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Re: Regional Gardening

Janet Smithen wrote:
> 
> Yes Moira,
>         You are correct! There are several Southern California garden writers
> and landscapers commited to and espousing xeriscaping. But they are not
> the mainstream. Perhaps it is the term "xeriscape" which is rather
> off-putting. But, I think it is rather non-gardening clients who want
> "an English Flower Garden", so garden designers try to give them what
> they want. Most of our glossy magazines are published on the east coast
> where this kind of garden is more suitable. They constantly picture and
> write about this kind of garden holding it up as a model of good taste.
>         Whatever the reason, mainstream gardens here all have lawns, large and
> small, foundation shrubs, a rose garden and six azaleas. Change comes
> ever so slowly!
> Regards, Jan
> P.S. What are the "roaring 40's"?

Hi Jan

A grey wet day at the end of winter finally gives me time to cut down on
the long list of postings waiting patiently for a reply.

There is a good deal of interest here in plants both resistant to
drought and high winds. Droughts don't affect the country much
generally, but are more or less endemic in a few areas, notably the
rainshadow of the Southern Alps in the South Island and the extreme
eastern province of the North Island. The prevailing westerly winds on
the other hand are a fact of life in very many parts of the country, but
probably at their worst around Cook strait, which acts as a funnel
between the two main islands, and Foveaux strait between South and
Stewart islands. It is these winds which are known as the Roaring
Forties, because they blow around the world at about Lat 40 south
unimpeded by any land mass apart from NZ, so we cop the lot. As Tony
remarked to someone else, they used to be the winds which once took the
clipper ships round the world, but now are barely used for sailing
except every couple of years for the Whitbread race.

A great many of our native trees and shrubs are eminently suited to
exposed gardens, especially the ones which normally grow along the
seacoasts. Virtually all our flora is evergreen and many plants have
either very tiny leaves or, if larger, they are tough and leathery.
There are many Hebes and Coprosmas for instance which come in one or
other of these categories and a  good deal of breeding has been going on
to improve these and other species, while a fair number of the plants
are in fact already good garden subjects in their own right with no
modification.

In addition we have several monocots  with bunches of long narrow leaves
such as NZ flaxes, Astelias and Cabbage trees (Cordylines) which give
our flora quite a distinctive appearence.

There are several styles of gardening currently fashionable here; the
windswept coastal garden employing mainly natives plus imported
succulents and lavenders (very popular, the latter) occur in most parts
of the country, the cottage garden depending largely on temperate
perennials, but backed with shrubs such as Rhododendrons and Camellias
and members of the Protaceae is found in various forms throughout the
cooler parts of the country, and finally, mainly in our northern  areas,
one sees a style which is somewhere between Mediterranean and
sub-tropical with an emphasis on  angular succulents, Palms, Cannas
Bromeliads and colourful shrubs like tropical Hibiscus, Bougainvilleas
and Oleanders.

I would say, generally people have a reasonable feeling for the climate
and many serious gardens are well suited to the areas where they occur.
How much if this is due to garden centres offering appropriate plants I
don't know, but they may have some influence for good.

Away from suburbia one thing which is very much a feature of the
countryside is the large farm garden, based on the English country house
pattern, with everything from intimate rose gardens, lakes and and
rhododendron dells to extensive areas of parkland full of rare and
beautiful trees, and the majority of these are open to the public for
some or all of the year.  Indeed garden visiting has become something of
a mania here, with all sorts of gardens including some quite tiny ones
opening their gates to the public, sometimes for charity and sometimes
just to make a little on the side. I myself show my garden occasionally,
but only to invited parties - mainly groups interested in organic
growing. I would hate to open regularly as it involves a lot of hard
work to do it properly.

Some of the great farm gardens have been developed solely by the women
folk, but there have also been a number of men who have eventually
become totally rapt and worked on these places through retirement right
into old age. One old gent I knew of giftd his garden to the National
Trust to ensure its survival, but was still pottering round and talking
to visitors until his death at about 95. I had the privilege of a guided
tour a few years earlier. I remember among many delights he had a most
extensive and magnificent bog garden.

Regards
Moira Ryan

Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
(SW Corner of the Pacific Ocean)
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