Ben Burn Park Community Orchard
Fruit trees at Ben Burn Park
A recent collaboration between the Karori Residents’ Association,
Karori Community Garden and Wellington City Council fruit trees have been planted at one end of the the Ben
Burn Park playground next to the maze.
The purpose of planting an orchard here is to liven up the space, provide community-building and educational opportunities, boost biodiversity, and be part of building food resilience in Karori.
The Karori Community Garden is a caretaker group to keep the orchard healthy.
Karori Residents’ Association supports community efforts around green spaces and food production.
The Wellington City Council have endorsed the use of this space in the corner of the park and the ranger will also keep an eye on the area.
We would love to hear your thoughts around this ongoing initiative, and connect with other locals and
groups that may wish to be involved or support the project.
There is an opportunity to become guardians of a tree.
Get in touch with Kate and Lisa by emailing karoricommunitygarden2020@gmail.com
Subscribe for news about this and other initiatives from the Karori Community Garden, join their facebook group or make an enquiry face to face at a Karori Community Garden Meetup.
History
How We Got Our Start
A move back to Karori by resident Kate Walmsley triggered the orchard. Kate got in touch with Andrea Skews from the Karori Residents Association wondering if the new trees proposed along the street edge of the park could be fruit trees. Finding not, but that the Residents Association had already talked with the council about the idea of fruit trees in the suburb Kate then visioned the corner of the playpark as an orchard with the neighbourhood interacting with trees and companion planting.
Caroline Arrowsmith was consulted as the manager of the Fruit Tree Guardian project run by the Sustainability Trust. She offered some trees as a starting point. And there was also a meeting with another Karori resident, James Firestone, the coordinator of the Thurleigh Grove Community Orchard.
The Karori Community Garden was brought to collaborate as an overseeing group and Lisa Maule the current coordinator was all for it, and also offered a tree recently donated to the garden. Andrea helped with printing flyers for the bordering properties to get feedback and to let people know what was going on.
Once the planting plan had been approved by the Wellington City Council a day of planting was scheduled. Kate, Caroline, Lisa and a friend of Kates met at Karori Park on the 10 September 2020 and rescued a couple of fruit trees. It started raining then and as the rain increased one tree got planted in it's new location. The following weekend a group of helpers planted the rest of the trees, and stakes and ties were put in to protect against the spring storms.
People are volunteering to become guardians of the trees. The local childcare centre has made their tap available. And the trees are settling in.
Who We Are
Caroline, Kate & Lisa
Planting day one - in the rain!
baby apple tree donated by Victoria
guardian needed
Feijoa Unique
guardian needed