Southern delight
Michael and Doreen Dryden’s spectacular Hurunui garden is a labour of love three decades in the making.
Loch Leven is a spectacular Hurunui garden three decades in the making.
It’s been nearly 30 years since the couple moved to Loch Leven and Doreen’s enthusiasm for her garden and nursery has not dimished.
doreen Dryden’s superb skills as a plantswoman are apparent the minute you arrive at Loch Leven, the delightful garden she owns with husband Michael near Rotherham, north of Christchurch.
Here, large perennial borders filled with a rich array of plants, including well-clipped hedges of escallonia, buxus, teucrium, lonicera and choisya give definition and structure to the space. A productive potager feeds the couple virtually year round, and there are graceful shade trees and an emerald green lawn.
You’d think Doreen would have her work cut out looking after such a spectacular garden, but it turns out this hard-working Cantabrian can turn her hand to much, much more.
For a start, there’s the nursery that she runs from the property, propagating and growing about 30,000 young hedge plants a year as well as a range of other perennials and shrubs. When we speak, Doreen is in the middle of packing up some of the thousands of plants that she regularly sends to both the South and North Islands.
She also opens the outstanding garden to the public in spring and summer (though the garden and nursery are open by appointment all year), and is part of this year’s Hurunui Garden Festival.
Then there are the calves she and Michael fatten up on their 28-hectare farm to sell.
When they first moved to Loch Leven, Doreen often looked after it on her own while caring for their two young children as Michael had just started a livestock firm with four other agents. He worked “huge hours” and was often away.
It’s been nearly 30 years since the couple moved to Loch Leven and Doreen’s enthusiasm for her garden and nursery has not diminished. “I love what I do, even though it’s hard work,” she says. “It’s very therapeutic being able to work with plants.”
Since those early days the garden has expanded significantly. Indeed there was very little garden when they first arrived, Doreen recalls. “There was a small lawn beside the house with a gum and a couple of silver birches and a few conifers. But I desperately wanted a nice garden and you can’t have that without shelter.
“I planted Leyland cypresses and poplars along the northwest fence line as we were very exposed to the northwest winds. The shelter belt took a while to establish and when it did, we cut the poplars out.”
“We only grow what can handle our harsh conditions, so our plants have to be hardy. Over the years I’ve learnt what can survive in our climate.”
The wind was not the only thing she had to contend with. Lack of water in a region prone to drought was another. “Our summers are usually very hot, up in the late 30s and there’s very little rainfall. We had to put a watering system in but luckily we have a bore. It’s not automatic – just large sprinklers that I move around. We also have a fixed grid irrigation system for the farm that can extend into the garden if necessary, which is really helpful.
“Winter is the other extreme. Temperatures can drop to -10°C. In 2012, after a snowfall, the ground and plants froze for days. Many natives did not survive so we cut them out and replaced them with hardy exotics. We only grow what can handle our harsh conditions, so our plants have to be very hardy. Over the years I’ve learnt what can survive in our climate.”
Rabbits are another big problem with the furry creatures devouring new plants as fast as Doreen can put them in. They’re particularly fond of dwarf toetoe ( Chionochloa flavicans), she says. “Spring is the worst time. They dig up new plants and break the stems off others. I have to fence off any new planting areas with chicken netting.”
Although she had a plan drawn up for the garden in the beginning, this was soon dispensed with. Doreen admits this was largely because she and Michael kept changing their minds and shifting the garden fences further out into the paddocks. Two house extensions, the construction of a grass tennis court, and then a swimming pool meant the garden has been constantly evolving.
“The garden was developed in stages, when finances and time allowed,” Doreen explains. “We marked out the garden beds and planted them with structured, formal areas close to the house. Further out, we planted large trees, herbaceous borders, a silver-grey garden and some native areas. We had a bulldozer in to create some contoured areas in the flat paddock and built a dry-stone wall garden. We had some huge rocks that we managed to source locally and incorporated these into the garden too. We put the grass tennis court in early on, which has given us many hours of enjoyment over the years with friends and family, and our son used it as a cricket pitch. The in-ground pool was installed in 2003 and this also gives us many hours of pleasure. It’s great for cooling off when working in the garden on a hot summer’s day.”
Among the many exotic trees planted in the garden, Doreen has found claret ash ( Fraxinus angustifolia ‘Raywoodii’) best able to handle the harsh conditions of their region. They are also the most popular trees with visitors, particularly in autumn with their beautiful leaf colours. Pin oaks ( Quercus palustris) also
do well. Gleditsia were not as successful as they couldn’t cope with the strong winds while flowering cherries tended to “sucker terribly”.
Michael is also a keen gardener. “He will do anything: pruning roses, spraying, mowing lawns and cutting hedges. We share this job because we have so many and it is hard work.”
Propagating new plants from those hedges is now the largest part of the Loch Leven nursery business.
Doreen started the nursery when her children were small, finding it an ideal occupation that could be done at home with few overheads and would fit easily around the needs of her family. “I started just potting up perennials and selling them at a local market in Hanmer Springs and the Christmas Country Fete. This was really successful and motivated me to grow other plants. It also gave me money to spend on more plants for the garden.”
From that modest start working with a small shade house, she now has two more shade areas built by Michael and their son Tom as well as a large tunnel-house to protect newly rooted plants over the winter months.
“I would buy one plant and propagate to get more to plant. Friends and neighbours gave me cuttings and pieces which I propagated as well,” she recalls. “Eventually I got into propagating hedging plants as we needed hundreds for our garden and they were
Among the many exotic trees planted in the garden, Doreen has found claret ash best able to handle the harsh conditions of their region.
very popular and still are today. Once my hedges got established, I was able to grow thousands of cuttings from them.”
Michael has now retired from his stock agent business, enabling the couple to further expand the nursery. Online sales make up most of their business but they also sell plants locally and to garden tours and groups. “People love purchasing something they have seen growing in the garden, especially a perennial that is flowering.”
Although she has always had her own strong vision for the garden, Doreen also finds inspiration from visiting other gardens both here and overseas. Penny Zino’s Flaxmere garden (also in the Hurunui Garden Tour) is one of her favourites. A trip three years ago to England included many garden visits, redoubling her enthusiasm for perennials. “Often after visiting another garden, I’ll come home and want to make ours larger but now we are both conscious of not increasing the size of the garden as it is enjoyable, manageable and a real pleasure as it is now.”
How to visit: Hurunui Garden Festival, November 2-4. Also: hurunuigardenfestival.com or lochlevennursery.co.nz.