‘Heart and soul’ of garden retiring

After spending the past 10 years watching it blossom, Dunedin Chinese Garden head gardener Ian Melvin is retiring from the role he has held since before the garden opened in 2008.

Mr Melvin said working on the garden had been a ''privilege'' and he would keep a connection to it and the staff in one way or another.

The garden's site and volunteer supervisor, Kim Conroy, said Mr Melvin was the ''heart and soul'' of the garden and would be sorely missed.

But the man himself was a bit more humble when describing his impact on the garden.

''I'm just one cog in the wheel - just a very noisy cog.''

Raewyn Maskill will take over as head gardener.