In season

In Neil Ross’ opinion, this trendy cruise collection of resort-style plants are the perfect accessories for a staycation. Use big leaves and toss in some palms, tree ferns and agaves to create Amazonian swagger but you need interesting plant details too.

Neil Ross’ selection of plants to recreate a summer holiday vibe.

In the late 1990s, there was a minor earthquake in the suburbs of Auckland. Earth wobbles are nothing new in this volcanic hotspot but this horticultural tremor was almost off the Richter scale. I remember it because it happened in my own sleepy suburb – a part of the city usually bereft of good gardens for festivals like Trinity or the (then) newly emerging Heroic garden safari. The garden that caused the stir was owned by none other than nurseryman extraordinaire Roger Hunter, whose Mangere garden centre had become a mecca for anyone wanting to discover something a bit different at a bargain basement price.

Nothing was labelled and plants were rarely priced at Roger’s back then, so the maestro held court at the exit shouting out made-up prices, bantering with the punters and shoving fat wedges of dollar bills into his pockets. It amazed me how anything was sold at all for the place was always in a terrible muddle.

So when rumours spread that Roger’s private house would be on show that hot summer afternoon of the festival, what everyone expected was what you might kindly refer to as a relaxed garden – perhaps something in the cottagemeets-wildlife-friendly style which always allows an owner the excuse to skimp on the weeding and preening. Yet instead, what we came across that day was a complete surprise behind the high gates – a house and garden that would not have looked out of place in a plush Balinese holiday brochure. The modernist white stucco home gleamed in a jungle of palms shading crisp lawns, wrapped around with pristine sheets of searing hot New Guinea impatiens, and perfectly placed mounds of taro and ligularia. Everything was pared back, yet generous and

immaculate, and the five-star effect made you think for a moment you were on a holiday of some calibre somewhere far hotter and less breezy than sticky old Pakuranga.

I call that style of garden “resort style” and while many of our most iconic gardens may be crammed with all manner of tropical plants, often with an eclectic and rustic charm, a true sense of escape needs something more: detail in materials as well as plants. There are few which capture so well as Roger’s did back then that unashamedly pared back and crisp detailing that imparts a totally convincing illusion that you have just – by magic – crossed a continent ready for a bit of five-star pampering. Any idiot knows to use big leaves and toss in some palms, tree ferns and agaves to create Amazonian swagger but you need interesting plant details too.

The plant picks for this month are inspired not just by a summer resort-style feel with bold and confident though tender plants, but by a colour scheme infused with memories of two favourite holiday foods – watermelon and lobster.

When I first flew abroad back as a kid with my parents, watermelon was one of the brand new tastes we got to try at the hotel, and I felt very exotic and experimental as I sunk my chops into that glowing red flesh and felt the dribble of juices seep down my T-shirt. All those shrimp pink colours are evocative of an island getaway, the colours of sunsets and coral, of sunburn and flamingos.

Use that warm tone of shell pink in your garden and the neighbours will not only notice, they will make a beeline for your plot, suitcases and deckchairs in hand.

Against a backbone of strong foliage, add edgy plants and experiment with houseplants in the mildest areas – you only need a handful of orchids, anthuriums and iresines to add splashes of exotic colour. By using epiphytic plants such as vireya rhododendron, bromeliads and medinilla in creative ways (glued or stapled to pergolas or ponga trunks, for example), you can create the deeply layered ecology of plant communities vying for a spot in sun that you may see in a real tropical rainforest. Jungles are not often that colourful so don’t feel the need to pump out the flowers as you would in a cottage garden.

It’s easy to find plants in that warm coral tone – plenty of dahlias and cannas and daylilies in those warm in-between colours, but watermelon comes with a warning: it’s not an easy colour to place in the garden. It can be a disaster next to glaring yellows or orange, but is tolerable with a deep blue.

Throw in buckets of green foliage, splashes of lime green for zing and then try to keep to your theme so all your flowers blend seamlessly.