Rugby in Tulips
“We planned to do small gardens in flowers in the emblem of each country that was competing in Wellington” says Dale, “But when we got down to it, we found a leaping South African springbok would be quite awkward to plant in a reasonably small space, and the Welsh fleur de lys emblem would be difficult too, so we decided to go for the countries’ flags instead.”
Botanical Gardens staff are proudly tending those flag gardens. They’ve even planted a Welsh dragon which one might have thought more difficult than a fleur de lys. The gardens are due to flower towards the end of the month.
“They’d be a week earlier if we hadn’t had the snow this year” says Sutch, “but last year there had been warm weather and they bloomed a week earlier than we’d thought they would. And the effect of the Christchurch earthquakes on their stadium has meant that two extra teams, Scotland and Argentina, would be now playing games in Wellington: but we had no room for two more flag gardens.”
The problem has been overcome by making the one remaining space into a rugby field planted in Springreen tulips, which flower green, and mounting miniature goalposts at each end surmounted with Scottish and Argentinian flags.










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