Pōneke Planters Group

ICW was approached by the Wellington City Council because it had some empty planter boxes which they needed to move to a new location.

The planter boxes looked like this with some of the plants needing some urgent TLC.

The Plan

We decided to tackle the project in two steps.

  • Step 1: “Prep day” - Thursday 15 August 2024

    Ahead of time, we visited the wonderful Holly at
    the Council’s nursery to see the plants that would be coming.

    We also worked with the amazing team at Bunnings in
    Tory Street who have provided incredible support for

    this project. Thank you!

    We became experts on gravel and visited the folks at
    Ablaze to order the drainage metal (gravel) that would
    go into the planter boxes.


    With Bunnings help, we then got together our set of
    gardening tools including trowels, gloves, masks, hand
    sanitiser, rubbish bags, the gravel we would need
    later to sprinkle on the top of the soil, and more.

    Prep Day arrived and the ICW volunteers put their
    bright orange “Keep Inner-City Wellington Beautiful” hi-viz
    vests on and we were ready to work.


    The WCC van arrived on time with the 21 planter boxes
    and they were positioned in two spots - carefully selected
    because neither was a designated car park – one
    in Allen Street and one in Blair Street.


    The truck from Ablaze arrived on time, and it was all on.

    We cut up and placed the geotextile in the boxes (for drainage)
    and got busy shoveling the gravel into every box.

    The last task was then achieved - moving the colourful
    trestle tables from the Fringe Festival folks into place.

    Job done! And everything is now ready
    for the next step - “Planting Day”

    Planting day - Monday 19 August
    The WCC folks and our trusty band of
    ICW volunteers returned to the two sites
    and we added the soil to the planter boxes.

    Then we planted over 100 wonderful plants -
    a mix of green & leafy native plants from the
    Council’s nursery and these beautiful flowering
    ones from our Bunnings-provided selection.
    And
    here is a link to our photo album.

    Maintenance
    Our job now is to keep the plants alive and well for at least 8 months.
    And a big thank you to The Exchange building owners for
    giving us a place to keep our garden kits, and a way to fill our watering cans!

Inner-city gardeners!
Do your green fingers itch to be part of inner-city gardening?
Would you like to be part of the Pōneke Planters Group?

Say yes and we’ll be in touch!
email:  innercitywellington@gmail.com

________________________________________________________________________________