Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Contractors ruin Colin's floral efforts

By Laurel Stowell
Whanganui Chronicle·
24 Oct, 2016 07:15 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The Forres Street crib wall with Colin Ogle's pelargoniums in full bloom.

The Forres Street crib wall with Colin Ogle's pelargoniums in full bloom.

Colin Ogle is not a happy man.

He has seen 16 years of beautifying his neighbourhood ruined by council contractors.

Mr Ogle and his wife Robyn have been public-spirited gardeners for years but their latest effort - a crib wall they maintained near their home in Whanganui's Forres Street is now a wasteland.

They had planted the wall with flowering pelargoniums and lovingly tended them, creating a marvellous bloom at the height of the season.

But contractors were hired to get rid of weeds and decided to kill two old man's beard (Clematis vitalba) plants, one at each end of the Ogle's handiwork.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Instead of cutting the stalks of the pest plant and pasting them with herbicide, the contractors sprayed the whole wall.

There is one old man's beard still growing, Mr Ogle said, so they didn't even succeed in eradicating it. Now the couple are ready to give up.

"A neighbour told us we were wasting our time planting there, the council would just come and spray it. She was right," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This latest setback follows a previous episode when, for years, they maintained the crib wall alongside the Portal Street walkway on Durie Hill, planting, weeding and trimming flowering plants.

They gave that up after a 2007 incident when Whanganui District Council contractors slashed through valerian flowers they had carefully deadheaded by hand.

The Ogles their efforts have been appreciated, council parks officer Lindsay Hyde told the Chronicle. He said he would give them some pelargonium cuttings to replace the sprayed plants, with replanting scheduled for early November.

Mr Ogle blames lack of communication from council staff and unsupervised council contractors for the problems.

Mr Hyde said contractors were responsible for supervising and training their staff and the council parks team was responsible for maintaining the crib wall.

Contractors provided a cost effective and timely service, and plants had to be trimmed to meet regulations, he said.

"This includes making sure sightlines and accessways are clear. On occasion, the trimming undertaken by the contractors is more than what Mr Ogle considers appropriate."

If council practices changed, Mr Ogle said local people could take on the maintenance of patches of council land - that would improve the look of some places, make people more attached to their surroundings, reduce vandalism and reduce council maintenance costs.

But Mr Hyde said there might be some fishhooks with that plan.

"We must ensure any work by individuals on beautifying an area can still be maintained by council contractors, and also that the volunteers are working safely."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Taihape books return to premier final

07 Jul 05:01 PM
Premium
Opinion

Kevin Page: Semi-retired life and the quest for dry shoes

07 Jul 05:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Kaierau end Border’s reign, secure finals spot

07 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Taihape books return to premier final

Taihape books return to premier final

07 Jul 05:01 PM

Cooks Gardens hosts Saturday's finals day.

Premium
Kevin Page: Semi-retired life and the quest for dry shoes

Kevin Page: Semi-retired life and the quest for dry shoes

07 Jul 05:00 PM
Kaierau end Border’s reign, secure finals spot

Kaierau end Border’s reign, secure finals spot

07 Jul 05:00 PM
Council funding critical to continue Masters Games

Council funding critical to continue Masters Games

07 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP