After Monet |
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From the outset, Mark took care of the structural elements – the pathways, rock walls and terraces, the summer house and pergolas and the native plantings. An international forestry expert by profession, he has always taken particular pride in the flourishing stands of assorted natives – everything from manuka and ake ake to kowhai, ribbonwood, lemon-wood and olearia hedging – all of which have attracted rich bird life to the garden.
Rosie, meanwhile, has created the remainder of the garden, very much inspired by the English style of gardeners such as Vita Sackville-West and by the calm French beauty of the painter Monet’s garden in Giverny.
“After a number of visits, France has become my great love and I’ve been to Monet’s garden three times. Our climate is similar to Giverny’s, so I’ve been able to copy a lot of their plantings. What I love about Monet’s garden are the artistic intentions behind the plantings and the intimate nature of the garden,” she says.
“It’s not a huge garden but it has an enormous richness and he was happy to let the plants have their freedom. That’s been my approach here. I love a wild mix of colours and the accidents that happen. I like having something startling and completely unexpected in the garden.”
And so it is that Rosie’s archways billow with a mix of exotic clematis, white wisteria, scented roses and ‘Doyenne du Comice’ pears. The iris walk is also home to a pretty tangle of aquilegia, ‘Black Parrot’ tulips, rhododendrons and forget-me-nots; white daisies and azaleas burst into spring colour with their toes surrounded by bluebells and wild daisies.
Old roses have clambered to the tops of trees and dwarf apple trees happily keep company with roses, lavender, lilies, lupins and borage. The colourful perennial border is overhung with flowering cherries and filled with blooms for every season – from tulips and narcissus to delphiniums, irises, lilies and aquilegias bought as seed in France.
At the top of the garden, a bountiful orchard is home to old-fashioned varieties of fruits that Rosie puts to good use in the kitchen. More than 120 rose varieties – multi-coloured and richly scented – are planted beside the vegetable beds and currant bushes.
The garden has been planned to provide different sitting and entertaining areas, each protected from the prevailing winds and, over the last five years, it has had a particularly special place in Rosie’s life.
In 2004, in the middle of a busy professional and family life, Rosie was dancing outdoors at a wedding when her silk skirt snagged on a garden tap and she fell and hit her head. Five weeks later she underwent the first of two surgeries to relieve the subdural bleeds. The road to recovery after the injury and resulting surgeries has been harder than she could have imagined, Rosie says. Her book, Just a Bang on the Head, was published last year and describes the devastation a head injury wreaks.
“I used to spend a huge amount of time working in the garden but I’m much more restricted now. When I couldn’t get out and about, I lay in the window seat working out the plantings for the iris walkway and my trusted friend, Gary Kennard, who has helped me in the garden for 13 years, put my plans into action. He’s always been very sensitive to this garden, so I knew it was in safe hands.
“I still enjoy the garden immensely. I walk around it every day and it’s played a huge part in my recovery,” says Rosie. “I always loved my grandmother’s garden and seeing my grand-children playing in our garden makes all the hard work seem worthwhile. More than ever, the garden is a place of peace for Mark and me – we never tire of coming home to it.”
Story: Adrienne Rewi
Photographs: Juliet Nicholas
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