KEY POINTS:
One of the most striking features of Claire Lawn's property, not far from New Plymouth in Taranaki, is the first-floor terrace leading to her upstairs studio.
From this position you get almost a full view of the design - especially in winter, when the rampant wisteria drops its leaves and you can appreciate the bold patterns and shapes of this whimsical garden. First, a fat ribbon of box hedge scrolls into a chimney of dark conifers. The potager is boldly edged in grey lamb's ear and red photinia fills out the rough square of another garden. Butted up is a vast doughnut of ivy set in gravel and pinned into place by clipped pillars of totara on each corner.
The terrace is a theatrical platform from which to see all this, and if the walls here - painted a crazy wisteria mauve upstairs and red below - are not clue enough that here lives an artist, a host of hand-made features drives home the message that this garden is stamped with creativity and personality.
Even if you don't own a split-level house where you can look out from another level so dramatically, in this bumpy country it's likely that at some stage you will peer out from a deck or a terrace and get a near bird's-eye view of your horticultural efforts. The design needs to be carefully thought out, clean and bold. Paths, lawns, flowerbeds, hedges and planting can all be drab and functional without a passing thought to looks, or it can twist and loop in grand brushstrokes which, from a distance, can make you gasp.
Designer Chris Paul helped initially with a strong framework, then it was up to Claire and her late partner, Bill Hartigan, to give it heart and soul. As well as using strong shapes, Claire has chosen colour themes to increase the drama and to make each compartment distinct. The most striking example is the hot-themed garden bounded by its walls of close-clipped photinia red robin.
The green circle next to it was originally planned as a lawn but Claire had a free supply of cuttings so it became reinvented in ivy with a ring of rocks to suggest a place with just the right hint of druid menace.
It's part of Claire's playful nature to imbue each area with a touch of magic and meaning.
The crowded gathering of thujas, for example, which you now have to push into to enjoy, is jokingly referred to as the "witches' circle". And under a pergola to one side stands a home-made bust of Simone de Beauvoir, the eminent French philosopher and feminist. Claire has flanked her heroine with gaily striped terracotta pots - a matching bench and pergola, and the sky-blue paint creates a lightness that contrasts with the more moody areas of the garden.
It's a good idea not to be able to see everything in one bird's-eye glance, which is why Claire's artworks and those of her sister, Helen Lawn, add a welcome note of surprise once you get down to ground level.
Most effective is a row of papier-
mache masks which greet you at the entrance. Raised on poles, their bright colours light up what would be a drab corner and strike just the right note of humour mixed with menace.
Up in her terrace studio, Claire is just starting a painting. With her art, her work at the local kindy, and an active social life, there isn't the time these days to be too fussy about what is spread out below. "At heart, I'm more interested in creating a sense of romance and surprise than in collecting plants," she says. And with such good bones - even if the hedges do get a bit frayed around the edges from time to time - this is a place that can only get more romantic and surprising each year.
Make a sky-catcher
A fun and easy illusion in Claire Lawn's garden is her waterless pond. By inserting mirror tiles into a pavement, the reflection of the sky brings light into what would otherwise be an uneventful corner. The encroachment of moss between the cracks has been left untidied and, if anything, enhances the surrealism of this feature. Unless sealed at the edges with bath sealant, mirrors can be short-lived outdoors. Always be aware of safety concerns if children are about - polished steel can work almost as well.
Could do this week
* A winter spray is a safe and effective way of cleaning up all the bugs and diseases that nestle in twig crevices and will infect your garden next summer. At the very least aim to spray your roses - twice is best if you can. Copper deals with fungal diseases such as leaf curl, mildew and blackspot, and a good spraying oil attacks aphids, scale and, to a lesser extent, mites.
* Protect shallow pools and ponds from freezing over in colder areas of the country by placing a rubber ball in them. Pushing down on the ball when ice forms will crack the ice and allow oxygen to enter.
* Tie in the new growths of loganberries to stout wires and cut the stems that fruited last year out at the base.
* Mint, chives and other herbs will keep going if you bring them into the warmth and light of the kitchen. Make sure you replant them outside as soon as the spring arrives.
