A new book takes you on a tour of New Zealand gardens that are open to visit. Photographer Juliet Nicholas and writer Rosemary Barraclough travelled from the top of Aotearoa to its southernmost reaches to put together a collection of remarkable New Zealand gardens, both private and public, that welcome visitors.
Some of the gardens in the book even have accommodation, and what better way to enjoy all that a garden has to offer than to have it all to yourself at the end of the day. Here are six gardens to visit this summer.
Ōmāio, Tāwharanui Peninsula
Ōmāio means "place of peace, quiet and tranquillity", and Liz Morrow has created a garden near Matakana that complements its ancient trees and coastal views to Kawau Island. The oldest tree on the property, a pūriri that's often alive with native birds, is thought to be 1500 years old. "I'm surrounded by this magnificent ancient New Zealand bush, so I thought carefully about how I would plant," she says.
Garden beds reflect the waves and coast with curves and flowing shapes planted with a mix of natives and exotics including clivia and hydrangeas. Continuing the softly rounded theme, rātā, metrosideros and pittosporum are clipped into balls and, in a humorous touch, tennis-ball like sculptures appear to roll away from the tennis court.
Visitors can stay in the B&B beside the log cabin-style home, relax in the clipped and perfect area around the outdoor fireplace and pizza oven or wander through bush walks that offer coastal views. omaio.co.nz
Hamilton Gardens, Hamilton
The scale, range and authenticity of the enclosed gardens astounded the book's photographer, Juliet Nicholas, when she first visited Hamilton Gardens. Waikato's most popular tourist attraction tells the story of gardening through the ages, says former gardens director, Dr Peter Sergel. Each garden reflects a major change in civilisation.
"We're pretty confident that no one else in the world has done that," he says. However, many people just want to experience the visual blast of the 17 garden rooms. Visitors are stopped in their tracks by the fluorescent colour of the Indian Char Bagh garden, where over 4000 plants create an eye-popping display against white walls. There's a pretty English flower garden, an area that tells the story of Maori gardening, an Ancient Egyptian garden, a huge vegetable garden and a surrealist garden – keep an eye on the giant ivy-covered "Trons" and you may spot something surprising.
If you want to avoid the crowds (and it can be very busy) it's best to go early in the morning, when everything will also be fresh and watered, or later in the afternoon. hamiltongardens.co.nz
Welton House, Blenheim
Garden visitors are truly welcome at Welton House on the outskirts of Blenheim. "I love people, and I love walking around my garden with people who love gardens – it's a match made in heaven for me," says owner Wendy Palmer, who developed the garden in collaboration with her garden designer brother Ross Palmer.
The pair share a penchant for the quirky, so there's a playful vibe throughout and colour everywhere. Vibrant African plants, like orange-flowered leucospermum, do well in the hot, dry conditions, but there's a huge variety of other flowering plants. Late winter and spring are magic times, with 5000 daffodil bulbs spreading their brilliant yellow cheer, along with tulips, magnolias and primroses. But if the garden looked good only in spring, they would have failed, says Wendy, and Ross is a master of succession planting. She's always surprised by what pops up through the seasons, and cacti, succulents and grasses look good all year round. Visitors also enjoy the abundant vegetable garden, a joy to Wendy, who was desperate to be able to pick produce for her own dinner table after many years living in London. weltonhouse.co.nz
Frensham, Christchurch
Plants are Margaret Long's passion, one she's happy to share with visitors to her garden, Frensham, on the outskirts of Christchurch. She's gathered a wealth of horticultural knowledge from a lifetime of gardening, reading about plants, and running tours to many of the world's celebrated gardens. Frensham is a garden best viewed at a leisurely pace; there are plenty of places to sit and enjoy the way the garden views flow from one area to another.
A visitor favourite is the potager garden, laid out in a box-hedging grid, with standardised bay trees and hollies that glow with red berries in the autumn. Colour is everything in this garden, where the "red garden" was designed around the 'Bishop of Llandaff ' dahlia, and the red-blue of the "Frensham" rose inspired the planting composition in another area (as well as the garden's name).
Frensham has a collection of beautiful and unusual trees and there are less formal areas to explore, such as the woodland, which is underplanted with hostas and hellebores, tiarellas, astilbes, autumn-flowering cyclamens and spring-flowering bulbs. frensham.co.nz
The Giant's House, Akaroa
Happiness is in the air at The Giant's House. "People feel uplifted when they come," says Josie Martin, the artist and horticulturalist whose twin passions collided and conjured up a flamboyant, joyful world of flowers and mosaics. "There's a lot of laughter. It brings out the child in people," she says. They might pose with Adam and Eve or climb up to the huge mosaic angel and magician and sit on their laps, taking in the view of Akaroa Harbour.
Josie created all the mosaics in the garden herself. Although the garden has a relaxed, casual air, nothing is left to chance, says Josie, who describes her work as "seriously playful". She takes great care with colours, the placement of the sculptures and the fine-art finish of her quirky mosaic pieces.
The on-site art gallery was designed by Sir Miles Warren and displays Josie's art, as well as a video showing the process of making the mosaics. If you want to linger, there's an outdoor cafe when weather permits. thegiantshouse.co.nz
Chantecler, Queenstown
Park-like Chantecler is really seven gardens in one – English, Asian, perennial, woodland, native, Mediterranean, plus a formal garden with a picture-perfect moon gate draped with red Dublin Bay roses. Oh, and don't forget a field with thousands of lavender plants, and 30,000 daffodils that announce the arrival of spring.
Chantecler, the garden of Mike Henry and his wife, Maureen, has been created in under 20 years, thanks in part to the rich river loam that's blown off the Shotover River for billions of years and built up this area, known as Slope Hill. However, the garden's speed of development and scale is all down to Mike, an entrepreneur and man of action, who dived into gardening with gusto when he retired from the travel insurance company he founded.
Nothing's been done at half measure – there are 300 peonies, 200 Japanese maples, 400 roses and 44 different varieties of hydrangeas. When you visit, have your camera at the ready. The grand sweeps of planting are picturesque enough, but the dramatic mountain backdrop makes your photographs look 10 times better, says Mike. chantecler.co.nz
Extracted from New Zealand Gardens to Visit published by Penguin Random House NZ, RRP $55. Text © Rosemary Barraclough, 2022 and Photography © Juliet Nicholas, 2022
