Inside out on the urban tour

It takes more than a load of gumption and sweet-smelling fertiliser to throw out the traditional house and garden rules.

One of the gardens open during this weekend's Auckland Trinity Garden Festival is actually inside the house. There are no walls. The tropical jungle reaches two storeys high. The computer-controlled roof opens and shuts automatically to allow airflow.

And visitors are only allowed to stand at the entrance door and look down the shelter-belt tunnel at this marvel.

The tour, which raises money for Trinity Cathedral in Parnell and this year to buy incubators for the Kids First neonatal unit, claims to be the first in Auckland, starting more than a decade ago.

Since then, everyone is doing it - Saint Cuthbert's, schools, Scouts, Starship, says organiser Christine White.

With Bev Wallis, she has picked 93 gardens ranging from the rule-breakers to the 4ha spreads brushed by waterfalls out in Whitford - Bev McConnell's Ayrlies garden.

This year, for the first time, they are not doing gardens north of the Harbour Bridge because of traffic snarls.

As with the Ellerslie Flower Show, low maintenance is an inner-city trend.

But this is a chance to see how real people are doing their garden designs. Clipped box hedges with citrus trees and mondo grass, palms and tropical plants would seem to be the rule. Unless you would rather bring the garden inside.


The tours

Where: South of the Harbour Bridge

When: November 21 to 24, 10pm to 5pm

How: Tickets and directories from Ticketek

How much: $10 for Monday (only country gardens open); $22 Saturday or Sunday (country and city gardens open)