Rising Ground /
A volcanic basalt outcrop provides a firm foundation for an established home and garden in Tai Tapu
Close by Banks Peninsula along Old Tai Tapu
Road a volcanic basalt outcrop rises from
level farming land: a firm foundation for an
established home and garden, sheltered by
mature trees, and a fine vantage point for views
northeast towards Halswell and the city.
BEFORE THE TAI TAPU AREA WAS DRAINED AND
the level of Lake Ellesmere/Te Waihora lowered in the 19th century, higher patches of dry ground in the wetlands were valued for temporary camps and small settlements. Sandhills near the golf course now marking the lake’s old shoreline were used, and this rocky outcrop was likely part of the track network too. Built partly into underlying rock in 1970 by the original homeowners, the residence was updated by Kaye and Roger in 2005. This process included culling oversized evergreens from the garden for light and air, while keeping tall radiata pines and Himalayan cedars to the south for shelter, and English and North American oaks along the driveway – their trunks are nearly a metre across.
Soon after the 2017 Peninsula fires, old cypresses close to the house were removed for safety, and the ongoing process of adding native plants to the main garden, driveway and boundary shelter continued. Rata, tree broom Carmichaelia, kauri and tītoki have made good growth sheltered amongst existing plantings. The reddish basalt rock is closer to the surface up near the house and swimming pool – protective during the Canterbury earthquakes, but challenging for deep-rooted plants. Drifts of sun-loving drought-tolerant groundcovers take these areas of shallow soil in their stride: prostrate rosemary ‘Blue Lagoon’, Grevillea ‘Mt Tamboritha’ and Heliohebe hulkeana Marlborough lilac; all are deeply mulched with woodchips.
The couple are keen to provide year-round food and shelter for bees and other insects, birds, skinks and geckos, by ensuring that flowers, berries and other food sources are available from a rich variety of plants. They’re very happy to have a resident bellbird, and with maturing corridors of native planting in other local properties they look forward to seeing tūī sometime soon; these birds are less likely to cross open spaces than bellbirds. There are pheasants, Californian quail (in autumn there can be 60 birds roosting together in a covey – they’re sociable birds), a variety of finches and warblers, wax-eyes and fantails of course, and a harrier hawk. Possums and hedgehogs are trapped and regularly put out with their skin opened to make it easier for the hawk to feed. Roger explains that hedgehogs are considered a problem for our native ecology, eating not just slugs and snails but ground-nesting birds’ eggs and chicks, skinks, geckos and beneficial insects.
Four beehives have been placed along a dry sunny bank protected by massive pine trees – perfect conditions. With the variety of bee fodder on offer they can produce up to 200 kg of honey in a season – upwards of 50 different bee-friendly plants have overlapping surges of flowering through the year. Honey-bee behaviour can be a useful weather indicator as the insects respond to significant barometric changes; and also to different people apparently as bees become familiar with individuals working regularly with the hives. There are also 28 native bee species in New Zealand (13 have been introduced)
with a vital role in the pollination and survival of many native flowering plants. All but three of the native bees are solitary, and most dig underground nesting holes in the kinds of soils they prefer, such as fine-grained loam or coarser coastal sand.
The whole property covers just over 11 hectares, from
Old Tai Tapu Road across to the peninsula, and the majority is leased for grazing to Peter, a local famer who runs up to around 20 Angus and Angus/Friesian/Hereford-cross cattle depending on the season. Roger says that it’s great to have them on the land (and they provide manure for the garden) but it’s also good for someone else to own them for day-today management – he enjoys helping out in the stockyards as needed. A local couple also help with the garden maintenance on Thursdays.
Kaye and Roger have been strongly influenced by Kay Baxter, co-founder of the Kōanga Institute in Wairoa. For over 50 years she and her team have been active in researching heritage food plants, nutrient-dense food production, and links between regenerative food growing and human health. A central focus has been soil health, which Kaye and Roger have taken to heart, and developed practical and manageable systems for their ornamental and productive gardens. Building the soil’s balance of organics, minerals, beneficial fungi and bacteria with compost and cattle manure is an ongoing process, and the benefits accumulate like compounding interest.
Most plants live in association with fungi on their root system, supplying the nutrients which fungi use to grow, and thereby extending the surface area of the plant’s roots.
The fungi in turn feed soil bacteria which can break down rock and clay and release minerals. These are transported
Building the soil’s balance of organics, minerals, beneficial fungi and bacteria with compost and cattle manure is an ongoing process, and the benefits accumulate like compounding interest.