It looks as if someone has waved a magic wand over the garden at the Melkbosstrand police station. Uninspired and untidy until recently, it now looks lush and inviting.

The transformation took place in two stages and was executed by a team of gardeners from Atlantic Beach Estate. It was part of their Mandela Day Outreach and Phase 1 took place on Mandela Day.

What the gardeners found:
It was a challenge. Spatially, the garden consists of some flower beds, and nothing more. The flower beds looked empty and grim. The existing plants had to be removed, the beds had to be composted, new shrubs had to be planted, and focal points had to be created where there were none. The surrounding public land looks as if it belongs to the police station and here some thoughtless soul had deposited the police station’s cement garden bench.

Getting this back to the police station was obviously going to be a major pain. There was a good reason for the garden’s state. The police station’s gardener, a man lovingly referred to as Ore, was ill with cancer and would die soon afterwards. And it seemed as if the garden was mourning his demise in advance.

But wounds heal and the beds were cleared in a jiffy and replanted in a jiffy. The said bench was put down just so – and suddenly it looked like a focal point. A place where people can sit down and unwind while they take in the lush surrounds.

The garden is looking simply great as these photos show. Nature has a way of reigniting itself – especially if it is helped along by a team of gardeners.