiful city six times in the past 11 years.
Walter says the key to the city's beautiful gardens is timing.
"My favourite time of year is probably spring but autumn can be equally beautiful with all the wonderful colours around the city _ you don't get those colours in a lot of other places.
"I think we are quite lucky living in Rotorua, we don't get the wind they get on the coast.
"We strive to maintain high standards and being a tourist town we want visitors to come back and spend more time in our city.''
Here at The Daily Post we receive and print many letters from locals and visitors complimenting Walter and his team for the great work they do presenting our city to the world.
"You do sort of feel that the whole city is your garden and there's so much going on.
"You feel jolly good about it ... there's a lot of work that goes into it and when you get those good comments it makes you feel proud to be part of the scene.''
With Labour Weekend coming up the next round of planting for the summer season gets under way.
"We will strip out all the gardens ready to plant for summer.
"I don't like to see bare gardens so we plant at the same time as we strip out ... it's a real balancing act.''
Walter says he's always looking for something different to plant or new flowers to introduce to the city.
"We always go for quality seed, ones we know will always perform.''