Visual symphony

This couple have coaxed the young garden of their Christchurch property into a sanctuary

Music wafts through open doors to mingle with birdsong in a garden that feels a million miles from the bustling city that lies just a stone’s throw away.

Jane Ashton, pianist and former music teacher, is in her favourite place: at the keyboard of her piano in the central Christchurch haven she and husband Sid have called home for quarter of a century.

A bridge-like walkway between long parallel pools leads to the front door and circular entrance foyer, setting the scene for what lies beyond. The living room opens to a lyrical garden wrapped in high leafy walls, giving the sense of being on a secluded island oasis.

The Ashtons first viewed the Merivale property 25 years ago. “We loved the house but the absolute clincher was the view of the garden, which was then very much in its infancy,” says Jane.

The rear section is an awkward triangular shape and it had taken some thoughtful artistry by landscape architect Rob Watson to solve some potential areas of discordance.

“Every garden needs a bit of music,” declares Rob whose solution has been to compose a counterpoint of wild and tame, anchored by a few key structural elements.

“We needed to obscure the boundary and draw the eye to the centre.” He cast a circular fishpond in the starring role, the garden revolving around it with linear and circular axis lines in the form of hedges and paths distracting from the section’s asymmetry.

Two steel pergolas installed over the terrace connect the house with the garden both visually and practically. Dripping with purple wisteria, they also provide muchneeded shade on hot summer days.

Hedging has been used to contain rather than constrain wilder plantings. Behind clipped curves of lonicera, full blooms of Rosa ‘Sally Holmes’ provide the backdrop for a rampant bed of peonies, irises, salvia, daylilies, sedums and pinks. The opposite border, more shaded and cool, is lush with the layered foliage of hostas, Solomon’s seal, geums and oak-leafed hydrangeas beneath tall tree ferns. There is even a woodland walk, with gravel paths weaving through hellabores, bluebells, violets and towering Mount Peel lilies.

Rob has used waist-high hedges set in a metre or so from the boundary to create an illusion of greater space in the small garden, suggesting there is more beyond.

The “behind the hedge” feel adds mystery to a garden, allowing the imagination to roam beyond physical paths, he says. High

“hedges” on the boundary itself are, in fact, concrete block walls cloaked in an array of creepers. Self-adhering ivy, ficus, Virginia creeper, climbing hydrangea and Chinese Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus henryana) intertwine to form a tapestry of greenery on the low-maintenance barrier from sound and wind. The use of gravel rather than lawn reduces labour.

“We cannot imagine a more tranquil garden than ours,” says Jane. “It’s very green and private, while also full of interest and always changing.”

Maples, along with a large quince tree that is smothered in spring blossom, are key players in the garden’s march through the four seasons. The solstices are extreme, with the sheltered garden a sun-trap in summer and the pond staying frozen for several days at a time during winter.

If the pond is the heart of the garden, a sculpture nearby is its soul. “Our wonderful sculpture of eels by Bing Dawe was a gift to Sid when he retired from his work [as chief executive] with Ngāi Tahu, and one which has profound meaning for us both.”

The sculpture, which depicts eels draped over large steel hoops, is also a lure for their children and grandchildren.

The older offspring are now taking a more active interest in the garden. “Our eldest grandson, Sam, built raised vegetable beds for us which we love.”

Handy to french doors opening from the kitchen, they are filled with herbs and leafy greens. Another grandson, Henry, enjoys supplying his grandparents with unusual edibles, including a vigorous cherry guava which is laden with fruit through winter.

Badger, the dachshund, is less helpful in the garden. “I’ve given up growing broad beans because the greedy dog bites them off and eats them.” Badger has more recently taken to augmenting his diet with sashimi, snapping up unwitting goldfish who venture too close to the pond’s edge.

Birds also enjoy the refreshing pool and fruits of the garden. Kererū fly in for the holly berries, the fig tree provides a feast for wax-eyes in autumn and a huge banksia brings bellbirds in winter.

“They sing and sing,” says Jane, who is more than happy to add her musical accompaniment to their songs.

‘We cannot imagine a more tranquil garden than ours’

THIS PAGE (from top) A segment of Bing Dawe’s eel sculpture sits beside a clipped lonicera hedge and Rosa ‘Sally Holmes’. “The pergolas provide shade on our sweltering summer days. It’s bliss sitting out there on a hot day with an iced drink,” says Jane, who sets long trestle tables beneath them for lunches and gatherings. The house opens onto an alfresco dining area before stepping down to the paved terrace. OPPOSITE (left to right from top row) Badger, the dachshund, enjoys a shady spot on the terrace between two potted lemons. Rhododendron ‘Fragrantissimum’. Now 27 years old, the wisteria’s gnarled trunks add provenance to the garden. A terracotta Burrelli pot sits beyond the pond which sprouts irises that flower purple and white. Jane and Sid beside their much-loved eel sculpture. Cheerful faces of Japanese anemones add lightness and movement to the garden beds. White Iris confusa grows under standard Portuguese laurels behind ponds by the front door.

THESE PAGES A view from the upper storey of the house shows an aerial carpet of wisteria flowers and tree fern fronds over garden beds planted for the sun or shade; subtle level changes underfoot follow the contours of the land while irregularly stepped hedges add geometric yet organic structure to the garden’s design.