New landscape gardener comes to Remarkables Park Town
Centre
colours at the Remarkables Park Town
Centre
Queenstown’s vibrant town
centre at Remarkables Park is currently enjoying a burst of
summer colour courtesy of a new multi-award-winning
landscape gardener.
Mike Hawthorne, originally
from Invercargill, has an impressive resumé, having spent
five years as a curator for the Auckland Regional Botanical
Gardens.
During that time Mr Hawthorne co-designed the
Garden’s Ellerslie Flower Show exhibit in 2003 winning
multiple awards including the prestigious and highly coveted
Supreme Award.
Mr Hawthorne moved to Queenstown in April
this year and will oversee the upkeep of nearly 100 hanging
baskets, numerous flower beds, and mature trees and shrubs
at Remarkables Park already well known for its attractive
landscaping.
After an eight year stint in London he said
he was “thrilled” to be home in “clean, green New
Zealand.”
Every festive season the shopping centre
provides a vibrant display of summer flowers to add to the
stunning backdrop of The Remarkables mountain
range.
“There aren’t many shopping centres in New
Zealand that put this amount of time and effort into its
gardens, it really does make all the difference to
visitors’ experience,” Mr Hawthorne said.
“We’ve
put in the South African sun daisy in the entranceway and
I’m looking forward to getting creative and planting more
unusual and exotic plants.”
Remarkables Park managing
director Alastair Porter said the visual beauty and scents
of the flowers “added life and ambience” to the shopping
centre, making it “a joy to visit”.
“Locals and
visitors alike comment on the colourful landscaping in the
shopping centre and we pride ourselves on keeping it
pristine,” he said.
“The centre now has a wide range
of dining options so bringing a landscape gardener of
Mike’s calibre on board is designed to ensure Remarkables
Park becomes an even more beautiful place, to shop, as well
as meet friends over a coffee or a meal.”
The popular
urban-designed shopping centre now has 63 tenants, 29,000sqm
of commercial floor space and comfortably caters for more
than three million visitors every year.
Over the years,
Remarkables Park has developed its own nursery to provide
plants and trees for the centre to maintain its unique
outdoor shopping experience that proves so
popular.
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