Rosemary Baragwanath's small Durie Hill garden offers a surprising number of shady resting spaces.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Rosemary Baragwanath's small Durie Hill garden offers a surprising number of shady resting spaces.
Photo / Bevan Conley
When Rosemary Baragwanath moved to her Durie Hill cottage 10 years ago, the garden was a bog-standard lawn arrangement with square flower beds.
Believing that having a seldom-used front lawn was a waste of space, Baragwanath set about transforming it.
It now has a glorious profusion of flowering trees andshrubs with foliage in every imaginable shade of green and coppery colours, with pathways leading to shady seating areas.
“I have planted a lot of gardens in my time,” Baragwanath said.
“Before I came to Whanganui, I lived on Waiheke Island and although the winters are a bit colder here, I’ve been able to grow a lot of the favourites I had in my last garden.”
Whanganui, like Waiheke, has a temperate climate and a similar amount of rainfall.
“I was 70 when I moved here and fit enough to do most of the work myself, but I now have someone to help me for a few hours a week.
“She has great knowledge and really gets my garden. After all the rain we had in spring and early summer, the growth has been quite phenomenal so I’m glad to have her energy and expertise.”
Pathways lined with low hedging plants lead to a surprising number of shady spots with seating and small tables; ideal spaces to sit down with a cool drink and a good book.
“The garden is not big enough to get lost in, but I wanted to create spaces where you can lose yourself for an hour or two.”
Rosemary Baragwanath in one of the shady seating areas of her Durie Hill garden. Photo / Bevan Conley
The icecream colour palette in the garden looks cool and inviting on a hot summer day.
There are white roses and dahlias, pink hydrangeas and oleanders, as well as the pale blue flowers of plumbago amongst the foliage.
Beneath the larger plants are purple-flowered liriope or lilyturf.
“They like dry shade and the foliage is evergreen so they are ideal for planting underneath larger plants,” Baragwanath said.
“They are quite hardy and pretty much look after themselves.”
Baragwanath’s three cats were either dozing in the leafy shade or batting at shadows around the garden.
The newest addition is Pipi — a small black-and-white stray that Baragwanath planned to offer for adoption.
“I really didn’t want another cat but she was so timid and had finally started to warm to me so I couldn’t give her up.”
It is easy to see why a bashful cat would enjoy living with an owner who provides a garden with so many perfect hiding places amongst sweet-smelling plants.
Rosemary Baragwanath's three cats enjoy plenty of shady places to sleep and play in her garden. Photo / Bevan Conley
“I wanted to make a garden that provides year-round foliage so there are very few deciduous trees and shrubs,” Baragwanath said.
“All the late rain has made things a bit different this year.”
She points to a small magnolia tree still flowering with beautiful, deep-crimson blooms.
Baragwanath said Durie Hill was a great place to be a gardener because there were a lot of neighbours who liked to share cuttings and gardening tips.
“It’s a friendly neighbourhood with an interesting mix of people.
“Whanganui is a very welcoming place. Waiheke is a close-knit community and I thought I would miss that here, but I haven’t.”
Baragwanath is an art lover as well as a gardener and has collected work from several Whanganui artists to grace the walls of her cottage.
“It’s lovely to look at the art on my walls and think that I get to see the artists,” she said.
“Some have become friends and that makes the work extra special.”
A retired nurse, Baragwanath said gardening had always provided a welcome respite from worldly concerns and she gained immense satisfaction from spending time among her plants.
Trimmed hedge plants provide borders between beds and pathways in Rosemary Baragwanath's garden. Photo / Bevan Conley
