Seven gardens, created by Wellington City Council’s apprentice gardeners, are waiting to be discovered in secret locations around Wellington in summer 2016.
Background
The Council’s Hidden Gardens project began in March 2015 when each of the seven apprentice gardeners identified a space that required horticultural renovation. Since then, with the support of a mentor, each apprentice developed a theme and design that could be created with a $500 budget for plants and materials. They have sourced their own plants or grown them through propagation. Most gardens were planted or built during spring 2015.
The Council wanted to celebrate the apprentices with a project that would brighten up unexpected parts of Wellington, and give them the chance to further develop the skills they’ve learnt.
The apprentices are:
- Sabrina Ayling
- Tom Belworthy-Lewthwaite
- Patrick Elliot
- Maggie Garner
- Cory Meister
- Kate Sevicke-Jones
- Dan Taylor
Use the riddles below to find the hidden gardens
.
1. Brew-tea-ful
In the heart of the city
Just off the Square
There’s something brewing
Behind art that lives there
Close to a café
Named after our palm
Make time for a cuppa
Of tea or tisane
.
.
.
2. Bush Survival Garden
If you ain’t got your badges
For skills you might earn
You’d better go scouting
And we’ll help you learn
Towards Taputeranga
From the centre of town
From Adelaide to Dover
It can surely be found
.
.
.
3. Cacti Coral in a Succulent Sea
Welly’s waters are frigid
And you might not dive
So there’s a tropical reef
That’s surfaced inside
Surrounded by literature
And lovers of books
The ground floor at sea level
In an archway or nook
.
.
.
4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Garden
Pines round this park might nearly have hid
The house in the middle where Truby once lived
In old red brick walls with crannies and nooks
Mister King grew his strawberries wherever he could
Take the path down the left after soaking the view
Between rhododendrons that Truby once grew
Under the oak and towards the bush line
There are sunflowers, thistles, and pokers on fire
.
.
.
5. Making Sense of the Wind
Winds from the strait
Make a tough, hardy soul
But those plants on the hillsides
Are strongest of all
From Victoria’s lookout
Walk to the mast
Where the whoosh meets a garden
Dissected by path
.
.
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6. Plants Performing Art
A show comes to town
Opera, ballet, or dance
If you dream of the theatre
Go on, take a chance
Outside the back door
Where adoring fans wait
Plants pirouette
Like Odile in Swan Lake
.
.
.
7. The Deadly Garden
In the depths of Botanics
Near ducks who won’t dare
Beneath the Blue Atlas Cedar
You’d better beware
Close to the flowers
Fuchsias, and stream
In a wide sea of rengarengas
There’s a dangerous green
.
.
.
The hidden gardens hunt
To find the cache, you will need to use the riddles above to find all seven hidden gardens. At each location, there was originally a signboard identifying the name of the hidden garden and the apprentice who created it, as well as descriptions of the theme and notable species found there. [Note: see September 2016 Update below.]
You will need to collect two pieces of information at each location in order to deduce the final coordinates of the cache:
1. Ascertain the Hidden Garden's location
2. Note down a species as indicated in the Additional Waypoints table below.
To allow for GPS device and reception variations, you will need to be accurate in measuring the waypoint coordinates up to the first digit after the decimal points only. We have also provided relevant checksums to assist.
Note: The gardens can be visited in any order. The terrain rating for this geocache reflects the total distance you need to walk from the various closest parking or public transport alighting points to find all seven gardens. Ratings for individual locations should be 2 stars or less.
September 2016 Update: As at September 2016, most of the Hidden Garden signboards have gone. We have therefore included alternative clues for all the gardens in the Additional Waypoints table below for you to find out the respective AH values. The riddles above should also point you to the general area for each Hidden Garden location. Use the respective checksums to help you get the various D, E, F and G values.
The geocache
The cache is not hidden at the published coordinates. It can be found at S 41° 1J.KLM E 174° 4W.XYZ, where:
J = D1 + E2 + F3 + G4 + AH2
K = D4 + E1 + F2 + G3 + AH5
L = D3 + E4 + F1 + G2 + AH7
M = D2 + E3 + F4 + G1 + AH5
W = D5 + E6 + F7 + G3 + AH3
X = D4 + E5 + F6 + G7 + AH1
Y = D7 + E1 + F5 + G6 + AH4
Z = D6 + E7 + F2 + G5 + AH6
… and if the number exceeds 9, then take the last (least significant) digit of the number for the final coordinates.
