Ellerslie International Flower Show 2009
Carl Pickens designed and built the Gold winning garden ‘Take Five’ for the 2009 Ellerslie International Flower Show in Christchurch.
Designed to be applicable at residential scale, the exhibition garden emphasized 5 main pillars of sustainability: 1. use water wisely, 2. source sustainable materials, 3. restore native plants, 4. go organic, 5. minimize waste.
This was a garden that could not have been realized without the help of many sponsors, including Trees for Canterbury, CPIT School of Carpentry, Timspec, Fern Factor and No Mow lawns.
Take Five, by Carl Pickens, was a stunning combination of sustainability and beauty. He had vertical plant walls (edible and not), slimline rainwater tanks, compost and worm farms, boardwalks made of vitex from Greenpeace’s Solomon Islands plantation, permeable pathways so all water returned to aquifers, and tiled roof gardens roofing his shade structures. All this, and he managed beauty as well’
Laura Keddell, Avenues magazine, Christchurch