Sneak peek of THE GARDEN PARTY
As you amble past the old villa, Edwardian era car and outdoor banquet, your high school literacy lessons might come rushing back.
Hamilton’s newest concept garden is inspired Katherine Mansfield’s well-known short story The Garden Party.
It isn’t open yet but final flourishes are being made ahead of its long-awaited unveiling on Monday afternoon.
Every detail – right down to the throngs of pink canna lilies and roses in the finely pruned garden – has been pulled from the scenes of Mansfield’s story, set in 1906.
After all, roses were the ‘‘only flowers that impress people at garden-parties’’, Mansfield wrote in the story, which revolves around themes of class and poverty.
The Mansfield Garden is the third of the five gardens to open in the current $7.2 million development programme at the Hamilton Gardens.
The first was the Tudor Garden, opened in 2015, and the second was the Concept Garden, which opened in January this year.
The final two of the five – the Picturesque Garden and Surrealist Garden – are set to open in 2019. The early 20th century villa overlooks a pond and the lush ‘‘lily lawn’’.
There’s also a banquet table on the tennis court laden with tea, cream puffs, lamingtons and other dainty-looking morsels. In the short story, remnants of the party’s fancy food are bundled into a basket and delivered to the family’s poverty-stricken and bereaved neighbour.
But this mouth-watering spread is actually fashioned from concrete and resin, designed to brave wind, rain and sunshine.
And the old-fashionedlooking car has been made to withstand the thousands of children bound to clamber over it, Reece Burnett from Waikato Veteran and Vintage Car Club Inc said.
The electric blue Ford Model T, facilitated by Friends’ of Hamilton Gardens, will be permanently stationed on the driveway outside the villa’s front door.
In the early 20th century – when the short story was set – a car was a sign of the wealth the protagonist’s middle class family enjoyed.
Making it had been a community effort, Burnett said.
It took almost 30 companies, boundless expertise and thousands of hours to construct it from scratch, mostly from plate steel. Its glossy red seats have been fashioned from fibreglass.
For the garden’s opening, a good turnout is expected – possibly too good.
More traffic controls will be put in place for the opening afternoon, to avoid the traffic nightmare at the Hamilton Gardens in September brought on by a sunny day paired with a Tulip Festival.
But extra volunteers will be on duty to manage the expected crowds and protect the garden, Friends’ of Hamilton Gardens president Virginia Graham said.
‘Keep off the Lawn’ is a phrase scarcely heard in New Zealand, she said, but gardeners are concerned for the carefully managed garden.
Friends’ of Hamilton Gardens – which raised $150,000 for the garden – recently toured through the almost-finished design, Graham said.
‘‘People were just gobsmacked. They were thrilled.’’
In honour of the late New Zealand author, it was important to get every detail of the garden right, Graham said.
‘‘[Mansfield] was a great one for detail,’’ she said. ‘‘It also puts Katherine Mansfield into the context of that period. [The garden] is part of saying this is what Edwardian New Zealand Gardens looked like.’’
But like every concept garden, there’s a story behind the pretty flowers.
‘‘Mansfield really changed the way people looked at literature in her short stories ... The Mansfield Garden represents literature.
‘‘It has relevance, it has meaning. And the garden tells the meaning.’’
The Mansfield Garden’s opening runs from 4pm to 7pm on November 12.