I have spent a lot of time over the years just plodding about in my own garden and this made me perfectly happy. I love my garden and I wake up every morning and feel blessed to be living where we do. It is my slice of paradise and gives me all I need – all the vegies we can eat, an incredible vista, all the space in the world for my kids to run around in, a garden to enjoy and a meagre income to be earned from the fact that we live here. So at the end of the day it is fair to say I don’t get out much. And I’m ok with that.
But last week I got a call from the lovely Lynda Hallinan, to invite me to give a talk at her Heroic Garden Party. This leads into a wonderful weekend of garden visits for the Heroic Garden Festival where amazing gardens across Auckland throw open their gates with all funds raised going to Hospice. It was such a worthwhile cause and an amazing invitation that I could hardly refuse.
The best thing is the venue for the garden party was the amazing Ayrlies Garden – a Garden of International Significance. The weather had been rotten for the last few days and the boffins had said it would continue to be horribly rainy so it didn’t bode well. No matter how incredible a garden is, loads of folk viewing it in the rain wouldn’t have been very nice at all. But the day cleared to be lovely, but quite muggy and it was refreshing when the water was bubbling over rocks into gorgeous lakes rather than falling from the sky.
From the moment we arrived, you could tell it was an immaculately kept garden and with every turn of the path it didn’t disappoint. I brought Hubby the Un-Gardener with me so he could lug all my stuff about the place and I thought it was fair enough he came garden visiting with me as I’ve been to a few boat shows so we need to even things up. But even he was swept up by the grandeur of the place. We perused the market place eying up all the cool bits and bobs for sale and resisted temptation to buy any plants. I guess this is the upside of only really doing veggie gardening. The vast array of plants before you look really amazing but you wouldn’t have the first idea how to care for them so you just admire them in their pots and walk on by with your money in your pocket.
But I looked at this garden and there was something about it that stirred something in me. We need this in our slice of paradise. The restful nature of a large body of water, the dappled light through shady glades and the play of brightly coloured plants contrasting against pale ones. Meandering paths that lead you on a journey through the garden and of course what better reason than to have statues, columns and objet D’art waiting to be discovered. And hundreds of flowers of all different kinds, colours and shapes. The garden was amazing and it made me long for something more from our roughly mown paddocks. Besides they had to start somewhere all those years ago.
But I couldn’t linger in the beauty of the garden too long as I had to go off and give my talk on separating fact from fiction in the veggie garden, which was well received and is one of my favourite topics. Every day I see so many illogical things being suggested to try on hapless gardens, so it is nice to be able to set the record straight.
Then before we knew it the day had drawn to a close and as we headed home, even Hubby the Un-Gardener was excitedly discussing the possibility of having a lake in our backyard. Now my sector systems are working as well as I had hoped they would in the veggie patch, I think I can find some time to learn about the finer points of landscape gardening. It won’t happen overnight, but I do sincerely hope it will happen.
Come again soon – it is almost time to get those cool season seeds started. Where did my summer go?
Sarah the Gardener : o)
If you want to find out more about Ayrlies Garden you can click >HERE<
Since your garden is in a low-lying area subject to sogginess, digging a pond might help resolve some of those water issues, too! Go for it!
As it is such a huge undertaking, I want to take it slowly so we get it right. You certainly don’t want to create an ugly hole in the garden. : o)
Such beautiful photos.
Thank you so much. : o)
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with! I too love beautiful landscaped gardens, but have neither the time, space nor expertise… so I just have to visit other peoples.
I’m looking to it too, but I’m holding Hubby the Un-Gardener back a little. He tends to rush into things, but as it is such a grand scale thing, I want to make sure it looks good too. I just need to find out the best way to do that, I don’t have a lot of expertise in landscaping either! I need to visit more beautiful gardens I think. : o)