There’s precious little time for Fergus Innes and Grant Iles to sit back and enjoy the Pukekohe paradise they’ve developed. When the pair aren’t busy cultivating 4000sqm of top-quality orchids for the export market, they’re tending the garden that is the focus of their 3ha property in Pukekohe on the outskirts of Auckland.
“Fergus keeps on building decks and seats but we never have the time to relax on them,” says Grant, laughing.
The orchid business sucks up much of their energy, as Fergus and Grant do everything themselves. “We grow, pick, pack and deliver them to the airport so we’re in control of the whole process,” Fergus explains. “We do get the odd day off but lifestyle properties are a lot of work so there’s always something to do.”
Since buying the property nine years ago, the pair have expanded the existing orchid-growing business and extended the garden that wraps around their house and flows down a tiered slope to the large pond below.
“The general framework of the garden was here when we bought it,” says Fergus. “The previous owners put in the pond. It was just a very swampy pocket of land before. We have built on their vision.”
The picturesque pool is fed by a pebbled stormwater run-off that Grant says becomes a veritable waterfall after heavy rainfall. Viewed from different parts of the garden, it offers a restful focal point and Fergus has built a boardwalk so that visitors can take a stroll out into the middle of the watery vista.
Blue and red-painted seats provide perfect spots to take in the peaceful setting and a bucolic view past a fringe of willows, swamp cypress and the yellow flowers of wachendorfia to the countryside beyond. In the summer, the pond is surrounded by the sky blue flowers of a plumbago spilling from the terraced hillside.
Grant says he gets his relaxation from the three hours it takes to cut the lawns in the upper part of the property and the sweeping grass walkways that lead to the pond. He uses a ride-on lawnmower and admits to having accidentally baptised it in the pond. Fergus isn’t spared lawnmowing duties – he finishes off the rest with a hand mower.
“The garden looks after itself really,” claims Fergus, though it’s hard to believe this could be true. A mix of mature trees, flowering shrubs – such as cherries, tulip magnolias, camellias and pink loropetalums – and perennials gives the garden an artful symmetry. Clipped Lonicera nitida and buxus hedging as well as the descending levels of ponga-lined tiers provide a strong structure, softened by the fronds of the tree ferns that have sprung up from the retaining walls.
Wide gravel steps lead from the house down to the first tier of the garden, flanked by robust clipped buxus balls and perfectly counterpointed by a lazy straggle of Californian poppies and wide borders of bergenias. A tall, rustic fountain pulls the components together and this juxtaposition of formal and “random” throughout the garden gives it an atmosphere of casual elegance.
“The garden is all about creating a sense of balance,” says Fergus. “Because the front of the site runs down a hillside, the garden is layered and that’s what makes it a bit different.”
Both men have extensive plant knowledge, having worked at various times in the horticultural industry. After 20 years in aviation, Fergus moved into the landscaping industry with stints in garden retail centres.
Grant ran his own plant mail order company for many years and “brought some of my favourites with me here, such as the irises and hellebores”.
The property is blessed with the rich volcanic soils for which Pukekohe is famous. “The growth rate here is phenomenal,” says Fergus, indicating a stand of London plane trees. “They’re only a few years old.” Near the house Fergus has developed paddocks that were once home to goats, creating generous expanses of lawn that offer the perfect site for planting more trees.
“The mature trees that were already on the property were one of the drawcards when we first came to see it,” says Fergus. “We’ve also planted avocados and other fruit trees at the back of the house.” He jokes that their vegetable garden is the tidiest in the country because they never have the time to plant produce in the raised beds.
Despite their busy lifestyle, they have hatched a plan to extend the steps down from the house into a staircase that leads directly to the pond. And they still find time to look to the future.
“My next dream would be to have an ultra-modern house surrounded by a Japanese garden,” says Grant.
