Death of Ora Garden team member

The staff of the Taupo Museum were saddened to hear, last week, that Ora Garden design team member, Doug Waugh of Katikati, had died of cancer at the age of 52.

In 2004, Doug was one of the team of six who, together with Tourism New Zealand, took the first New Zealand garden to the Chelsea Flower Show in London and won a prestigious gold medal. The award-winning garden, Ora Garden of Wellbeing, has since been created as a permanent exhibit at the museum in Taupo.

Doug and his wife Trish have run a successful design and landscaping business since the early 1980s, with Trish as Principal Designer and Doug as Project and Contracts Manager. Together they created one of New Zealand's leading landscaping companies. The couple met while studying Horticulture at Massey University where they both majored in Landscape Design.

Trish and Doug's numerous awards include several gold medals from the Ellerslie Flower Show and the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show as well as awards from New Zealand's Landscape Industry Association including Landscape of the Year in 1990.

Museum manager Karen Williams, who helped bring the Ora Garden to Taupo, says it was a privilege to meet and work with Doug. “Both he and Trish have been committed to designing uniquely New Zealand gardens for years, long before they became fashionable,” Karen said. “The Ora garden is a wonderful tribute to him.”