Home
Kai Resilience
Gardens on Wheels 2025: A Rolling Canvas of Creativity and Community Flourished in Te Puke

Gardens on Wheels 2025: A Rolling Canvas of Creativity and Community Flourished in Te Puke

This past weekend, Te Puke became a moving landscape of local ingenuity as the highly anticipated Gardens on Wheels 2025 event took over Jubilee Park.

Part of a wider weekend celebrating the region’s green-thumb spirit — alongside the Te Puke Kiwi Coast Lions Garden Ramble — the event showcased an extraordinary array of mobile gardens. Everything from simple toy wagons to elaborate wheelbarrows and utility vehicles became canvases for horticultural art.

The atmosphere was vibrant, drawing community members and visitors eager to witness the creativity on display. Judges had an incredibly difficult task — the quality and imagination across every category, from children’s entries to large installations, was truly exceptional. Congratulations to every winner who showed the depth of gardening passion here in the Bay of Plenty.

Fostering resilience through collaboration

Our team at Vector Group Charitable Trust was privileged to collaborate on Gardens on Wheels and the wider Te Puke Kiwi Coast Lions Garden Ramble. For the Gardens on Wheels display, we captured the joy, creativity, and community spirit of the event — winning entries, beautiful installations, and the lively prize-giving — through photography and video.

Crucially, our Troppo Urban Food Forest initiative reinforced the event’s link to sustainability and wellbeing. We donated tropical and sub-tropical food forest plants as giveaways, promoting kai resilience and food security by placing edible, productive plants into local gardens. That helps shift toward “backyard supermarkets” and a more self-sufficient, resilient community in Te Puke.

A community united by generosity

The success of Gardens on Wheels 2025 was a testament to collaboration across Te Puke. Thank you to everyone who created an entry, and to the local businesses and organisations whose support made the weekend possible — including Te Puke Kiwi Coast Lions for backing the region’s gardening events.

We extend sincere appreciation to: Arun Mehan Bayleys Real Estate, Te Puke Landscape Supplies, Vector Group Charitable Trust, Te Puke Community Garden, Te Puke Mitre 10, Trevelyan’s Pack and Cool Ltd, Pacifica Home & Garden Store, Get Rooted Plants, Bee Wrapt, King Seeds, Revital, Goodwood, Sustainable Endeavours Charitable Trust, and MADE in Te Puke Charitable Trust.