“People have been saying for a long time that we don’t do it as well as we used to. Travelling throughout the country, I see other centres – Tauranga, Havelock North and Rotorua, for instance – putting more priority on their open spaces and gardens than Christchurch seems to these days. If we’re not careful, our reputation as the Garden City could slip away.”

Since the early 20th century, Christchurch has been known as the Garden City. At the inaugural ‘Nations in Bloom’ competition held in Madrid in October 1997, it was voted the top garden city in the world in the category for cities with more than 300,000 people. The award recognised the city’s excellence in managing our urban landscape, attention to heritage and environment, and the involvement of the community. The previous year, Christchurch was judged the outstanding garden city among 620 cities entered in an international competition promoted by the Bangalore Urban Art Commission in India.

The Council doesn’t achieve these accolades on its own, says Anderton. “ It’s the efforts of individual gardeners, firms, garden clubs and societies that make Christchurch one of the most beautiful places to live.”

The Garden City image means different things to different people, though there seems to be some consensus at the ‘macro’ level. At a workshop held by the Council last year, when participants were asked to picture what they saw when flying over the city, the strongest elements were Hagley Park, the avenues, the rivers and the Port Hills. At the moment, feedback is being sought from the wider community, through Community Boards and Parks & Waterways Area Advocates, on how people feel about the image, and what it means to them. There may be regional, suburban differences, but overall responses are expected to have a lot in common, says Anne Greenup,Manager of the Parks & Waterways Unit.

“Garden fashion moves along with architectural fashion – look at the popularity of lavender, rosemary and olives that came with Mediterranean-style housing – but the perception of Christchurch overall that comes through is one of open spaces, along with massed areas of green and trees, and links with waterways.”

The image goes well beyond a ‘quintessential Englishness’, though there is an undeniable connection. We enjoy similar, distinct seasons, and early on the city planners and most of the exotic species came from that part of the world. But what makes Christchurch unique is a framework that comes from the natural topography combined with town planning and planting of larger items, and its blend of exotic and native species.

In the 1850s, an area of 161 hectares (500 acres) was set aside for a vast central park – Hagley Park – and the first trees were planted there in 1863. The inner city was defined by four avenues where deciduous trees such as oaks, limes and chestnuts were planted. Today, Christchurch has 665 parks of differing sizes serving metropolitan, district and local needs. Around 15 percent of the city’s urban area is devoted to open spaces, giving the population a high proportion of public land per person.

Modern town planning means that public space is becoming more important than ever. “People don’t want to have to go out of town to find open, green space; they want it as part of the cityscape,” says Greenup. With smaller sections and subdivisions, parks are taking the place of backyards.

Anderton believes that retaining a balance in planting across the city is vital. “Imagine losing that magical effect in springtime of lime green shooting through the weeping willows on Rolleston Avenue, or the wonderful autumn colours that come from exotics, if we concentrated totally on natives”.

Over the last decade, with the opening up of stormwater areas into streams, natives have come into their own again. Sedges and flaxes hold the riverbanks well and provide habitats for plants and birds. “For impact, shade and structure, exotics will do the job,” says Greenup. “They’re the right size, offer suitable species, have seasonal interest, and many adapt well to the harsher climate of the urban environment. For habitat, and retention of soil and earthworks on riverbanks and the coast, natives are superb.”

According to the Hillary Commission, gardening is the number one national activity. In Christchurch, around 75 percent of residents have some involvement in gardening, and it’s not just a pursuit for ‘oldies’. “On community planting days, at places like Travis Swamp and the Port Hills, we have lots of children up to 12 or 13 years out there mucking in. They love it”, says Greenup. “Interest usually falls away during their teens and early 20s, but young people coming back to Christchurch after a couple of years in cities overseas are often amazed at what we have here – surroundings that they took for granted before they went away.”

That broad appeal must be maintained, says Anderton. “We have to keep up our efforts, to ensure that Christchurch remains worthy of the Garden City label and we can hold our heads high among other very attractive cities in the world. This depends not only on our rivers, parks and trees, and colourful bedding plants. It’s also the cleanliness of the city and the contribution that residents make towards earning our place as Garden City of the World.”