SPOILT FOR CHOICE
Black and white seemed the obvious colour combo for this ply and batten cottage, but when it came to the garden, the choices weren’t so clear-cut
Decisions, decisions in fertile New Plymouth
New plymouth’s mild climate and rich, volcanic soil leave gardeners with a problem that the greenfingered in other parts of the country would love to have – too much choice. It’s often a case of deciding what not to grow, rather than be limited by the conditions.
It took Faye and Finn McDonald years to work out what they wanted in their garden. They bought their New Plymouth home 25 years ago; a humble little marine ply and batten cottage that was formerly part of the vast Glen Almond estate, painted a standard shade of white. Then came the first radical change. “I’d always wanted a black and white house. At first we painted it a very dark conifer-green, now it’s a low-sheen black, which really suits the house,” Faye says.
Then, a decade ago, they tackled the English cottage-style garden. “It was time for a change,” Faye says.
A friend recommended landscape architect Michael Mansvelt of Taranaki-based firm Plantation Design House. “At first we just wanted to take out the old roses and the brick path. But he was a total enthusiast and wanted to do the whole garden. And honestly, we have loved it to bits.”
“The old garden was quite charming but a lot of work,” says Michael. “So I came up with a simplified, formalised series of outdoor living rooms, furnished with things to love.”
On Faye’s wish-list were ‘Iceberg’ roses, buxus, a vege plot and a low-maintenance design that provided year-round greenery.
Michael had worked as a landscape designer in Sydney, so was familiar with hedging and structural plants for humid conditions. He chose Japanese box for its better resistance to blight, and a few different camellias, including the willow leaf variety ‘Ariel’s Song’: “It has very small leaves; bell-shaped, sweet, soft pink flowers the size of your thumb.”
Petal blight is a big problem in Taranaki so for the northern boundary Michael chose ‘Lily Pons’, a semi-double camellia with beautiful, heavy white blooms that fall before they go brown. >
But the biggest transformation is the space out the back, which Finn calls their “escape” – a chill-out zone for these busy retirees (she was a dental nurse, he was an insurance broker). It’s a courtyard with a cabana and fireplace. The efficient fireplace is Finn’s pride and joy. “Initially we did a bit of experimentation as to the best fuel but now we just use pine cones from the family farm in Lepperton. There’s something about it being outside – we didn’t want artificial fuel. You can’t beat the scent wafting from pine, and when the fire’s roaring it heats up and radiates over the entire courtyard area.”
This, together with atmospheric lighting, means the McDonalds can eat and entertain outside year-round, Finn taking charge of the cooking on his gas-fired barbecue. The planting here is simple (including immense paving slabs interplanted with tough mini mondo grass) and the colour scheme a calm green and white – though red geraniums in pots introduce rogue splashes of colour: “They were meant to be white!” says Faye. “It was a bit annoying when they first flowered, but we rather like them now.”
Beyond the patio is a tiny patch of grass, a favourite spot of visiting grandkids, says Finn. “They come here and play at farming, making silage with toy tractors.”
In the small potager on the other side of the house they are growing enough of their favourite veges to keep them selfsufficient in greens: kale, silverbeet, broccoli, spinach, lettuce and a few rampant bushes of basil, parsley and rosemary. Behind these planter boxes, a row of lemons and Tahitian limes bask in the sun. The citrus is underplanted with heliotrope, which is a magnet for bees, and interspersed with Murraya paniculata: “It never flowers as we like to keep it clipped for structure.”
Star jasmine provides a stylish, easy cover for the garage, and a row of kumquats produces fruit that is dispatched each year to their neighbour, who makes “divine” marmalade with it.
But the garden is by no means finished. Last November the McDonalds had a water feature at the front removed. “It was always filthy, and we were just a bit concerned that a kiddie would stumble into it.” They also installed a growing wall at the back, filled with bromeliads, ferns and cymbidiums.
“Finn and Faye are great because you have it all perfect then they say, ‘What about we do this?’ says Michael. “Then we rethink. They constantly want to improve, and that’s cool because gardens should never be stagnant.”