Beauty by Lake Hawea
The simple name – The Paddock – belies a well-planned, much-loved and enchanting Lake Hawea garden that’s simply a breathtaking labour of love.
Visit a flower-filled country garden
gardens are often bestowed with fanciful, sometimes downright extravagant names but Donella Osborne prefers to keep hers real. She and husband John christened their beautifully planted Central Otago property The Paddock, an unpretentious name that suits their own history and that of the patch of land itself. “We come from a farming background so the name was relevant to that. And when we purchased our piece of ground it was just a bare paddock with only grass on it.”
The couple bought the half hectare – part of a subdivision on the south side of a hill behind Lake Hawea township – in 2003. It was in extremely poor condition with very dry, compacted soil, recalls Donella. “I describe it as unloved. It had been farmed prior to the 1930s depression but since then, nothing much had been done to it. The soil was very hard because it gets so dry here in the summer. Unless you water regularly, nothing grows.”
And water they did; constantly. They also added copious amounts of organic matter, particularly lucerne hay to boost the fertility of the arid soil, for the couple was desperate to plant some trees for privacy. “There was only one house on the street at that time and no vegetation anywhere,” Donella says. “We had always lived in rural areas so moving onto such a bare section on the edge of a town, I felt like the whole world could see me.”
The first thing they did was install rabbit (the curse of Central Otago) netting. “I managed to buy some plants with the money I earned washing tractors and we planted the front and back perimeters. I used to ask everyone to give me plant vouchers for Christmas and birthdays to buy more plants.”
Although keen to get plants in the ground, Donella had a clear plan in her head for the shape of the garden. She and John decided to put their new house at the back of the rectangular section with ornamental planting around it, a tunnel-house and potager on the eastern side, and a more open area on the north front side with large trees along with the main vegetable garden and berry houses. “Because the section is shaped like an envelope, I used to carry an envelope around and draw on it. I still have that envelope! The garden is still virtually the same as the plan I drew. I had plenty of time to think about where to put plants as the ground was so hard and dry from never being irrigated that we had to use a crowbar to dig any holes at first.
“We planned the section so that if it were to be subdivided in the future (hopefully that will never happen) with the garden nestled around the house, we wouldn’t lose it. The front half is a more open area so the grandsons can fly a kite and kick a ball without damaging anything. We wanted a park-like feel there. I think the big trees create a nice atmosphere and contrast with the close-knit planting around the house.”
Lavender is a key plant, used to link various areas in the garden, flowing across the front of the house down the garden, along the driveway around to the front park area, and also into the vegetable potager at the side of the house. Donella grows ‘Munstead’, a smaller lavender in the potager; the larger ‘Grosso’ and ‘Super’ form
“Because the section is shaped like an envelope, I used to carry an envelope around and draw on it… The garden is still virtually the same as the plan I drew.”
a ribbon shape around the house and driveway, with ‘Hidcote’ by the garage. She propagated all the lavender plants herself; ‘Munstead’ from seed and the other varieties from cuttings.
Likewise with many of the other plants in The Paddock, grown from cuttings, divisions and seeds collected over the years from other people’s gardens. “There’s a lot of satisfaction in gathering,” she says. “I feel our garden has been gathered from the gardens of friends and family. That gives it an extra dimension. I have a yellow paeony from John’s grandmother’s garden, and pink paeonies and hostas from my own grandmother. Lots of bits came from John’s mother and mine. When you see them flower, you think of those people.”
Donella’s an expert propagator, honing her skills when she first started the garden by attending an agricultural training course on propagation. “I enrolled because I knew we were going to need lots of plants. It covered everything: seed, divisions, cuttings and grafting. I gained a lot of new knowledge. I had always played with cuttings and so on, but the course gave me confidence and understanding when things failed. I grafted the five
Malus ‘Profusion’ I have in the garden and espaliered a ‘Golden Delicious’ apple.”
“I feel our garden has been gathered from the gardens of friends and family… When you see the plants flower, you think of those people.”
Four of the malus are planted in the gardens around the house as Donella loves the contrast of their purple leaves with the other foliage in summer and winter. In spring, they’re covered in hot pink blossoms while tiny purple apples in winter add further interest.
Another crabapple in the park area is ‘Jack Humm’, selected for its large apples that turn “a magnificent crimson”, staying on the tree after leaf fall and providing food for the birds in July and August. They can get leggy though, she warns. “You need to train them a little for good form.”
Other large trees in the park area include green and claret ashes ( Fraxinus pennsylvanica and Fraxinus
angustifolia ‘Raywood’) and pin oaks ( Quercus palustris). She uses box hedges to frame the entrances to various areas, or to guide people into a different part of the garden. “They give some structure in winter, but in summer they disappear in the bubbles and froth. I use a bit of catmint too. It goes nicely with lavender.”
Adding decorative touches among the profusion of plants are a variety of rustic “bits and pieces” that the couple have collected over the years, including old gates, buckets and a plough that had been pulled by a vintage tractor beneath The Paddock sign at the entrance to the garden. Each has an interesting history, particularly the plough which was actually used by John when learning how to plough a few years back.
Living on the south side of a hill in Central Otago has its downsides, one of them being the frequency of frosts.
“I grow enough potatoes to last us all year and this year we’ll have enough pumpkins to feed the whole neighbourhood.”
“We are on the edge of a nasty frost pool,” Donella admits. “Sometimes, there’s a seven-degree variance in temperatures between our property and those on the other side of the hill facing the lake. We get a lot of spring frosts. It was -5˚C this November and last year, we had three frosts in January. That’s why we have frost pots in the orchard.”
With the frosts debilitating her berries last year she decided to give them a boost by laying down sheep dags as a mulch around their roots. A nurseryman friend in Gore gave her the sheep dag tip and it works. “This year they have exploded with growth and the dags helped keep the weeds down. Apparently it worked so well, Lincoln University did a study to find out why. When they are first laid down the dags leach urine, then little amounts of the manure as they break down, then finally the wool rots away. It’s a complete, balanced five-year fertiliser.”
Another of Donella’s secret weapons is lucerne hay which she used when she first started planting the garden to improve the friability, texture and fertility of the soil. “The soil here is very low in minerals. It’s just glacial dust washed down from the mountains. It has no organic matter, so it doesn’t hold nutrients. Lucerne hay is the top of the food chain as far as stock food goes. It has large amounts of nitrogen, a lot more nutrients than pea straw and lasts about 18 months. We also added animal manure – horse, cow, sheep. Still do. I think that’s why my plants have grown so well. We now have nice black soil.”
The soil was also very sour initially, so the couple had to add a lot of lime to sweeten it and allow the soil
to release calcium. When John feeds the lawn every year, the garden beds usually get a dressing of lime as well. He’s also in charge of building, irrigation and making or installing Donella’s “bits and pieces”. Currently he’s making a small gate for her out of a recycled steel wheel.
But caring for the rest of the garden including the vegetable areas and orchard is all down to his wife. “Basically I’ll grow all our vegetables every year, apart from kumara which won’t grow here,” says Donella. “I’ll start planting in autumn in the tunnelhouse – carrots, beetroot, spinach, onions, brassicas – and these will last until Christmas when the main crops in the large production garden in the open ground come on. I grow enough potatoes to last us all year and this year we’ll have enough pumpkins to feed the whole neighbourhood.” Every berry you can think of is in her garden as well as grapes, apples, pears, apricots and plum trees. A lot of the berries and vegetables go in the freezer, and Donella’s a dab hand at preserving.
Incredibly she also gardens for other people, although she recently cut that down to only three days a week. “This garden takes more time now. I thought it was a lot of work getting a garden established but often there seems to be more work once it’s established!”
Opening the garden to visitors must add significantly to the workload but this indefatigable and generous gardener welcomes the chance to show her garden to others. “It’s lovely to share what you have with other people. It’s a lot more enjoyable than keeping it to yourself. And you learn from the experience because you get their feedback and ideas.”
How to visit:
Email jddjo@lakehaweacontracting.co.nz or call 03 443 6999 / 027 408 7719. More info at gardenstovisit.co.nz/private-gardens/the-paddock.aspx.