Rare collection
Unusual flowers, unique perennials and all manner of plants large and small get a place in this legendary plantsman’s Taupo¯ garden.
Legendary plantsman Gordon Collier’s Taupō garden.
Gardening on a flat town section near Taup¯o composed entirely of sand and pumice was certainly a challenge after my Titoki Point garden, 30 miles from Taihape. There, several acres spreading over a steep clay north-facing hillside presented totally different conditions. But years of gardening and collecting plants that had taken my eye resulted in many interesting, uncommon and sometimes rare plants coming with us to start a new garden. After 18 years, it is time to record in print my efforts at Taup¯o.
I have always been interested in our own native plants but I try to find the right plant for the right place regardless of where it comes from. So a native fuchsia is planted near the front door. It is a hybrid between Fuchsia excorticata ‘Purpurea’ and Fuchsia procumbens. This started as a cutting taken from a line of seedlings at Lincoln College and the resulting bush grows to about 75cm, and in full sun its foliage is a soft burnished red. Cut hard back in winter, it soon grows to make a handsome but unusual plant. Dan Hinkley, the famous plant explorer and nurseryman visiting from America, took a cutting home; he called it ‘Ruby Wedding.’
In what used to be the vegetable garden, blue flowers overshadowed by Elaeagnus ‘Quick Silver’ predominate. This is a small-growing silver-leafed tree which I first saw at Sissinghurst and duly imported.
Perennial violas grow happily in a shady border here. Viola ‘Milkmaid’ is the current favourite and lamiums too. Lamium ‘White Nancy’ makes great groundcover. Another, Lamium ‘Beedham’s White’ – a comparative newcomer – bears white-hooded flowers above golden foliage. It’s a real rarity.
Some years ago, Mark and Abby Jury gave me a species camellia, named, they tell me, Camellia yuhsienensis. In early spring, it’s studded with irregularly shaped, small white flowers. Abby says it is their favourite. Hopefully, like most other early-flowering camellias, it will be resistant to petal blight.
Ferns are coming back in favour, having been neglected since Victorian times. On one of my many visits to the Chatham Islands, I collected Polystichum vestitum. There, it grows up to 1m high with emerging golden fronds. Fuchsia
When I saw it covered in large, white-frilled flowers, I had to have it… space is limited, but if I squeeze hard enough, it will be tucked in somewhere.
A botanist tells me this is the same as the mainland form which is sometimes known as pig fern; this characteristic is known as gigantism and is a feature of some plants over on the Chathams. This fern is certainly worth a place in my garden. It’s wonderful.
Another fern that grows in my pond has no common name but rejoices in the botanical name of Onoclea sensibilis. It’s quite small, but I cherish it as it was one of the plants I brought back through the Panama Canal when returning from my OE in 1962. I have never seen it anywhere else in New Zealand but here it spreads slowly sideways to make a handsome hassock of leaves.
Carex stricta ‘Aurea’, a golden grass, thrives in the water here also. That famous English gardener E.A. Bowles found it once; I am glad he did, it is a premier water plant though happy in damp soil also.
Fountains play on the other side of the house just as they did when once I saw them at Alhambra in Spain. There is a narrow border each side and in one, a row of Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Quadricolor’ makes quite a show with their four-coloured leaves – white, yellow and two shades of green. Author Colin Hutchinson gave me cuttings of this years ago and though it is still uncommon, Woodleigh Nursery lists it in their catalogue.
Michelias have had a name change; botanists now declare they are magnolias. Magnolia ‘Genie’ is a great plant for a small garden and Magnolia ‘Melody’ (formerly michelia), bred by Vance Hooper, has now joined it here. When I saw it covered in large, white-frilled flowers, I had to have it. It is still in a pot and space is limited, but if I squeeze hard enough, it will be tucked in somewhere.
While there were hundreds of hostas in Titoki Point, only a handful are here. I imported five hostas in 1962 when there were only a few varieties around. Now thanks to tissue culture there are hundreds. Hosta ‘J.W. Matthews’ is special – given to me by Barbara Matthews, remembering her husband, Julian’s father, Jim [ Jim and Barbara Matthews founded NZ Gardener in 1944, and their son Julian is a previous editor]. Of Hosta sieboldiana parentage, it’s distinguished by its distinct leaf marking. I am pleased to grow it, having lost and found it again at Bill Robinson’s nursery (Tikitere Gardens) near Rotorua.
Our native grass trees, dracophyllums, are as hard to locate as they are to grow. Fortunately they need free draining soils. Surprisingly, about 35 species are native to New Zealand. There are a couple from the Chathams growing in my bush garden but the prize goes to Dracophyllum menziesii which comes from Stewart Island and southwest Westland. This is extremely rare in cultivation but quite happy in a trough near the front deck.
Lily of the valley either likes you or it doesn’t. The white and the pink varieties are certainly happy in woodland conditions in my shady border. The two I enjoy were both imported – Convallaria ‘Hardwick Hall’ and Convallaria majalis striata, the latter with golden striped leaves is greatly admired by visitors. The double form still eludes me. Growing here also is Paris durongensis from China. The star-like green flower tops a metre-tall stalk emerging just as you think it has died. A plantsman, the late Ron Gordon, brought this rarity back from Mount Omei in China.
Really special is a tall, unnamed white flowering alstroemeria. This is not available in the trade as it is guarded by a few lucky growers.
Calycanthus ‘Hartlage Wine’, known in America as Carolina allspice, can sometimes be found in garden centres but is far from common. Every spring, long slender branches carry stunning deep maroon flowers – these are slightly perfumed. Losing its leaves in autumn, it forms a shrub, in damp soils, about 3m tall and as much wide.
Another shrub, or really a small tree, is one of the best of the new dogwoods. Cornus ‘Greenvale’ was introduced by Blue Mountain Nurseries, having been found as a hybrid seedling on a local farm. The flowers are large and a creamy white but the interest builds as summer sees the flowers colour up nicely.
If I had to choose one plant of the many growing here, it would most likely be ground orchid Cypripedium japonicum, introduced by Parva Plants about 25 years ago. Even in leaf, this rarity is an eyecatcher but when it flowers, it is a stunner. It has never been established in the ground here but is quite happy left to its own devices in a half wine barrel.
Perennials are coming back in favour. There are several of interest in this garden. Aralia ‘Sun King’ was plant of the year in America but rare in New Zealand until introduced by Tikitere Nursery. Like its relatives, it is deciduous but doesn’t sucker. This perennial grows to a mound about 1m high and as much across. If you like golden foliage, this is the one.
Another perennial in the sunny border is Phlox ‘Norah Leigh’. I can’t remember where I got this but I do like variegated plants when carefully placed.
Really special is a tall, unnamed white flowering alstroemeria. This is not available in the trade as it is guarded by a few lucky growers but sometimes it’s seen in florist shops.
The cranesbill geraniums (not to be confused with pelargoniums) are favourites of mine too. My own seedling, Geranium ‘Annette’, is one of them and all the double forms of Geranium pratense are wonderful in early summer. Heirloom Nursery of Richmond puts out a comprehensive list. One of these, an unnamed hybrid between two South African species, is not available yet, but it is sensational in flower. In early summer, a mound of soft grey foliage explodes, growing to the best part of 1m high and across, and bearing aloft a haze of soft lavender flowers. This is an amazing plant.
There are a number of interesting small trees at Anacapri too. I enjoy our native akeake but the most interesting is a tree I got from Peter Cave when he had his wonderful nursery near Cambridge. Trochodendron aralioides is a small evergreen found in the mountain forests of Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Although the new growths on my tree were slightly frosted this spring, it seems hardy enough in shade where it has made strong growth. The dark green leaves are arranged in whorls and the green “flowers” have no petals. It is sometimes known as the wheel tree but will inevitably remain uncommon.