Garden a labour of love, evolving over 2 decades
Katikati Rotary Garden Ramble November 4-5 246a Hot Springs Rd
Sue and Bill Sisley purchased their two hectares by Te Rereatukahia Stream 23 years ago.
Bill and Sue are Kiwis but have spent much of their working life living in many different countries while Bill worked for a major international agricultural equipment company.
As well as the potential for a garden of Sue’s dreams, the house was also an attraction. The house is built from macrocarpa, and originally with a wooden shingle roof. It has been likened to a “large gingerbread house”.
The garden just evolved — there was never a set plan.
Bill’s first construction was a wooden archway, which is now covered in clematis, hibbertia and sandpaper vine. This was the first of many structures Bill has built.
Bill also cleans up the garden rubbish and manicures the lawns and garden edges. No garden rubbish is burnt, it is all put through a mulcher and returned to the garden.
Sue’s planting mix in the garden is varied and changes between seasons. She inherited her love of gardens from her mother and says she will keep gardening for as long
as possible. Their garden has featured in just about all the garden rambles.
The lower paddock now is becoming an arboretum of mainly deciduous trees; its latest addition is a native fern punga glade.
All the new natives have been propagated from plants already growing on the property.
The site’s backdrop is of more than 100 mature kauri and rewarewa trees on both
sides of the Te Rereatukahia Stream. The oldest kauri on their property is estimated to be about 370 years old.