Home is where the garden is
Simon O’Connor, Aaron Wood and Helen Harvey take a tour of the luxurious Himalayan Garden of Tranquility, one of Taranaki’s most spectacular.
This is a garden that changes colour with the seasons.
And each part of the Himalayan Garden of Tranquility has a different theme that tells a story and reminds owners Bindu and Kam Sharma of home.
The Sharmas come from Himachal Pradesh, a state in northern India, which is nestled into the foothills of the Himalayas. The garden’s name reflects their heritage and the peaceful oasis they have created, Bindu says. ‘‘It gives us such tranquility.’’ But the plants are not necessarily those found on the highest mountains in the world. Instead they are plants that look nice in a New Plymouth garden, she says.
‘‘It has got plants which are wind resistant, because it is an exposed site and I wanted colour in the garden so most of the plants change colour with the season.’’
As visitors walk up the front path they walk into a rose garden, with annuals such as marigolds, tulips and petunias.
The roses are an array of different colours.
She has 50 roses around the garden, but only blackberry nip and friesia will be flowering by the festival.
In December and January it is spectacular, she says.
In the summer she leaves her front door open, so she can enjoy the display and allow the perfume from the roses waft in.
Down the drive is the Essence of Hareta - a perfumed garden.
‘‘I have michella. I have got boronias, camellias, fairy camellias, daphne, magnolias, jasmine...’’
Her husband is from the village of Hareta, she says.
‘‘I wanted all perfumed plants, because it’s a little village and they are bright people. They are throughout the world and doing good jobs, so I say to my husband ‘you are spreading the essence in the world through your learning and your skills’.’’
Walking from the perfumed garden the lawn meanders down a slope to a garden arranged with two circles like a number 8, she said.
‘‘Because it was very difficult to design, so we thought, let’s make two circles.
‘‘They look really nice. These circles flow with the horizon.’’
This part of the garden is called the Spirit of Himachal, because there are lots of rhododendrons, which also grow in Himachal, and azaleas.
Then it is up some stairs.
‘‘In that sloping part I have lots of nandina ‘‘gulf stream’’ and pittosporum and leucadendron and they all change colour with the season.’’
The last garden is called Serenity of Bilaspur. Bilaspur is Bindu’s home village.
‘‘Bilaspur is a warmer place
"I wanted all perfumed plants, because it's a little village and they are bright people. They are throughout the world and doing good jobs, so I say to my husband 'you are spreading the essence in the world through your learning and your skills'."
Bindu Sharma
and there are lots of plants that have flowers and colours.
‘‘That’s why I put more coloured plants there. They are mostly yellow and red.
‘‘My mum was a very keen gardener and won the prize for the best garden in her region. And I was brought up with plants with colours and essence, so I wanted to have that sort of look and I got that look there.’’
In New Zealand her dream has come true, Bindu says.
‘‘I had dream of having a beautiful garden and I live my dream.’’
And there are six seats hidden around the garden were she can sit and enjoy the tranquility.
‘‘We have breakfast out here, lunch, afternoon tea, evening tea. In a day we can be in two or three places.’’
After work she likes to sit in her garden and enjoy it, but for the first three years she would spend two or three hours in the weekend working on the dream garden, which Bindu and her husband designed.
But it is a self maintaining garden and doesn’t need much work anymore.
And Bindu has a gardener who does the heavy pruning and spraying, she says.
‘‘Everything has grown and there are not many weeds.
‘‘It’s only the rose garden that needs a lot of maintenance.’’
The couple will set up their table in the rose garden during the Powerco Taranaki Garden Spectacular. It’s the second year they have been in the festival, she says.
‘‘We enjoyed it last year. We enjoyed talking to people and the feedback was really encouraging. It was quite rewarding.
‘‘Whatever we have got from New Zealand, we want to give back to the community as well.’’