Flying Visits

When Lynne Walker took members of the Australian Garden History Society to her native New Zealand, they were all impressed by the diversity of the gardens they visited.

When I left the South Island of NZ to move to Australia 30 years ago, New Zealanders rarely opened their gardens. Over the years I have watched the situation change, noticing more and more lovely gardens opening their gates to the public. Even so, my husband Richard and I were amazed when we undertook a ten-day reconnaissance trip of the South Island two years ago. The variety and high standards took us completely by surprise as we visited gardens large and small, town and country, historic and not so old, seaside and alpine, gracious and quirky, finding many, in our opinion, to be of international quality.

Above: Alphaburn Station, Wanaka.

The garden owners themselves, without exception, were welcoming and passionate and included some incredibly knowledgeable plants people.

One of the reasons for this change was undoubtedly the establishment in 2004 of the New Zealand Gardens Trust (NZGT) by the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture. The Trust set up a system to assess all gardens and provide visitors with accurate information.

Trust members include both private and public owners who allow people to visit their gardens and associate membership is available for non-garden owners who wish to receive the Trust newsletters and have the opportunity to attend conference. There is also a large group of gardens that open in different regions to raise money for local and national charities, independently of the NZGT.

The resulting range convinced us that an organised tour of South Island through the Australian Garden History Society (AGHS) would appeal to members. However, such was the number and quality of sites that the itinerary was limited to 25 outstanding gardens in the provinces of Canterbury and Otago.

So, at the end of October 2017, 20 members of the AGHS – many of whom had never been to New Zealand before – embarked on that trip. The tour travelled from Christchurch to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula, then inland to see high-country gardens on the foothills of snow-topped Mount Hutt, before heading south to visit coastal sites in Dunedin, then inland to Central Otago to gardens around Lakes Wanaka and Wakatipu in the Southern Alps. In this review I’m highlighting just a few sites.

The geography of the Canterbury and Otago areas varies greatly and has a profound influence on gardens and farming. The area visited on the tour was generally between 43 and 45 degrees south.

The Canterbury plains to the east of the Southern Alps have moderate but reasonably reliable precipitation of between 60 and 70cm (24 to 28in.) annually. Several major braided rivers intersect the plain making regular irrigation possible. At this latitude, the ‘Roaring Forties’ are redirected by the Alps to become fierce north-westerlies that make extensive use of wind breaks essential.

The challenges presented to gardeners on the Canterbury plains are in marked contrast to those of Central Otago, where arid and often freezing temperatures prevail. Here there are fewer major rivers so irrigation is an ongoing challenge. The countryside is more undulating and in many cases extremely steep. It was fascinating to see how gardeners have created lush oases in these difficult conditions.

Above: French Farm. Right: Native borders at Broadfields.

Opposite page: Above left: Giant’s House. Above right: Fisherman’s Bay. Below: Ohinetahi.

We began in Christchurch, a city still recovering from the devastating earthquakes of 2011, with a tour of Broadfields. The garden contains not just native plants, but exotic species including rhododendrons, azaleas, roses, camellias and a great range of trees that were bred and are available only in New Zealand. The 7-acre (3-ha) garden was developed by David Hobbs 20 years ago and the group was intrigued to see a large range of plants they had never encountered before.

From there we went to an English-style garden owned by one of NZ’s foremost plantswomen whose knowledge and plant combinations are exemplary. Margaret and Ron Long have lived at Frensham for 25 years and the garden is named after Margaret’s father’s favourite rose, the red floribunda ‘Frensham’.

It has yearround interest, meaning that the Longs encourage visits even in winter, and Margaret also writes a monthly newsletter that has hundreds of followers, and conducts garden tours around Europe.

We travelled on to the tiny harbourside settlement of Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula to visit an exuberant garden with wonderful native and exotic plantings lying within a sheltered valley. French Farm is owned by Jendy and Pat Brooks and contains extensive herbaceous borders ringing an amphitheatre. The intention of the extensive planting is to tie the ornamental garden into the wide natural landscape where two areas of native bush are legally protected in perpetuity.

Richard Heathcote (Chair of the AGHS) said to me, “I don’t know what you are going to show us for the next 12 days that can possibly top today,” which rather set the tone (and the challenge) for the rest of the tour.

The next day involved a spectacular dolphin cruise out to the Pacific Ocean, followed by two gardens of complete contrast, the Giant’s House and Fisherman’s Bay Garden, described here by our member Glenn Cooke:

“In this exuberant and quirky garden [Giant’s House], colourful mosaics and stunning plant combinations complement each other. The owner/artist responsible [Josie Martin] is a trained horticulturist, which is one of the reasons this garden works so well.

“The second, Fisherman’s Bay Garden, is a stunning haven with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean on the dramatic coastline of Banks Peninsula. Native plants (including 150 hebes) are combined with a diverse array of non-native plants. From one of the points on the property the next stop is South America as it is the furthest point west in the South Island. This is truly gardening on the edge.”

Because South Island is a relatively small area, it is possible to see gardens of great diversity within a short space of time. For example the next day we travelled from Ohinetahi, an historic garden in a sheltered coastal bay on the Pacific Ocean, to the Christchurch Botanic Gardens (founded in 1863) then across to Terrace Downs, in the foothills of the Southern Alps, one of South Island’s oldest private gardens.

Ohinetahi was designed by the current owner and renowned architect, Sir Miles Warren, over 40 years ago and is classified by the NZGT as being of international significance.

The woodland that surrounds the home is well structured and designed with views down to the harbour. Ohinetahi uses the concept of ‘rooms’ to great effect. The terraced garden is characterised by a herb potager, a box-edged rose garden and herbaceous borders. Other features of the English-inspired landscaping include a red garden, an ogee gazebo, pond, bridge, statues and stone and metal sculptures. A stream flows from the garden to the harbour.

A motorised tour of Christchurch Botanic Garden, which is 155 years old and approximately 46 acres (18.6ha) in size, showcased magnificent native and exotic mature trees, and other features including a rose garden, a conservatory complex, a native fernery and an Erica garden.

From the heart of Christchurch we travelled across the Canterbury plains to Terrace Station homestead and garden, originally bought in the late 1850s by a prominent New Zealand politician, Sir John Hall. His great-granddaughter

Kate and her husband Richard Foster now own the property and have enormous enthusiasm for the preservation of its heritage.

The garden contains huge specimens of sequoia, cedar, hornbeam, laurel, elm and sycamore, underplanted with woodland plantings that change seasonally, starting with snowdrops then bluebells, aquilegias and foxgloves, before ending with hellebores.

Over the following days, tour participant Mary Wright was impressed by the way gardens had grown around the homes on these old properties. “The big homestead gardens were particularly splendid. Longbeach and Akaunui were outstanding, while the historical significance of the house and old trees at Terrace Station was fascinating.”

We also visited four alpine gardens at the base of one of New Zealand’s largest ski fields where heavy snow is a way of life. In fact the owners, who also run large, high-country sheep and deer stations, leave their gates open when snow is forecast so they don’t have to dig out the gates to get out of their properties. Here rhododendrons and azaleas began to shine and the tour team was astonished by the height and vigour of them, some of gigantic proportions. Swathes of the Himalayan lily

(Cardiocrinum giganteum) began to appear and, as we travelled south, more and more were in bloom and exhibiting their stunning flowers.

We spotted another beautiful plant: Myosotidium hortencia (the Chatham Island Forget-me-not), which grows naturally on the coastal cliffs, rocky outcrops and beaches of the Chatham Islands some 800km (500 miles) almost due east of Christchurch. It is a glossy-leaved, evergreen perennial that looks nothing like the European biennial Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica) to which it is related.

Heading south to the province of Otago we visited Glenfalloch, a public woodlands garden; Wylde Willow, a large heritage rose garden, and the 150-year old Dunedin Botanic Gardens, before heading inland through Lord of the Rings country to the garden of Clachanburn (Gaelic for ‘Stony Creek’) in the heart of the arid Maniototo Plain. It was startling to find a very large garden flourishing here. Everybody was astonished by how Clachanburn’s owner, Jane Falconer, had triumphed against the harsh conditions and heavy clay soils in one of the driest areas of the country. Almost 50 years ago, Jane started with a 1-acre garden and expanded it until it is now 4½ acres (2ha) – and the fence has been moved six times. The garden

features two large ponds, a stream and just about every kind of bed you can think of, but it is never cluttered and its serenity is an inspiration, as is Jane herself.

We travelled on to a number of alpine gardens around Lake Wanaka, each within its own magnificent setting, before concluding the tour in Queenstown with two large and very different gardens. Of these, Chantecler was highly structured with themed areas and thousands of fascinating plants; the other, Janet Blair’s garden, was more relaxed and softly planted, following the owner’s mantra: “the spaces you leave are as important as the spaces you plant.”

The tour had considerable variety, including visits to historic houses, art galleries, and harbour cruises. Akaroa harbour provided encounters with Hector’s Dolphin, the world’s smallest and rarest variety. At Dunedin harbour we witnessed albatross soaring in the stiff breeze and saw the rugged geology where they nest.

We also visited Larnach Castle on the Otago Peninsula, which was built in the 1870s by an Australian of Scottish ancestry called William Larnach. Margaret Barker and her late husband Barry bought the mock castle 50 years ago. Margaret – who is a renowned plantswoman and internationally recognised dendrologist – has developed the garden, which is now magnificent.

The restored castle sits majestically amongst the many borders and gardens including alpine, perennial, herb, New Zealand plants and a southern hemisphere garden that contains plants from all over South America, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Quite how this garden thrives is a mystery as it is located on a very windy, exposed site on the side of Otago harbour with views out to the Pacific Ocean.

Opposite page: Above: Middle Farm Garden, Southern Alps.

Below, clockwise from top left: The Chatham Island Forget-menot; Himalayan Lily; the group at Terrace Station.

This page: Above left: Lake Wanaka. Above right: Clachanburn. Right: Chantecler.

At Queenstown on the banks of Lake Wakatipu we enjoyed a trip on a 100-year-old coal-fired steamer to visit one of the region’s most renowned sheep stations where we saw a sheep shearing demonstration and enjoyed dinner. Ann and John Maurer noted that, “Because many of the gardens were on farms the visits invariably included agricultural discussions of great variety and interest, ranging from supply of carrot seeds to international markets, elk raising and black-currant production.”

The group enjoyed this tour enormously, with each day bringing new surprises so different to the day before. Happily, Richard Heathcote’s initial fears on day one were completely dispelled.

Originally from the South Island of New Zealand, Lynne Walker has been a member of the Australian Garden History Society for over 20 years.