Heroic’s Unsung Hero
23rd and 24th February mark the dates of the 17th Annual Heroic Gardens Festival. This popular event gives attendees exclusive access to some of Auckland’s most contemporary gardens. The dates also mark the final showing of a garden that will be remembered as one evoking fond memories for many festival goers.
Noel Pascoe is an unassuming character if first impressions are anything to go by. More at home with a cuppa and a cardie, it doesn’t take long to determine that he isn’t the sort to blow his own trumpet. The same can’t be said for his garden. This quarter acre patch in Sandringham appears to do all the talking for him. From the private porch full of hanging begonias to the tilled garden beds ablaze with dahlias, you could be forgiven for thinking you’d stepped back in time to a garden just like your grandparents used to grow.
Noel’s garden certainly offers a point of difference. Its sense of familiarity has kept hundreds of festival-goers coming back time and time again.
“I will never forget the time that three elderly women came to visit,” says Noel, “They were having a hard time manoeuvring their walkers on the lawn. As soon as they caught sight of the dahlias however, they forgot their limitations and walked around unaided for some 20 minutes or so. Seeing the dahlias in full bloom reminded them of their grandmothers’ love of these beautiful flowers.”
Noel says that as the festival has grown from hundreds to thousands of attendees, he has played counsellor on more than one occasion, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“Tissues have come in handy,” he says.
It’s this joyous emotion that has inspired Noel to continue opening his garden to members of the public and he’s been doing it for 16 out of the 17 years that the festival has been running. Noel did decide one year that he wanted to go see the other gardens for himself. After this year’s event, he is looking forward to visiting the other gardens for many years to come.
Noel sent a few years on the Heroic Gardens Festival organising committee starting with its inception in 1997. He says that the festival is important because it began at a time when Auckland’s gay community was still largely ostracised. “It gave us a voice and best of all, it was something that we did ourselves,” he says. When former charity Herne Bay House was closed due to advances in HIV and AIDs care, Noel was instrumental in ensuring that Mercy Hospice, also caring for patients with life-limiting illness, continued to benefit from the event.
“Last year’s festival raised an amazing $80,000 net in donations,” Noel says, “It confirmed for us that it was the right decision to partner with Mercy Hospice.”
Noel originally disliked gardening as a child because he was forced into it. It was when he moved to a flat feature-less property in 3rd Ave, Kingsland that he discovered his joy of gardening and realised that he was, “quite good at it”. So well presented was his property that, when it sold, it fetched the highest sales price in the suburb for its time.
2013 festival attendees wanting to see Noel’s property for the first, and sadly last, time will not be disappointed either. With a lot of hard graft and a bit of can-do this unsung hero has created one of the most beautiful and memorable of Kiwi gardens.
2013 Heroic Garden tickets are only $35 each and are valid both days. Visit www.heroicgardens.org.nz or click here to purchase your tickets and for more information.
The Gardens Magazine (February 2013)
Writer: Gabriela Guedes. Photo: Burning Belly.