Moving West – a New Frontier / A labour of love in West Melton
The creation of a new home and garden just outside Christchurch since 2014 has been a labour of love for Helen and Brian Coker. Their earthquake experience was a turning point in their lives, and with a shared appreciation for plants and practical gardening they have responded to the many subsequent challenges and opportunities with quiet determination and enthusiasm.
The tree peony blooms in the couple’s West Melton garden this season have been otherworldly – great pleated and ruffled creatures in pale pink and rose-red over 30 cm across, living examples of Oscar Wilde’s maxim that ‘moderation is fatal; nothing succeeds like excess’. Brian has propagated about 30 of these plants as seedlings, and when I first made contact in October he and Helen were looking forward to all the possibilities of colour and form in this first flowering ‘within the next few weeks, which will be quite exciting… and of course the rhododendrons are starting to come out now with peak flowering most probably three to four weeks away’. The peony seeds came from venerable plants originally in Ron (Brian’s uncle) and Molly Coker’s Ilam garden. They were notable Christchurch plantspeople, known particularly for rhododendrons; their tree peonies arrived many years ago from England, so this third generation of plants have a fine pedigree.
They are thriving in raised planters at the new home and garden Brian and Helen have created since 2014, when they moved 25 km inland from an established 720 sq. m property in St Albans out to 3600 sq. m of bare land at West Melton. The original garden had deep soil and rich layers of intensive planting: deciduous trees including maples, magnolias and dogwoods formed a canopy over a marvellous collection of camellias, rhododendrons, viburnums, hellebores, hostas, trilliums, peonies and spring flowering bulbs. The couple had considered moving to a larger property at different times, but enjoyed the local community, and easy walking distance to Merivale.
The 22 February earthquake in 2011 changed their lives completely. Brian was trapped in the Pyne Gould Corporation building collapse, and the team of four rescuers who freed him – two doctors, a firefighter and a police officer – had to amputate both his legs just above the knee. It was some considerable time before the couple could return home, and they soon found that the relatively small rooms and changes of level were an obstacle course for both a wheelchair and artificial limbs. A purpose-built new house and larger section became the logical choice, and a great opportunity.
Helen and Brian had clear ideas of what they wanted in their new home. They also took advice from an occupational therapist about the generous spaces which would be needed for Brian to move around freely, and allow him to make best use of desktops and working areas such as in the kitchen and office. The final result is an elegant and uncluttered single level home, with plenty of room for hosting family, larger groups of gardening friends, and other visitors. Helen says that before furniture and furnishings were installed she wondered how they’d fill the space, but with good proportions and careful placement, it all works beautifully. A free-standing annex between two sheltered courtyards and the raised planters is easily accessed, and Helen’s parents live in a self-contained modern family flat linked to north-facing courtyards. They are fine gardeners too, as were Brian’s parents, and earlier generations of the family: he tells me that a great-grandfather was a professional gardener at one of the grand Canterbury estates in the 19th century.
There’s a kind of perimeter route which winds among the raised beds through unexpected spaces which are hidden from the house.
Arriving in a new subdivision at the same time as their neighbours naturally fostered a feeling of community and shared focus, and creating the new garden became an extension of this process. Helen had put her nursing career on hold to care for Brian during his rehabilitation, and now volunteers at the Canterbury Charity Hospital. Taking into account the major changes in their lives, she wanted to create a garden which as keen gardeners they could enjoy together and work in as before. The local soil was categorised as a Templeton silt loam; however, this fine-textured topsoil had been stripped off during development of the site, and after building work, what soil remained was compacted and full of sizable river stones. The couple call their home Stoneycrop for good reason! Clearing the soil of stones is an ongoing process; rather than being dumped off site, they’re placed at the base of the boundary fences, where they help to keep the soil off the palings and have become a feature in themselves.
With dozens of plants from their St Albans garden heeled in and waiting for a home, Helen began the demanding process of building up the soil structure with endless bags of horse manure and piles of pea straw, moving rocks to define raised beds, and planting hedges and shelterbelts. The couple asked Christchurch landscape architect Robert Watson for help with ideas for how the basic layout could best be formed – extending views from inside the house, and creating a sequence of lawns around the property. Smooth pathways, low stone and timber walls for seating, and level access points into the garden would ensure Brian could be fully involved with creating and maintaining the garden as it grew.
Helen had help with the heaviest physical tasks from local landscape contractor Shaun McMahon, who sourced larger rocks from Kaikōura and positioned them around the raised beds, laid pathways and paving, built raised planters and courtyards, and prepared and sowed the lawns. Helen’s parents were a great help too, weeding and preparing the soil in the new beds. The garden has the most expansive lawn areas and raised beds in natural curving shapes to the north and west of the house, with more compact and sheltered formal courtyards and a water feature to the west and south. These lead on to the entrance forecourt and garaging on the south side of the house. Brian’s propagation greenhouse, barbecue, raised vegetable garden (including tree peonies) and espaliered fruit trees on metal arches are directly outside the sunny open-plan kitchen, dining and living areas to the north, with easy access through wide doors.
Viewed from inside, the main garden seems deceptively simple – until a stroll with Brian and Helen shows that there’s a kind of perimeter route which winds among the raised beds through unexpected spaces which are hidden from the house.
Many of the larger plants such as dogwoods, rhododendrons and maples were transplanted from the shelter of St Albans, and not surprisingly looked somewhat thoughtful for a year or two in their new, more exposed home. Gardening acquaintance Ian Fryer, who helped with the transplanting process, took great care to minimise stress on the plants.
The intention has always been to establish an English-style woodland garden, with shade from deciduous trees sheltering a rich understory planting of rhododendrons and other flowering shrubs, with a similar feel to the St Albans garden but at a larger scale, and suited to Brian’s mobility.
Such was the success of the new garden after 18 months of hard work, and to show his appreciation of her commitment, Brian nominated Helen for the 2015 Gardena Gardener of the Year competition – and she was the welldeserved winner. In the December issue of NZ Gardener that year, she commented, ‘I thought [the other nominees] were really strong and it’s such an honour to win. When we were named as a finalist, our local parish asked if we could open our garden for spring visits, and we met so many lovely local people through that who said they voted for us. That’s one of the reasons why I agreed to enter – to help us integrate into the community.’
During the following four years their vision of welcoming people to the garden and reaching out to the community has continued. Brian has always enjoyed the focus and satisfaction of propagating plants, and continues to take cuttings and seed (such as the tree peonies) to increase the number of species in the garden, and supply their roadside plant stall on Halkett Road. Brian’s propagation house is well set up for good results, and it means a lot to them both to successfully grow and nurture quality plants for sale which have so many personal associations.
Brian and Helen have a long-term commitment to the culture and appreciation of rhododendrons in particular, including participation in the local Canterbury rhododendron group and care of its fine collection at Orton Bradley Park, and the national New Zealand Rhododendron Association, as well as an interest in other regional and international species and hybrid collections. Stoneycrop is still a relatively young garden, and is already developing a sense of enclosure as the larger trees and shrubs fill out. There are over 200 individual rhododendrons, which will become more prominent and add their long-season colour and scent to the garden’s distinctive character as they mature. Brian updates an orderly spreadsheet which keeps track of identification and ongoing changes. The rhododendron collection is impressive – and the other 900odd individual plants (and counting!) even more so; a detailed timeline of casualties, new arrivals and transplanting trips around the property is vital.
Helen and Brian are remarkable people – their warmth, generosity and deep plant knowledge promise to keep this garden a treasured part of Canterbury’s gardening community for many years to come.
The Cokers’ West Melton garden Stoneycrop is open by appointment, and is a registered three-star garden with New Zealand Gardens Trust (gardens.org.nz). For more information, phone 03 347 0010 or email b.hcoker@xtra.co.nz.
There are over 200 individual rhododendrons, which will become more prominent and add their long-season colour and scent to the garden’s distinctive character as they mature.