Centuries-old garden in full autumn bloom
A Canterbury family has been working on their garden since the 1880s. Mikaela Wilkes reports.
When Lou Davison says her garden has been a family work in progress since the
80s, she means the 1880s. Davison inherited more than
4 hectares of native tree-laden land from her mother-in-law, Brownie, when she joined her Canterbury farming family.
‘‘She loved natives, so she’s made it a big area of native planting,’’ Davison said of the 45 different varieties of mature deciduous and native trees.
Davison and her husband Tim have planted extensively over the past four decades – as did his parents before them.
But the garden isn’t overly orchestrated, the Davisons preferring to leave it in an
arrangement that feels like wilderness. More than 100 established trees make autumn a splendour of bright foliage, and the golden ash is the showstopper this time of year with its bright yellow leaves.
Lombardy poplars escort visitors up the drive to the Wynyard house, which is nestled into its surroundings at Culverden, a small town in Northern Canterbury with open views to the Southern Kaiko¯ ura ranges.
The ‘‘modern’’ farmhouse, designed by architect David Robens in 1975, looks like a beach house, Davison says, because of a big row of windows at the entrance. These open out
onto an expanse of lawn that dips into a ha-ha, a Scottish term for a recessed piece of land, that stops sheep from the nearby paddocks wandering onto the front lawn. ‘‘But you wouldn’t know it’s there.’’
‘‘Tim’s great-grandfather bought some land here at the end of the 1880s and divided it among his children, of which there were quite a few. We’ve got this bit.’’
Davison manages all the gardens herself, with the help of an irrigation system. She and Tim have converted some old paddocks into lawn, ‘‘which was not encouraged’’, to provide some more space to sit and walk.
Brownie Davison, who curated the bulk of the garden as it is today, used the rocks off the Lowry Peaks Range to give the area form and provide shelter and homes to small, interesting flora.
The local birdlife love this, and kereru¯ , bellbirds, and fantails are a constant presence as they feast on ko¯ whai, flax, wineberries, and clematis.
The best gardening advice Davison got from her mother-inlaw was: Only grow the things you can. The dry southern climate doesn’t suit things like rhododendron.
The Davisons and two of their neighbouring friends will be opening their impressive gardens to visitors over Anzac weekend for the inaugural Autumn with Art in the Gardens. Lou will be hosting Amberley artist Nell McKellow at Wynyard, as well as a ginmaking workshop led by her brother, the founder of Lighthouse gin, and a catered lunch among the trees.
Within a 3-kilometre radius, attendees can also explore the Willows garden, home to screen print artist Jane McIntosh, and Hemingford garden, a 955ha sheep and cattle farm designed by Cecil Wood in 1952, owned by artist Lissa Holland.
Get full details and tickets at autumnwithartingardens.co.nz.